[edit] Fëanor

[edit] Quick Facts

Timeline:
Dates:	Born in Valinor, slain I 1 Briefly accounted High King of the Noldor during I 1
Race:	Elves
Division:	Noldor
Titles:	High King of the Noldor
Meaning:	From the Quenya fëanáro, meaning 'spirit of fire'
Pronunciation:	feh'anor

[edit] Greatest of the Noldor

Fëanor was accounted the greatest of the Deep Elves, and burned with a fiery spirit, from which he took his name. Such was his strength of spirit that his mother passed on to the Halls of Awaiting after his birth.

In Valinor his achievements were unparalleled. He created gems and jewels with astonishing properties, including lamps that glowed with their own light, and the palantíri that could see over vast distances. He was also a scholar of note, and invented the letters that carried his name. Most famously of all, he captured the light of the Two Trees themselves, within three lustrous jewels that came to be known as the Silmarils.

In the time the Silmarils were made, the first Dark Lord was imprisoned by the Valar, but at the appointed time he was set free. Released, the Dark Lord soon came to lust after the Silmarils for himself, and planning his revenge against the Valar and the Eldar. Whispering and plotting, he set a network of lies among Fëanor and his people, awakening enmity and suspicion, and guiding the Noldor in the making of weapons.

At last these lies drove Fëanor to confront and threaten his half-brother. Challenged by the Valar, the treachery behind his actions was uncovered, and the Dark Lord fled from Valinor, but for his part Fëanor was also banished. He travelled away with his father and his seven sons to dwell in the north of Valinor.

The Dark Lord did not remain hidden for long. Allying himself with Ungoliant, he descended on Valinor and destroyed the Two Trees, then disappeared in a web of darkness, making his escape from the stricken land of the Valar. Learning that his father had been slain, and the Silmarils stolen, an enraged Fëanor assembled the Noldor and led his sons in a dreadful oath to seek revenge against the Dark Lord. Naming his enemy Morgoth for the first time, Fëanor led the Noldor out of Valinor on the long road to Middle-earth.

The journey out of the Valinor was a hard and dangerous one, fraught with betrayal and bloodshed, and many of the Deep Elves turned back, led by Fëanor's half-brother Finarfin. Fëanor himself drove onward into the cold north, denying even the Valar's warning to return, and passed across the narrow icy seas into Middle-earth.

Almost immediately, battle was joined. Morgoth's armies flooded through the mountains and descended on the host of the Noldor, but Fëanor and his sons were utterly victorious. That battle was fought for ten days in the darkness before the Moon's first rising.

After the rout of his enemies, Fëanor's spirit burned hot, and he set out to assault Morgoth himself. With a tiny force, he charged forward, but before he could come to Angband, he encountered Balrogs. One of these gave him a mortal wound, but was driven off by Fëanor's sons, who carried their father's body from the field. With his last breath, Fëanor cursed Morgoth, and called on his sons to fulfil their oath and avenge him. When he died, the fire of his spirit burned away his body, leaving nothing but ash.

So the spirit of Fëanor passed back over the Sea to the Halls of Waiting, where it still remains. His legacy was to leave his people in Beleriand, sworn to the impossible task of overcoming the Dark Lord and recovering the Silmarils. From that legacy of Fëanor grew the legends of the First Age of Middle-earth.