The Fëanor inside Fëanor Sons

[Aiwendil]

Anguirel wrote:

perhaps it's the blonde curly hair that does it,

I know that Celegorm is said to have golden hair in the Geste, but I seem to remember that this was changed. Isn't it later said that the only Noldor with blond hair were those of the house of Finarfin?

In Valinor he apparently got on well enough with the Valar to be given Orome's hound, and was apparently the son of Feanor closest to Aredhel, Fingolfin's daughter, with whom he shared a similarity of temperament. Along with many other slightly revisionist readers of the Silmarillion, I see a rejected romance here.

I rather doubt this - they were first cousins, and a romance between them would have been seen as incestuous. Celegorm may have a dark side, but he's no Maeglin. Moreover, Maeglin's incestuous love for Idril is said to have been a consequence of the Kin-slaying (it's "evil fruit" I believe). So I have a hard time believing that such a thing would have arisen in Valinor before the flight of the Noldor.

[Lalaith]

was apparently the son of Feanor closest to Aredhel

Interesting take, Ang.
I'm not saying you're wrong, about the romance aspect, but I always took a different view, that the friendship was platonic, nothing more. And that was something I always saw as a redeeming feature of Celegorm, any chap who is willing to hang out with (ie hunt with) a girl as a friend and equal can't be all bad. Makes his lousy behaviour to Luthien all the more disappointing.
Anyway, this is a splendid thread and I must peruse more closely.

[Macalaure]

Aiwendil wrote:
He at least delays a potentially violent confrontation. It's true that he doesn't solve anything, but I suspect that many in Feanor's host (and particularly the likes of Caranthir, Celegorm, and Curufin) did not want to treat with Fingolfin yet. And it wasn't Maedhros's leadership that allowed him to settle things; it was Fingon's rescue of him. I don't necessarily think that Maglor did the right thing; but I think I can understand why it might look like a good move to him.

I agree. It might just have been the best conceivable action in his situation. It's sad we don't get a closer look at how Fëanor's sons came to the decision.

I don't think that Curufin would have been manipulating Celegorm - it seems to me that Celegorm was quite comfortable letting Curufin be the brains of the operation. But, as you said, Celegorm seems to have the greater charisma and therefore is better suited to take the role of leader publicly.

I disagree. Celegorm had enough brains of his own. It was him alone who talked Maedhros into attacking Doriath. Still Curufin's counsels were, doubtless, more than useful to him.

Anguirel wrote:
But in his last battle, the Second Kinslaying, he sought out the enemy king Dior and slew him personally, though falling himself. Celegorm is not effete or lacking in warlike credentials!

I should have noted that above, but Celegorm, to me, is the most skilled in warfare among the brothers in the beginning. Without his deeds, the Dagor-nuin-Giliath could have ended badly. He's later surpassed by Maedhros after his time in and over Angband.
It's hard to compare it to Fëanor's abilities. The battle of Alqualonde gives me a quite disorganized impression (excused - they hardly had any time for maneuvers), and in the second battle he is carried away by his emotions and pays for that.

Celegorm slew Dior? The Silmarillion says "There fell Celegorm by Dior's hand...".
By the way, a brilliant scene: The two "the Fair"s fighting each other.

Celegorm is not described as leaving a wife in Valinor, I don't think, which leaves us with two options-tragic Celegorm spurned by Aredhel and Celegorm the wild bachelor-until he meets Luthien.

Yet another parallel to Maedhros. Though so different in most respects, they share a surprising lot.
But I don't see any parellels between Aredhel and Lúthien, except hair colour. Celegorm and Aredhel (absolutely platonic relationship to me, too) seem to share something. I cannot describe it. But he doesn't compensate with Lúthien. I'd say it takes the coldness of a Curufin to not fall in love with her.

[Anguirel]

Interesting, though not to me altogether surprising, that Celegorm is proving to possess the greatest potential for controversy so far!

I'll approach matters one by one.

His Hair

In the published Silmarillion Celegorm is referred to as "the Fair", which is not a moral nor a general epithet, as I see it, particularly as it is contrasted with his brother Caranthir, "the Dark."

In the Lay of Leithian Celegorm is again repeatedly called "the Fair", or "fair Celegorm." In the Shibboleth I believe he is described explicitly as having a mane of golden curls. It seems to me that we have an exception to Finarfin's line here.

For me this works rather well with the general image I get of Celegorm, and I see no reason not to believe it.


