Jack wrote:Wall of Text:
There are a bunch of indicators and stuff that support this so I might not remember all of it off the top of my head.
Basic premises people might not be familiar with (I am assuming you guys are but just in general):
1) The Middle-Earth mythos is written, nominally, entirely as in-universe history. Like the Forward to Fellowship that everyone skips actually goes into great detail about the textual history of the book, which is basically something like: Frodo worked on it, then Pippin finished it after Frodo went away, copies got made and passed around the Shire, different Hobbit authors added to and annotated versions of it; eventually, like a hundred years after Pippin died (he eventually became the Took of course and lived a pretty long time afterwards, so this is like getting in the realm of ~200 years after the events in LotR) scholars in Gondor asked for a copy to study, copy, and make annotations and revisions to, which they then sent back, of which the remnant copy from which Tolkien translated the actual text of the Lord of the Rings is based. So basically the text has gone through a bunch of different authors with various biases and propagandistic goals, so y'know, read it as such. The Silmarillion was printed after J.R.R. Tolkien's death and was the closest to a complete book that he had lying around, but he had intended to make extensive and partially unknown revisions to it so we don't really know what's reliable in it. Christopher Tolkien didn't put much framing into it, although J.R.R. had actually had earlier drafts where it was based on the idea that an Irish monk accidentally sailed into one of the far islands of the Undying Lands in the 12th century, wrote down what he learned on his return, and that Tolkien translated that copy etc.. Anyway the point is everything is actually diagetic, these are not
actually third person omniscient narrator works.
2) He only gets a few mentions in Lord of the Rings, and a couple more in the Appendices, but Feanor is actually one of the most important figures in the Lord of the Rings mythos. He's basically officially the greatest mortal to ever live. Feanor was the first son of Finwe, the kind of the Noldor, the Deep Elves. The Noldor are based on the dark elves of Scandinavian mythology. There's been a lot of study and debate about this, both in relation to Tolkien but also in studying said Scandinavian myths themselves. It's not really clear what the difference in said mythology is between dark elves and dwarves, and some people think they were basically the same thing. Tolkien had them be different things though, but they certainly have a lot of similarities. The Noldor are tall, the tallest race of elves actually (although on average humans are still taller- humans are actually the big dumb giant race in the Lord of the Rings, and of course are much bulkier than the Noldor,) and they're elves so they're described as fair and pretty, which the dwarves are not, but otherwise they're very similar, they both preferred to live underground and in dark places, loved crafting, metalwork, stone masonry. Basically anything that's very important or magical and built out of physical substance in Middle Earth was either made by the Noldor or the Dwarves. The dwarves were generally better at stonework and forging armor, while the Noldor made the best weapons and jewelry. But this is a generalization. Also, contrary to the later stereotype, the Noldor and Dwarves got along great, it was the Sindar that had problems with the Dwarves. Anyway! This is to explain the next bit which is that Feanor was, besides being basically good at everything apparently except not being a short-tempered dick, was also the greatest craftsman and smith who ever lived. He created the Palantirs and the Simarils, and while he didn't invent rune-letters, he did perfect the script that was still widely used afterwards, Tengwar (basically what you think of as "Elvish script" that shows up in the movies etc, if someone has an "Elvish" tattoo it's written in Tengwar.)
Feanor was instrumental to the events of the First Age. The Simarils he created from the light of the two Trees, encased in imperishable crystal whose making he kept secret and that none have ever been able to replicate. They were the greatest jewels ever made, and like most Tolkien things magical it's not clear what they actually
did (probably fight off Entropy or the diminishing of the First/Second Music, which is most of what the most powerful items in the mythos actually do.) But everyone wanted them. Kind of even the Valar, and definitely 100% the Valar after Melkor and Ungoliant, as aforementioned, raided Valinor and Ungoliant devoured the light of the two Trees, killing them.
