The Greatest of the Eldar

[Lush]

Tentatively, we have established that Fëanor is the greatest craftsman. That does not, however, raise him above the status of Lúthien. There are too many negative aspects to his nature. Furthermore, one can even argue that Fëanor had a weakness of spirit, when one considers his inability to deal with his anger, his rashness, cruelty, etc. A greater being, in my opinion, would not have acted like Fëanor did.
Moving on, I think the quote that so concerns Daniel in regards to Dior is :
"The Dior arose, and about his neck he clasped the Nauglamir;and now he appeared as the fairest of all the children of the world, of threefold race: of the Edain, and of the Eldar, and of the Maiar of the Blessed Realm."
Pretty straightforward, one would think, except for the fact that we all "know" that Lúthien was the fairest. To her applies this quote:
"And of the love of Thingol and Melian there came into the world the fairest of all the Children of Ilúvatar that was or shall ever be."
Someone who has only read the Silmarillion can easily be confused by the above. Can this be explained by the fact that Lúthien was the fairest over all, while Dior only looked so good when the Silmaril was on his neck? Of course, I have yet to read the Lost Tales. Can anyone who has read that far comment on this?

[ July 28, 2002: Message edited by: Lush ]