His Private Life

Two women are important in working out this mystery-Aredhel and then Luthien. We are told that an Elf loves only once, yet we should perhaps remember that the known exception to the rule was Celegorm's grandfather...

It seems to me that looking at it from Tolkien's point of view, Celegorm and Aredhel's romance was a possibility he toyed with, but eventually could not really ratify because of the cousinage problem mentioned by Aiwendil. However, there are many hints for those, like me, who wish to conclude otherwise.

Celegorm and Aredhel are both hunters of repute with wilful, courageous personalities. Celegorm is, as mentioned above, picked out as being close to Aredhel. They are only half-cousins, which perhaps makes a difference-"the Eldar wedded not to kin so near." And it is strongly hinted at in the passage where it's stated that Aredhel "gave her heart to none of [the Sons of Feanor]" that she could have done.

It works, too, on Aredhel's side. Why did she mislead Turgon about riding to Fingon, only to order a change in direction to Celegorm and Curufin? (Curufin's importance here seeming rather geographical.) Furtive, resurgent, nostalgic love. Why did she linger so long in Celegorm's country?

Whether Celegorm truly loved Luthien I am not certain. Undoubtedly he did if we discount the Aredhel idea, though. One or both of them must have been, in my eyes, his true love. Yet why would Celegorm the Fair treat his true love with so little decency? Perhaps Curufin's counsel led him astray.


His Death

According to the Grey Annals, Celegorm and Dior slew each other in the halls of Menegroth.


His Wildness

From the start, Celegorm is picked from the rest of the brothers in a fundamental way. He defies the Noldor characteristic of being a pupil of Aule, instead visiting the Halls of Orome, who teaches him the tongue of all fair birds and beasts.

An ability shared by no other Noldor, and only one human...(here's the rub) Beren.

So perhaps there is a hint that his love for Tinuviel was true after all. He is the closest Elves get to the Man he despises. Certainly I think that Tinuviel might have been his salvation had fate been happier. Of course it wasn't.

But all in all, a better and more fascinating Elf than he is usually deemed.

[Lalaith]

Caranthir
Is there any more to him except being haughty and ill-tempered?

Well, yes there is. He behaved well and honourably to the People of Haleth, offering Haleth recompense for her dead brother and father. He saw "what valour there was in the people of the Edain." This is at a time when many of the elves (Thingol and the green-elves of Ossirand in particular) were inclined to despise them.
I do not think that Feanor would have had much time for Men, one of his greatest flaws was arrogance. So perhaps even Caranthir, so much his father's son, had something of his mother in him.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

Well, yes there is. He behaved well and honourably to the People of Haleth, offering Haleth recompense for her dead brother and father. He saw "what valour there was in the people of the Edain." This is at a time when many of the elves (Thingol and the green-elves of Ossirand in particular) were inclined to despise them.
I do not think that Feanor would have had much time for Men, one of his greatest flaws was arrogance. So perhaps even Caranthir, so much his father's son, had something of his mother in him.

Not just the people of Haleth. Of all the Sons of Fëanor, Caranthir was probably the most interracially concerned- except possibly for Maedhros. In addition to the People of Haleth, who ended up departing for Brethil, Caranthir was also closest of the Fëanorians to the Dwarves. He had a very close trading relationship with the Nogrodians, which stood the Eldar well against Glaurung.

And he was also the Fëanorian prince to whom the people of Uldor swore their allegiance. They proved faithless, it is true, but the very fact that Caranthir sought their allegiance is a mark in his favour, not against.

So, though Caranthir is much-maligned by fans as the "nasty" son of Fëanor, one could easily make a case that he was among the best of those same sons. His deliberate seeking out of allies and vassals from among the non-Eldar is in direct contrast to Celegorm and Curufin's scornful treatment of Beren.

[Macalaure]

Good points Formendacil and Lalaith.
Yet we are told there was few love between Caranthir and the dwarves.

I just browsed through the Shibboleth and found out that the name Caranthir = Red-face is not meant metaphorically (which I thought before). He indeed simply had a reddish skin-tone - inherited from his mother. Adding to that his father's hair, I more and more obtain the picture of a quite torn character.

(And, even though I don't get the impression that he was the smartest of the brothers, he was a clever businessman.)

His deliberate seeking out of allies and vassals from among the non-Eldar is in direct contrast to Celegorm and Curufin's scornful treatment of Beren.

They didn't despise Beren because he's a mortal, but because of that Silmaril thing - very bad circumstances to start with.
We don't get to know their general attitude towards men, I think.