Time to continue the lonely journey.
Chapter 9, Of the Flight of the Noldor, is one of the most critical chapters of the Silmarillion story. It sets the stage for all of the tragedy that follows. I particularly like the ambiguity that Tolkien manages to create between good and evil. Feanor and the rest of Noldor are certainly admirable figures in many ways. And yet they do great evil. The ability to show how it is that such admirable personages could come to do such great evil is one of Tolkien's greatest accomplishments, in my humble opinion.
We begin with a great concourse at the Ring of Doom, under the stars of Varda. The winds of Manwe have chased away "the vapours of death", but the Light of the Trees is no more. Yavanna presents to Feanor a hard choice, to allow the Silmarils to be broken so that the light they hold could be used by Yavanna to revive the Trees. Aule alone knows what this choice means to Feanor, who declares that if the Silmarils are broken it will break his heart and he will be slain, first of all the Eldar in Aman.
But Mandos enigmatically says "Not the first," though none knew what he meant. I have always found the concept of Mandos knowing the future but not acting on it, or even revealing it until and if it is time to do so to be quite mind-boggling, and I still do. But "Not the first" soon takes on more significance.
Here, at this pivotal moment, it is the influence of his enemy, Melkor, that most affects Feanor, awaking his pride and greed. He declares that he would not do what was asked of him "
of free will." He further declares that if the Valar force him they will be shown to truly be kindred of Melkor.
And Mandos says "Thou hast spoken" and Nienna "sang in mourning for the bitterness of the world and the Marring of Arda." Now Mandos knew that Feanor's father, Finwe, had already been slain by Melkor at Formenos, as shown by his "Not the first" comment. He therefore must have known also that the Silmarils had been stolen by Melkor, and that for all practical reasons the answer of Feanor was a moot point: there were no Silmarils available to break to use to revive the trees. And yet Mandos declares the importance of Feanor's words.
We have spoken much in this thread and in its precursor at TORC about free will and predestination. I believe that this was a critical moment in which Feanor could have chosen to exercise his free will and set himself (and his kindred) on a different path then the one that they ended up embarking on, leading inexorably to the Kinslaying and the Doom of Mandos, which would plague the Noldor with treason and the fear of treason throughout their exile in Middle-earth. As Tolkien says, "yet had he said yea at the first, before the tidings came from Formenos, it may be that his afer deeds would have been other than they were. But now the doom of the Noldor drew near."
But Feanor, for all his fearful pride, is yet an object of sympathy, running from the Ring of Doom and fleeing into the night for his grief at the killing of his father, who "was dearer to him than the Light of Valinor or the peerless orks of his hands; and who among sons, Elves or of Men, have held their fathers of greater worth?" Would the bitterness in his heart at the slaying of his father as well as the rape of his precious Silmarils not still led him to the same path even if he had freely agreed to give up the Silmarils when asked, or would his grief have been free of the madness that drove the Noldor to exile and misery? We can only speculate, but I suspect that Tolkien is suggesting that it would have.
We then turn to the squabbling of thieves. Ungoliant demands full payment for her assistance "with both hands." Melkor is grudgingly willing to give up the jewels of Formenos with his left hand, but he is not willing to give up the Silmarils with his right hand (interesting symbolism there), even though they had already begun to cause him pain. But Ungoliant has grown great and would have vanguished Melkor but for the Balrogs that come in response to his great cry. Thus ironically, these spirits of flame save the creations of Feanor, who's name meant "Spirit of Fire", from being utterly devoured by Ungoliant, as Yavanna feared they would. And Ungoliant passes out of the tale altogether, though her off-spring cause misery down the ages. And Melkor sets himself up as the King of the World, setting the Silmarils in his crown, though his hands are burnt black and he is never again free of the pain of them. Doesn't sound like real good decisionmaking to me.
