Gathering other discussions about personalities and trajectories:
https://forums.signumuniversity.org/index.php?threads/feanoreans.616/page-7
https://forums.signumuniversity.org...13-s3ep8-the-burning-of-the-ships.1573/page-5
All the brothers started out as decent people in Valinor. They were guests of Aulë and Oromë. Curufin, Maglor, and Caranthir (yes, Caranthir) were married. Celegorm was given Huan as a companion/follower. All of them fall, but none seem to become ‘complete monsters’ – Eöl is the only Elf who’s given not one redeeming feature or scene, ever. Yet, three of them become extremely nasty, truly awful people with almost nothing to keep them sympathetic. For several, their redeeming features lie almost entirely in opposing Morgoth and not being
as bad as Orcs, as in their lack of omnicidal hatred, sadism, etc.
They do all have the potential for interesting character arcs, except perhaps Caranthir, because they all fall and some then show remorse and even try to redeem themselves. But in a cast of hundreds they don't all need a focus. Caranthir apparently has no arc other than 'he fell', and therefore no need for focus, except in the canonical scenes where he plays a part.
I agree Celebrimbor needs character development, as the one Feanorian who’ll be a major character in the Second Age. It will be pretty interesting to show him in Nargothrond – his relationships with Orodreth and Túrin, his rejection of his father, his
somehow gaining entrance to Doriath with the other refugees, and his [presumably] siding with Doriath and the Havens against his own family. For the earlier seasons he doesn't need as much -- enough to show he is not really in sync with those who swore the Oath, in thought or word. One interesting character observation by Tolkien is that he shares the Dwarves' "obsession" for crafts. While his father and uncles are mostly focused on war and feuds, to paraphrase Tolkien, Celebrimbor really mostly just wants to make beautiful and amazing things.
Curufin and Celegorm:
I agree they and Caranthir should not be as evil as Orcs, but absolutely not good guys either. And I
don’t want to end up with “Draco in leather pants.” In the Grey Annals
none of Maedhros’ brothers agree with giving the Kingship to Fingolfin, but Curufin and Celegorm are probably the most resentful and unhappy about it. And they’re not going to win that argument with Maedhros, so it just simmers for centuries. I like the idea of Curufin being ambitious to fill his father’s shoes.
Nargothrond may not have taken the turn it did if Curufin didn't talk them all into fear and secrecy at the expense of their king.
But their actions were not only Curufin's idea. Celegorm stood up and spoke first, with drawn sword, after Finrod's public speech about the Quest for the Silmaril. Curufin was the third to speak.
We also need to find ways to make the more nuanced in the later seasons--I worry that the audience will perceive the Feanorians (with the possible exception fo Maedhros/maglor) as basically villains, and while their deeds do justify that to some degree it makes them less interesting.
Fortunately Tolkien gave Curufin a ‘redeeming feature’ scene with Eöl in the Maeglin story. His screwups allow Eöl to find and murder Aredhel, and he only looks ‘honorable’ in comparison to the
Worst Elf Ever, but it is something. Tolkien’s notes on that scene point out that he’s not murdering somebody he really, really wanted to murder, even though he would definitely have gotten away with it – the only witnesses would have been his followers, who would never tell. If you have a copy of
The War of the Jewels, look in the Maeglin story. If we decide to give Curufin more than that, perhaps give him a scene working on a project with his son?
While the quest of Beren and Lúthien should be viewed as a triumph, it's very much the tragic landslide for the Fëanoreans, and leads directly to both the Unnumbered Tears and the remaining 3 kinslayings.
Indeed. Yet it’s not Thingols’ triumph. Melian and Finrod both consider his demand for the Silmaril foolish and wrong, and they’re correct.
Amros:
I do think we should keep him until the Havens, but...there's a wide open field there
I’m surprised by the very idea of letting him die before the Third Kinslaying. I think it’s very important to the character arcs of Maedhros and Maglor that they are
not the ones who initiate that Kinslaying, but participate only reluctantly, and that their servants are not the ones who kidnap Elrond and Elros and threaten or plan to kill them. (Christopher Tolkien's word choices in the 1977 Silm make them look less repentant than in JRR Tolkien's original texts.) Amros can still have an arc – see below.
I'm torn about Amras. I see the power in developing his grief over his brother and how that affects his character, but he doesn't have that big a role in many of the First Age stories and I'm hesitant to insert him into too many of these stories given all of the other characters we have to keep track of. I think we can do a lot to convey his emotional state and thinking with relatively little screen time.
This I do agree with. He doesn't need a ton of focus except in the aftermaths of Amrod's and Feanor's deaths, and once the Kinslayings start again. Yet, Tolkien left him with almost no characterization, and we could really take advantage of that to flesh him out.
Maglor:
He also is the only one who ever proposes breaking the Oath.
But that’s not true. Maedhros foreswears the Oath, and he and Maglor
and Amros try for 26 years to break it. They endure 11 years of
torment trying to break it. To me that's very significant, even in a way [tragically] heroic. They give in, but they all do try to break it... at first. (The number of years is from the post-LotR Tale of Years, in
The War of the Jewels.)
They all come to different conclusions at the end of that time. Amros apparently stops wanting to break the Oath. He had come to show some remorse – though his brothers may have had to persuade him to try to break it, he did try – but he attacks the Havens with determination. Maedhros hates the Oath and the kinslaying, but concludes that they're incapable of breaking it and resistance is futile. Maglor hates it at least as much, but still thinks it’s worth trying to break the Oath, and
possible to succeed. After the last line published in his conversation with Maedhros at the end of the First Age, when he says they will do less evil in the breaking than in fulfilling and still go to the Void either way, Maedhros probably replied that breaking the Oath is flat impossible – if they go West, sooner or later they
will be forced to start killing again, and if Maglor wants to do the lesser evil, it had better be done in Middle-earth.
And I still want Maedhros to be the one to foster Elrond and Elros, like in the post-LotR text. It makes much more sense with his reaction to the Second Kinslaying (“bewailing” the killing of Dior’s sons, and trying to find and rescue them) than with Maglor’s reaction (which was clearly remorseful, but not strong enough for Tolkien to describe at all.) Maedhros tries and fails to save the sons of Dior, while Maglor doesn't. So logically Maedhros is the one who feels the most desire to help/responsibility towards the sons of Elwing. Plus Tolkien went back and forth on this endlessly, but the only word written on it after the LotR makes Maedhros the foster-father. Maglor is their music tutor, of course.