Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikkolas
The fact is Feanor did not lead the exodus of Valinor for any even vaguely noble end. Everything he told to his followers was a pack of lies and an excuse to get them to come with him and thus increase his chances of defeating Melkor.
I do hold him accountable for every elf who died after leaving the Blessed Realm because they died needlessly and for one elf's supreme selfishness.
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I think I read
The Silmarillion a little more dispassionately than you do. Nonetheless, I see Fėanor as more of an enabler rather than originator. We have to remember that for a long time he avoided Melkor ("he held no converse with him and took no counsel from him")("Of Fėanor and the Unchaining of Melkor") until Melkor came himself to Formenos.
Additionally, discontent was sown first in the hearts of
other Noldor: "Visions he would conjure in their hearts of the mighty realms that they could have ruled at their own will, in power and freedom in the East". It was only when this rumour 'got about' that "Fiercest burned the new flame of desire for freedom and wider realms in the eager heart of Fėanor; and Melkor laughed in his secrecy, for to that mark his lies had been addressed, hating Fėanor above all" ("Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor").
Upon their exile, then, Fėanor "urged the Noldor to follow him and by their own prowess to win freedom and great realms in the lands of the East, before it was too late; for he echoed the lies of Melkor" ("Of the Flight of the Noldor"). In that regard I think that Fėanor was only really telling the Noldor what they already believed and wanted to hear, and as such the theft of the Silmarils was by and large an excuse for them to do what they already longed for. The recovery of these holy artefacts was a pretense for them to seek what they desired, power and kingship in Middle-earth, which was something they struggled to do, rather disastrously, throughout the First and Second Ages.
Again, I don't feel sympathy for Fėanor, but I still believe that he was not alone in his crimes, and where blame does not lie at the feet of Melkor himself much of it lies with the dissident Noldor at large.