[lord of dor-lomin]

they could have asked the Teleri help them build ships

What are the chances of that? They had already refused to ferry them across (which would've barely required the lifting of a finger). No way would they have worked to help them build ships.

Also remember, he thought the Valar were deedless. Though this was an incorrect assumption, I don't recall the Valar telling him differently, which would've helped immensely.

For the gods may work many things
with thought rather than with hands, and without voices in
silence they may hold council one with another.

This quote certainly illustrates that the Valar were not idle, but don't you think they should've said something? I will repeat for the third time now, if they would've went to Feanor and told him what they were planning and that they were going to take out Melkor, I think chances are good that he would've cooled off a bit. He would've realized that by going with the Valar to make war against Melkor would not only lead to greater chance of victory against his hated foe, but also provide the Noldor with the perfect opportunity to just stay in ME after the battle and be free like they wanted to.

Also, I'd like to refer back to an earlier post by the phantom.

They were created in such a way that the precise thing they loved would be the exact thing that Melkor could offer

Why would this situation be allowed to happen? Because the rebellion of the Noldor was supposed to happen. It had to happen.

Not only were they "playing their part", but the nature in which they were created would have hardly allowed for anything else.

And now I'll quote myself from earlier.

If we think along the lines of what phantom said about fulfilling ones destiny and playing ones part, then the Valar knew they were supposed to wait, just as the Noldor knew they were supposed to go. Ideally, neither should have hindered each other.

That's the whole point here. The Teleri and the Valar shouldn't have hindered the Noldor. They weren't seeing clearly the will of Eru. They're not completely to blame, because it's very hard to see the big picture on such short notice, but the fact remains that the Noldor HAD to get to middle earth to contest Melkor's domination.

They could have dared the Ice

Why should the Noldor and their children have to risk death and suffering when their friends have boats that could ferry them to ME in no time at all?

Feanor was wrong and his actions Evil

We're not discussing Feanor as an individual, we're discussing the Noldor as a whole.

[ March 05, 2003: Message edited by: lord of dor-lomin ]