NancyL
Member
We like to enjoy Feanor's doom to be stuck in Mandos till the end of Arda, but after listening to the Customs of the Eldar it struck me: why would Feanor (of all elves) consent to return to Valdemar at all? Are we talking about the same Feanor? But then I thought ... well maybe not.
I've always felt for Miriel and thought she was criticized unfairly for bailing out of life after birthing Feanor - the spirit of fire. But what if he really was? What if he was actually Sauron's first and greatest act of necromancy: the insertion of a second fea - a fire spirit - into the hroa of Feanor? And not any old fire spirit - a clever evil fire spirit with all the knowledge of one of Aule's maiar (Curunir? Tempting, but probably not. I figure it was one of the baby balrogs).
It explains a lot:
- Why Miriel's fea was stripped of a dozen children worth of fea-nurturing during Feanor's development. The fire-spirit did it. (PS - was the "one year" gestation a sun-year or a Valinor-year?)
- Why Feanor was basically born with all the knowledge of Aule (from the fire-spirit), so he could use his extra fea-nurture-energy to create new knowledge.
- Why Feanor's first reaction to any trifling issue was anger/rage.
- Why other elves' lives didn't seem to matter to him - he was more than them.
- Why every one of his sons was (to some degree) evil-natured: the fire spirit provided fea-nurture-energy during their gestation.
- Why/how Nerdanel was able to gestate so many children - she wasn't providing as much fea-nurture-energy as a normal mother would since the fire spirit was making up the difference from the Miriel-bank.
And finally, Feanor died in front of Angband and his hroa was burnt (by the fire spirit escaping back to its master). The elf-only-fea finally, and for the first time, had full agency. Without the fire spirit powering his rage, he finally saw and understood the evil he did and sought out Mandos for healing/comfort.
I've always felt for Miriel and thought she was criticized unfairly for bailing out of life after birthing Feanor - the spirit of fire. But what if he really was? What if he was actually Sauron's first and greatest act of necromancy: the insertion of a second fea - a fire spirit - into the hroa of Feanor? And not any old fire spirit - a clever evil fire spirit with all the knowledge of one of Aule's maiar (Curunir? Tempting, but probably not. I figure it was one of the baby balrogs).
It explains a lot:
- Why Miriel's fea was stripped of a dozen children worth of fea-nurturing during Feanor's development. The fire-spirit did it. (PS - was the "one year" gestation a sun-year or a Valinor-year?)
- Why Feanor was basically born with all the knowledge of Aule (from the fire-spirit), so he could use his extra fea-nurture-energy to create new knowledge.
- Why Feanor's first reaction to any trifling issue was anger/rage.
- Why other elves' lives didn't seem to matter to him - he was more than them.
- Why every one of his sons was (to some degree) evil-natured: the fire spirit provided fea-nurture-energy during their gestation.
- Why/how Nerdanel was able to gestate so many children - she wasn't providing as much fea-nurture-energy as a normal mother would since the fire spirit was making up the difference from the Miriel-bank.
And finally, Feanor died in front of Angband and his hroa was burnt (by the fire spirit escaping back to its master). The elf-only-fea finally, and for the first time, had full agency. Without the fire spirit powering his rage, he finally saw and understood the evil he did and sought out Mandos for healing/comfort.