[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Thus all seemed well with the fortunes of Maeglin, who had risen to be mighty among the princes of the Noldor, and greatest save one in the most renowned of their lands.

Let me start with this comment: I love this forum. Full of the curious, die-hard, vaguely interested, intelligent, serious, humourous... You name them, they're here. And that's awsome because with all of the variety, people read things differently. Such as the above quote. I read it vaguely differently than has been mentioned.

who had risen to be mighty among the princes of the Noldor

For this, I assumed that by 'princes of the Noldor', it was similar to Pippin being a 'prince of hobbits'. Not actually a prince, but one of the favoured. People love him and he gets a lot of attention. So of all the people that the Noldor come to favor, Maeglin was pretty high up there.

and greatest save one in the most renowned of their lands

This is where it gets more complicated. Some see it as Maeglin being second best of the Noldorin Princes. I personally see the statement as meaning that of all the people who are given renoun in their lands, Maeglin is given the second largest amount. People/Elves do great or interesting things, they get talked about and remembered. Maeglin did some pretty danged interesting things, he got remembered and talked about. I'd say for the most renouned, that would have to be Feanor, because he was the one who got the Noldor back to M.E. in the first place.

So even though Maeglin isn't the second greatest Elf or anything, people still liked to talk to him. He's well remembered. Nixen wasn't the second greatest president, but he gets talked about a lot.

There's my input...

Fea