Your Take On Eöl & Maeglin

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Nikkolas

Revenge, or the desire to reclaim his pretty gems? Was the Oath of Feanor that doomed all his sons and so many others to misery "I shall kill Morgoth" or "i shall reclaim the Silmarils at all costs"? Exactly. And if Feanor loved his father, he wouldn't have betrayed and hated his father's sons. His father's blood ran iN Fingolfin's veins too and yet Feanor was perfectly content to leave them all to die. After he committed unprovoked murder."

So, no, just because he hated Melkor doesn't make him better than Maeglin. Maeglin never killed his fellow elves for no reason.

Your reading of the story is somewhat skewed. Revenge for the murder of his father and desire for retrieving The Silmarils, his greatest achievement (great even in the eyes of the Valar as Mandos inferred), were both at play here, and clouded Feanor's mind -- driving him to madness. He could never get back his slain father, but he could gain back the Silmarils, exact revenge on Morgoth and escape the imprisonment of Valinor (benevolent, but a prison nonetheless).

The Kinslaying and the irrevocable oath forced on his sons were Feanor's great sins and there is no forgiving those, but that is a tragedy of overriding ambition mingled with hate; however, Maeglin's betrayal of his own kin to Morgoth himself was a Cardinal Sin amongst the Elves.

You make the odd statement "Maeglin never killed his fellow elves for no reason", and I am utterly flummoxed at such a misguided comment. Maeglin's lust for his first cousin (another sin tantamount to incest to the Elves) was the main factor in his betrayal. It's a rather sick notion, and no other Elf would betray his own relatives to The Great Enemy of the World.