Silmarillion - Chapter 06 - Of Feanor and the Unchaining of Melkor

[Aiwendil]

In this short chapter we are introduced to one of the most important characters (if not the most important) in the Silmarillion – Feanor. Some hints to his importance are given here, though little is actually said of him in this chapter. There is an interesting association made between Feanor and fire, not only in his name (which means ‘Spirit of Fire’), but also twice more:

. . . Feanor grew swiftly, as if a secret fire were kindled within him.

For Feanor was driven by the fire of his own heart only . . .

I have often misread the first as “as if the secret fire were kindled within him”, and I wonder whether the mistake may point the way to something significant. It is, at the least, interesting that Tolkien used the same term here as he did elsewhere with reference to the Flame Imperishable.

The story of Finwe and Miriel is given in rather compressed form in this chapter. The story first arose in post-LotR work on the ‘Quenta Silmarillion’ as an addition to what was then ‘Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor’. In a later phase, the matter of Finwe and Miriel underwent a remarkable development, leading to the essay on ‘Laws and Customs among the Eldar’ as well as an account of the debate of the Valar and the ‘Statute of Finwe and Miriel’. Subsequently, a shorter (but still longer than that given here) account was written to stand as its own chapter in the ‘Quenta Silmarillion’.

The final section of the chapter deals with Melkor’s release from Mandos. One point that intrigues me is this:

. . . snared though he was in the webs of Melkor’s malice against the Valar he held no converse with him and took no counsel from him.

It seems that Feanor, for all his flaws, was one of the few (Valar, Maiar, or Eldar) who saw through Melkor’s deceit.