The Valar debated and some asked- and some demanded- that Feanor turn over the Simarils and crack them open so that their contained light could revive the Trees. There were a lot of tense and then hostile words and Feanor ultimately told them to fuck off and stormed outties. It turns out that this was all pointless though since while they were debating, Melkor snuck out of the Feasting Grounds to go kill Finwe and steal the Simarils that Feanor had left behind with his dad. Feanor then says okay fuck this guy and, now king of the Noldor himself, rallies his people to march on Melkor and get the Simarils back. A bunch of bad shit goes down and they end up killing their cousins for boats and Feanor thinks his oldest brother is trying to steal his crown so he betrays him and there's lots of fighting etc., and then the Noldor-in-exile spend the next five hundred years fighting Melkor, ultimately unsuccessfully, until eventually the rest of the Valar finally get off their lazy asses and go fight Melkor/Morgoth and throw him down and that's the main events of the Simarillion.
So Feanor dies, according to the main narrative in the Simarillion, really early in this cycle though. In the first Battle actually, the Battle Under the Stars, when his forces arrive and are doing really well actually, so well that he leads a force way ahead and gets surrounded and taken down by a pile of balrogs. That's like. You know that incredibly powerful dangerous monster in Fellowship? Yeah he gets dogpiled by like a bunch of them, that's actually the text.
Fun fact: It's called the Battle Under the Stars because the Sun and Moon hadn't been created yet, the elven creation myth is that the Sun and Moon were created from the little bit of life that Yavanna, the Valar of Life, was able to pull out and that Varda, Valar of Light, turned into the Sun and Moon. But; Tolkien is very explicit in the LotR Appendices that Middle-Earth is Earth, on a natural Solar/Lunar calendar, with geological ages, and that the events do not take place very long ago in geological terms, so again, see: This stuff is not omniscient third person narration, but largely ancient history and myth blending together, as peoples' myths and histories do.
So that's the basic outline of textual-Feanor anyway for anyone who is unfamiliar and can't be arsed to read the Simarillion, which, understandable. Now, the text can be interpreted lots of different ways, and what Tolkien intended is not definitive per se, nor meant to be, by the structure of the story, as I mentioned re: Tom Bombadil. I do not think that Tolkien imagined Tom Bombadil as hostile, although it's reasonable to interpret him that way.
I think that there is a pretty good chance that he actually intended Sauron to be Feanor though because there's a lot of points in the story that indicate that something more is going on here.
Okay quick aside here on the major gods of the mythos, as described in the Simarillion:
Manwe- King of the Valar, God of the Wind and Sky
Ulmo- God of Water
Aule- God of the Earth and Forge
Mandos- God of Death and Fate
Varda- Queen of the Valar and Goddess of Light and Stars
Yavanna- Goddess of Life, creator of all things that grow, also wife of Aule
Nienna- Goddess of Sorrow and Mercy
Melkor- Greatest of the Valar, Associated with Fire, Ice, and Forging, the Big Bad
There are some others but they don't matter very much. Well there's Orome who's basically the Hunter-god and very much based on Herne the Hunter and goes around hunting monsters. The earliest versions of the mythos only had Manwe, Ulmo, Aule, Varda, Yavanna, Nienna and Melkor iirc., I think Nienna also fulfilled the role of Mandos in those versions which honestly is probably better. Like I swear the other four female Valar are completely useless and basically just, "The wife of some actual god." I mean I guess Vana is the goddess of spring? But that role is already basically filled by Yavanna anyway, so she should just be one of Yavanna's servants.
Anyway. So basically Aule and Melkor are both gods of fire and the forge and being underground. Aule takes his chosen servants (the Noldor) underground to train and teach them and mold them after his image. Melkor is described as taking the Avari to Angband and turning them into goblins. Melkor defies Eru-Iluvator (according to this clearly pro-Manwe text anyway) and wants to create life of his own according to his own design. Aule defies Eru-Iluvator to create the Dwarves (according to this clearly anti-Dwarf text anyway) as life of his own design.
What I am saying is that it is easier to assume that Aule and Melkor/Morgoth are just the same figure since they are extremely redundant otherwise. It also explains why the overwhelming majority of Melkor's forces are servants of Aule, including all of the balrogs and Sauron, and then the ensuing conflict is best understood as some kind of Civil War.
There's also the problem of what exactly are the goblins, to which I think the easiest answer is "idk probably just elves." Man I could go into an entire long-ass aside on that topic alone so will skip forward to get back to Feanor.
