He is considered the greatest of all the Noldor - an incredible craftsman, warrior and a master of words.
While his fire would burn bright and brief, his actions and his oath would drive the events
of the entire First Age of Middle-earth.
Today, on Nerd of the Rings, we cover the life and travels of Feanor.
Feanor is born in the Year of the Trees 1169 in Tirion, the son of Miriel and Finwe, the
very first King of the Noldor.
It is said that Feanor drew so much of his mother’s energy when he was born that Miriel
grows weary of living.
She leaves for Lorien, where she voluntarily leaves her bodily form and dies.
In an incredibly rare occurrence among the elves, Finwe remarries.
With Indis he has four more children - Fingolfin, Finarfin, Findis, and Irime.
Among his children, Finwe’s favorite is Feanor - which if history tells us anything
- is bound to cause issues.
When he is born, he is initially known as Finwion, meaning son of Finwe.
As he grows and his abilities become clear, his name is lengthened to Curufinwe, adding the word for “skill”.
It was his mother-name that most resembled his best known moniker - Feanaro meaning “Spirit of Fire”.
As he comes to adulthood, Feanor becomes a skilled smith, linguist, and loremaster.
In the Year of the Trees 1250, he creates the writing system of Tengwar - which would
also be known as the Feanorian alphabet.
While this was a great achievement, Feanor is understandably most associated with his craftsmanship.
As mentioned in a previous video, it is he who created the Palantiri - the great seeing
stones that would survive into the Third Age.
He also creates the Feanorean Lamps - lamps that emit a blue light from a flame contained
within a white crystal.
These lamps could not be extinguished by wind or water.
We see them in a couple instances in the First Age - Gelmir has one when he meets Tuor, and
Gwindor takes one of these lamps with him when he escapes captivity in Angband.
However, all these creations would be secondary to his later - and greatest creation.
Before he creates great gems in Valinor, Feanor would marry Nerdanel - the daughter of Mahtan,
another great elven craftsman.
Feanor and Nerdanel have seven sons - Maedhros, Maglor, Celegorm, Caranthir, Curufin, Amrod, and Amras.
In 1400, Melkor, having been held captive in the Halls of Mandos, convinces the Valar
that he has repented of the great evil he had brought to the world.
They allow the dark lord to live among the people of Valinor and he immediately seeks
to corrupt the Noldor and use them for his evil purposes.
Feanor experiences a shadow of foreknowledge, and being mistrustful of Melkor, he begins
to think how the light of the Two Trees could be preserved.
Many believe Feanor comes up with this idea after seeing the Hair of Galadriel, which
is both gold and silver (the same colors of the two trees).
Feanor would ask Galadriel for a single tress of hair three separate times, and Galadriel
refused him each time, for she perceived a darkness that she hated and feared.
In 1450 - after toiling for an entire year of the trees (which we know from the Nature
of Middle-earth may actually mean 144 of our own years rather than 9.5) - Feanor succeeds
in capturing the light of the two trees in three great jewels - the Silmarils.
Feanor treasures these gems above all else, and would come to guard them from all except his close family.
Meanwhile, Melkor covets these jewels and works to manipulate the elf who he hated.
Melkor spreads lies, which reach the ear of Feanor - lies saying that his half-brother
Fingolfin planned to usurp him as heir to the kingship of the Noldor, and that Fingolfin
would take the Silmarils for his own.
Fingolfin is told that Feanor had planned to expel him and his family, with their father on Feanor’s side.
The Noldor begin forging weapons, a first for any elves in Valinor.
Over the years, Feanor’s malice toward his brother grows to the point that, in 1490 he
threatens Fingolfin’s life.
In response to this, the Valar exile Feanor to the fortress of Formenos.
Feanor takes many treasures with him, including the Silmarils.
In a show of support, Finwe moves to Formenos as well.
Melkor disappears, the Valar now knowing that he was behind Feanor’s deeds.
In 1492, Melkor turns up at Formenos, attempting to further manipulate Feanor.
However, Feanor perceives that Melkor’s true intention is to take the Silmarils for his own.
Feanor slams the door in Melkor’s face and Melkor, in a rage - flees once again.
In 1495, the Valar attempt to make amends between Fingolfin and Feanor, and to reconcile
the Noldor with the Valar themselves - for due to Morgoth’s influence, the relationship
between them had become strained.
They all congregate in Valimar, where Fingolfin offers his hand to Feanor, recognizing his
half-brother’s place as the eldest of their family.
Feanor reluctantly accepts.
Meanwhile, Melkor goes south to the land of Avathar, where he enlists the help of the
giant spider-like monster Ungoliant.
They make their way north and, as Feanor and Fingolfin reconcile with one another, they
destroy the Two Trees, plunging Valinor into darkness.
