Feanor - Overrated?

[Belin]

The great/good distinction is actually a really interesting one. However, I am not going to dive into it at the moment, since this thread is about Feanor specifically.

I'm not sure what you mean by "overrated," Eomer... Feanor is certainly not the character that accomplishes the most good deeds (although some of his accomplishments were impressive, such as revising the alphabet and of course making the Silmarils). However, he is a very attractive character in many ways. He's an absolutely brilliant rhetorician (reading his speeches makes me want to go to war, even though I really think his little rebellion was a dumb idea, and I'm a coward besides), and I always think of him as extraordinarily charismatic, able to garner followers with no great effort and capable of being loved by all.

He did some very, very, very bad things, and possibly the worst part of that is the loss of his great potential for good. The Valar

mourned not more for the death of the Trees than the marring of Feanor: of the works of Melkor one of the most evil. For Feanor was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind, in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and in subtlety alike, of all the Children of Iluvatar, and a bright flame was in him.

That pretty much sums it up, I think.

--Belin Ibaimendi