Anyway, so Feanor. What the fuck happened to Feanor? I mean he was killed by some Balrogs. Supposedly. But it's
really fucking suspicious how it's described:
"Then he died, but he had neither burial nor tomb, for so fiery was his spirit that as it sped his body fell to ash, and was born away like smoke; and his likeness has never again appeared in Arda, nor has his spirit left the halls of Mandos." It even says somewhere I'm forgetting right now that he's set aside from his kin there.
It's worth noting here that Elves don't die like humans, whose spirit departs the Earth entirely, the "Gift of Death." Elves, like most other beings, dwell in spirit form and can even reincarnate in some circumstances. The details are left a little vague, but the Halls of Mandos in Valinor are visitable and basically elves can generally communicate with their dead kin, except that Feanor apparently can't or hasn't.
So basically we have no body and no ghost, which are super suspicious. It's worth noting that Feanor was not actually even his birth name, but a nickname from his mother, which means "Spirit of Fire."
What of Sauron? Sauron in turn is suspiciously absent from all of the early ages of the world for Morgoth's right-hand-man. He makes no appearance in any of the conflicts or text prior to the War of the Jewels; he is mentioned briefly as one of Morgoth's lieutenants but achieves nothing of note and performs no function until the fifth century of the First Age, when he takes command of Tol-in-Gaurhoth after the Battle of Sudden flame. Here, in the Lay of Luthien, is his first actual appearance.
Most notably he does
not get involved in the battle against Ungoliant, where Melkor is captured in her webs and the balrogs under Gothmog save him. This also brings up another weird question: Why the hell isn't Sauron just a balrog? I mean a balrog is just a corrupted maiar that used to serve Aule and now serves Morgoth, in the text. So. That literally describes Sauron. But he's not one. Gothmog is named as the leader of the balrogs, but has no command over Sauron and seems to be beneath him in the hierarchy. So what gives? It's almost like Sauron is some entirely different kind of being.
Sauron also acts a lot like a Noldorin elf. When Finrod Felagund is captured and reveals himself before Sauron's throne, they battle using the same kind of magic; song-magic. This is not a thing anyone else in Morgoth's forces ever does, song is usually associated as a good guy thing. Moreover, it seems an empathic kind of magic... and that makes it very noteworthy how Finrod is ultimately broken:
He chanted a song of wizardry,
Of piercing, opening, of treachery,
Revealing, uncovering, betraying.
Then sudden Felagund there swaying
sang in answer a song of staying,
Resisting, battling against power,
Of secrets kept, strength like a tower,
And trust unbroken, freedom, escape;
Of changing and of shifting shape,
Of snares eluded, broken traps,
The prison opening, the chain that snaps,
Backwards and forwards swayed their song.
Reeling and foundering, as ever more strong
The chanting swelled, Felagund fought,
And all the magic and might he brought,
Of Elvenesse into his words.
Softly in the gloom they heard the birds
Singing afar in Nargothrond,
The sighing of the sea beyond,
Beyond the western world, on sand,
On sand of pearls in Elvenland.
Then the gloom gathered; darkness growing
In Valinor, the red blood flowing
Beside the sea, where the Noldor slew
The Foamriders, and stealing drew
Their white ships with their white sails
From lamplit havens. The wind wails,
The wolf howls. The ravens flee.
The ice mutters in the mouths of the sea.
The captives sad in Angband mourn,
Thunder rumbles, the fires burn-
And Finrod fell before the throne.
This is not the first time that the legacy of the Kinslaying foils the Noldor, but it's important that Sauron sings of it since he ought to have no personal knowledge of it at all, only rumor. But instead he is apparently able to envision and paint a scene of it, as if he were there (which Feanor was.)
Sauron is, as mentioned, the only one of Morgoth's servants who seems able to actually mimic that "changing and of shifting shape" that Finrod talks about, which otherwise is only demonstrated by elves like Luthien and Finrod.
