Your contrast between Sauron and Feanor rings true to me also. I think Feanor was obsessed with this art/craft/science for itself. I think his desire for power was pretty minimal. I always had this idea in my head, which I have touched on in some of my stories, that if the events surrounding Melkor had not occurred, and Finwe had decided to withdraw from public life and abdicated in favor of Feanor, that Feanor would have become deadly bored with it relatively quickly and Maedhros have found himself King of the Noldor in Valinor in pretty short order. Power was not something that motivated Feanor except in those cases where he believed he was in conflict with Fingolfin for the love of their father.
Tolkien would have understood pouring oneself into his creation; he continued to work on the history of the Noldor and the peoples of Arda for his entire life. I have never understood when Tolkien drew such a compassionate picture of Feanor, that large swaths of the fandom have also wanted to paint him in a solid opaque black--that is not how he is written in the canon texts! Human, vulnerable, and challenged beyond his ability to stand up to the pressures under which he found himself is what I find there.
That and a perfect angelic interpretation of the Valar (who seem more like imperfect pre-Christian demi-gods who have lapses of judgment based upon their own individual prejudices) are my two pet peeves in ongoing canon discussions.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-03-23 04:13 pm (UTC)Tolkien would have understood pouring oneself into his creation; he continued to work on the history of the Noldor and the peoples of Arda for his entire life. I have never understood when Tolkien drew such a compassionate picture of Feanor, that large swaths of the fandom have also wanted to paint him in a solid opaque black--that is not how he is written in the canon texts! Human, vulnerable, and challenged beyond his ability to stand up to the pressures under which he found himself is what I find there.
That and a perfect angelic interpretation of the Valar (who seem more like imperfect pre-Christian demi-gods who have lapses of judgment based upon their own individual prejudices) are my two pet peeves in ongoing canon discussions.