Meanwhile, Feanor shows up back at Tirion where he was still banished from, his first direct violation of the Valar's will. And he stirs up the Noldor with a great speech, stirring the Noldor to madness. "His wrath and his hate were given most to Morgoth, and yet well nigh all that he said came from the very lies of Morgoth." But Feanor knew his brethren well and ever appealed ever to their own pride.
"For we will go further than Orome, endure longer than Tulkas: we will never turn back from pursuit. After Morgoth to the ends of the Earth! War shall he have and hatred undying. But when we have conquired and have regained the Silmarils, then we and we alone shall be lords of the unsullied Light, and masters of the bliss and beauty of Arda. No other race shall oust us!"
Then Feanor takes the action that binds his sons inexorably to his turn to evil. He and they swear the Oath of Feanor, "an oath that none shall break, and none should take, by the name of Iluvator himself, calling the Everlasting Darkness upon themselves if the fail to pursue any being great or small, good or evil who takes or holds or keeps a Silmaril from their possession (sounds a bit like Microsoft, but that's another discussion).
Then Fingolfin and his son Turgon spoke hotly against Feanor (though we don't know quite what they said), once again awaking wrath. Finarfin and his son Orodreth tried to calm their kindred. Galadriel was eager to be gone as well, for she even then yearned to rule a a realm at her own will in teh wide unguarded lands, as did Fingon, Fingolfin's son. But though Feanor set aflame the greater part of the Noldor with the desire of new things and strange countries, greater love was given to Fingolfin, and the Noldor were divided from the start into two companies, those following Feanor, who was in the lead, and the greater number of those who followed Fingolfin, who went reluctantly at the urging of Fingon his son, and because he would not be sundered from his people.
Then a message from Manwe finally arrives, warning the Noldor against their plan to leave. But Feanor's voice has grown so mighty that when he answers even the messenger of Manwe bowed as one full-answered.
So the Noldor march inexorably to the Kinslaying. When Feanor could not convice the Teleri to join in their rebellion and take them to Middle-earth in their ships, he demanded that they give up their precious ships to him. And when they refused, he and his followers took them by force, with the rest of the Noldor joining in as well when they arrived to find their own kin falling, before the knew the cause of the quarrel.
And then a dark figure (most likely Mandos himself) appeared to the Noldor and spoke their doom. "Tears unnumbered ye shall shed: and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains. On the House of Feanor the wrath of the Valar lieth from the West unto the uttermost East, and upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also. Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass. ... Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death's shadow. ..."
But Feanor's answers: "We have sworn, and not lightly. This oath we will keep. We are threatened with many evils, and treason not least; but one thing is not said: that we shall suffer from cowardice, from cravens or the fear of cravens. Therefore I say that we will go on, and this doom I add: the deeds that we shall do shall be the matter of song until the last days of Arda." And wrong as I know Feanor to be, these words never fail to move me.
Then Finarfin turns back full of grief and bitterness towards the House of Feanor, for his wife was the daughter of Olwe, the King of the Teleri, and many joined him and received the pardon of the Valar. But Finarfins sons (and Galadriel, his daughter), and Fingolfin and his sons went on. And we come to the next great evil of Feanor. He and his followers slip off with all of the boats, sailing across to the Middle-earth. But when Maedhros, Feanor's eldest son suggests sending the ships back, particularly for his old friend Fingon, Feanor becomes ever more fey and instead sets the ships on fire (there is a very sad story in HoME about one of Feonor's sons being accidently killed in the fire, but that is beyond the scope of this discussion). "This was the first fruits of the Kinslaying and the Doom of the Noldor."
But Fingolfin and his followers brave the misery and terror of the Helcaraxe (what a great name!) and the cruel hills of ice. Many perished in this bitter crossing, including Turgon's wife Elenwe. "Small love for feanor or his sons had those that marched at last behind him, and blew their trumpets in Middle-earth at the first rising of the Moon."
Much more can be said about the events of this chapter and their implications. But I will leave that to another time, or to one of our wiser brethren.