Contrary to whatever this stupid game says, the Rings of Power were not forged by Celebrimbor alone, or even with Sauron, but were created by the Gwaith-i-Mirdain. This was a scholarly order that arose in Eregion, a Noldorin kingdom that arose in the second age. The actual rulership of Eregion is not clear in extant text, which is to say, Tolkien changed his mind a lot. Celebrimbor was probably King at some point, although in some versions Galadriel ruled it but was driven out or willingly left as she became upset and disagreed with the direction they went. Eregion was basically right outside of Moria, and there was close kinship and shared knowledge and study between the two kingdoms, so that personally I would imagine that some of the Dwarves of Moria were involved with the Gwaith-i-Mirdain, if not members. At any rate this was a time of unprecedented magical development and cooperation between the races, and this was where Sauron stepped in, and even in Tolkien's texts he actually had good intentions here. The goal of Sauron
and the Gwaith-i-Mirdain was to create a paradise or imitation of Valinor in Middle-Earth, a realm where the decaying of the Music was stopped. This was the main function of the Rings of Power; preservation. But this is not portrayed as Sauron needing to mind-control elves to make the rings for him or anything like that. He displays a kinship and similarity to the great elven smiths, and while Celebrimbor is the main creator of the Three (although Sauron probably helped,) he was the sole creator of the One. So this is another instance where an elven craft comes naturally to him. Sauron simply acts more like an elf than anything else.
There's also a curious thing here, which is the inscription on the One Ring. That whole "One Ring to rule them all" bit. It's written in the Black Speech, which contrary to a common assumption is not what goblins actually spoke. Almost no one actually spoke the Black Speech. It's basically a Mordorin version of Esperanto. Suckups and ambitious climbers spoke the Black Speech because they wanted to impress/please Sauron, because it's a language he made up, but it never actually caught on. So basically, Sauron is a language nerd, as was of course Tolkien, as was Feanor, who was obsessed with it. However, the line is
written in Tengwar. Feanorean script. Why? I mean, it was invented well after Morgoth had corrupted his followers and they had left Valinor, so he wouldn't have learned it there. It was used by most elves, but wasn't adopted by Orcs generally. And why use an enemy's script? If he's such a language nerd, why didn't he invent his own writing system too? I think the answer is that he already did, and that's what he was using. Sauron the language nerd was writing in his own invented language using his own invented script.
Another timeline issue is the Palantirs. Feanor is given as the inventor of the Palantirs... but
when? This is something mentioned even by Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings, but he never uses them in Valinor when they would have been
really fucking useful to like, spy approaching enemies, make sure no one was busting into his house to kill his dad and steal his loot, or to communicate between the Noldorin princes who were on opposite sides of the Ocean to make sure no one was betraying anyone else, make sure there's not a swarm of balrogs waiting to ambush you up ahead etc.. And the Noldor never make use of these incredibly useful devices during the entire War of the Jewels. Also, at the annual feast where the Trees were destroyed and which Feanor attended, he went unadorned. So all of his magical gems and jewels, of which there were certainly others, were left behind in the House of Finwe. Melkor took all of them we are told, and fed all but the Simarils to Ungoliant in an attempt to placate her endless hunger. So unless she pooped them out at some point they can't have been made before the Oath of Feanor and the Kinslaying, and for reasons of time (since they were on the march) they can't have been made during the War. So the only thing that really makes sense in the timeline is that the Palantirs were made afterwards. At which point Feanor was supposedly dead.
This is extra-non-canonical, but J.R.R. Tolkien had also written a lot of different drafts and edits to Galadriel's backstory and origin very late in development, near the time he died. He seemed to be establishing some kind of intense hatred and rivalry between Galadriel and Feanor. In one version Galadriel swears and oath to stay in exile until she's defeated Feanor's plans. This is a really odd thing for Tolkien to put in there super late in development when by the already-finished script, Feanor was supposedly dead about five minutes into Galadriel's exile. When does Galadriel actually return to Valinor? After she's helped defeat Sauron for good.
The Feanor-as-Sauron explanation also gives us a neat answer to the question of who's the greatest and most clever smith and crafter in the history of Middle-Earth, since we don't have to debate between Sauron and Feanor. It simplifies matters to just have one legendarily clever smith figure.
There are also some other points I'm forgetting right now I think but that's sufficient for the moment.