Going to the trees, Yavanaa finds them dead and declares that she can only restore them
by using the power of the Silmarils.
Manwe, the lord of the Valar, asks Feanor to give them the silmarils for this purpose,
to which Feanor refuses, saying that he will not willingly give up his Silmarils.
He also tells the valar that if they forced him to do so, they would be no better than Melkor.
In that moment, messengers arrive from Formenos.
While the elves and valar were distracted by the death of the trees, Melkor came to
the fortress in an impenetrable darkness, like a black fog.
Feanor’s father Finwe was killed by the dark lord - the first to be killed in the
lands of Valinor.
In his victory, Melkor had raided Feanor’s vault, taking with him many jewels - including the Silmarils.
Melkor and Ungoliant fled to Middle-earth via the Helcaraxe - the harsh frozen lands in the north.
Flying into a great rage, Feanor claims the kingship of the Noldor and names Melkor “Morgoth”
meaning “Black Foe” or “Dark Tyrant”.
He rouses the Noldor, giving an impassioned speech that they should leave Valinor and
pursue their enemy with war.
Long he spoke, and ever he urged the Noldor to follow him and by their own prowess to
win freedom and great realms in the lands of the East ere it was too late; for he echoed
the lies of Melkor that the Valar had cozened them and would hold them captive so that Men
might rule Middle-earth
Then Fëanor swore a terrible oath.
Straightway his seven sons leaped to his side and each took the selfsame oath; and red as
blood shone their drawn swords in the glare of the torches.
Little did Feanor realize that even his speech contained the very lies of Melkor.
Straight away, Feanor’s seven sons join him and swear the dreadful Oath of Feanor
- vowing to fight anyone - elf, man, maia, or vala - who should withhold the Silmarils from them.
Invoking the very name of Iluvatar himself, their oath would lead to great tragedy and bloodshed.
Feanor leads his people to the shores of Aman, specifically the port of Alqualonde, where
the Teleri elves lived.
Feanor demands the Teleri to give him their ships so he may sail to Middle-earth.
When the Teleri refuse, the king orders his followers to take them by force.
The Teleri resist, and an all out battle breaks out, leaving many of the Teleri, who were
far less armed, dead.
Many Noldor, such as Galadriel arrived only after this first Kinslaying.
As the Noldor make their way north, Mandos pronounces the doom of the Noldor - foretelling
the suffering that shall come to their people, and their banishment from the lands of Aman.
Finarfin, one of Feanor’s brothers and the father of Galadriel, leads a small group of
Noldor back to Valinor, where they repent of their choice to leave and are forgiven.
Meanwhile, Feanor leads his people north, until they reach the Helcaraxe in 1497.
With not enough ships to carry all the Noldor across the sea, Feanor, his sons, and their
followers take the ships in secret and sail to Losgar, finally arriving in Middle-earth.
Rather than send them back for Fingolfin and the rest of the Noldor, Feanor burns the ships,
saying he considered the host of Fingolfin and Finrod to be “needless baggage on the road”.
Because the world is flat at this time, Fingolfin and the other Noldor see the ships burning
in the distance, and choose to press on through the dangerous and deadly Helcaraxe.
Meanwhile, in Angband, Morgoth learns that the Noldor have come to pursue him.
He launches an attack upon Feanor’s encampment in the area of Mithrim.
This battle, the Dagor-nuin-Giliath, lasts for ten days.
In the end, the Noldor are victorious and Morgoth’s armies are scattered.
Still burning with rage, Feanor leads his sons as they press on to Angband, coming to
Dor Daedeloth - the very lands of Morgoth.
Here, Feanor is ambushed by a force of balrogs.
Having few of his kin around him, Feanor fights valiantly, hewing his foes even after receiving several wounds.
In the end, they were too much for the king of the Noldor, and he is mortally wounded
by Gothmog, the lord of balrogs.
In this moment, the sons of Feanor and their great force, drive off the demons of Morgoth.
They carry their king back to the slopes of the Ered Wethrin.
There, seeing from afar the peaks of Thangorodrim, Feanor curses Morgoth three times.
But with the eyes of death, Feanor knows that the elves can never throw down those dark towers unaided.
With the passing of his fiery spirit, Feanor’s body is reduced to ashes.
Never before, nor since, had any death like this been seen or heard.
His sons, having survived the battle, are still bound to the oath of their father, which
would lead to conflict, tragedy, and disaster.
As for Feanor, his spirit would travel to the Halls of Mandos.
There it would remain, never to be reincarnated so long as the world would last.
In Tolkien’s abandoned apocalyptic storyline of the Dagor Dagorath, it is said that Feanor
would finally reclaim his Silmarils and break them, so that Yavanna could finally restore the Two Trees.