The Oath of Feanor. Tolkien calls it ‘a terrible and unbreakable oath… that should never have been taken.” It was spoken by Feanor and his seven sons after Morgoth nicked the Silmarils, and it was the driving force behind EPIC FIRST AGE PAIN AND ANGST.
Here is the Oath itself:
“Be he foe or friend, be he foul or clean,
brood of Morgoth or bright Vala,
Elda or Maia or Aftercomer,
Man yet unborn upon Middle-earth,
neither law, nor love, nor league of swords,
dread nor danger, not Doom itself,
shall defend him from Fëanor, and Fëanor’s kin,
whoso hideth or hoardeth, or in hand taketh,
finding keepeth or afar casteth
a Silmaril. This swear we all:
death we will deal him ere Day’s ending,
woe unto world’s end! Our word hear thou,
Eru Allfather! To the everlasting
Darkness doom us if our deed faileth.
On the holy mountain hear in witness
and our vow remember, Manwë and Varda!”Basically, if you have a Silmaril and keep it, the Feanorians will come fuck you up.
Sooo, descendants of Feanor though… it’s uncertain as to whether the children of his sons would be bound by the oath? I can’t remember if Celebrimbor is ever mentioned as being bound to it. Either which way, it is less like an oath in the end and more like a whip, driving them on and on to acts of both heroism and horror. They called upon Eru himself to be witness. Yikes. Yikes.
(and this is also why I personally can’t see the Arkenstone as a Silmaril, though I can understand those who do! Pretty as it is, it doesn’t look like it contains the mingled holy light of Terlperion and Laurelin – but more importantly the doom of the Oath would then fall upon the Dwarves and haven’t they suffered enough without another massacre, guh. Not to mention, Sauron would also ve veeeery interested in getting one of his Master’s favourite shinies.
Oooh, but a fic where the last surviving son Maglor limps to the Lonely Mountain, weary unto death, but spurred onwards by the mercilessness of the Oath… eeeeeee that’d be kinda awesome…NO DETS NO)…honestly, I think that Feanor and his (immediate) Offspring could only make the oath for themselves – not for those unborn. The option would be open, of course, for any of their kin to take it up, but – it’s their choice. It’s their choice, and theirs alone; one is not automatically bound by the promises and mistakes of their ancestors.
You’re likely right! As I said, I dunno. But I don’t wanna go fossicking through everrrrrything to find out for sure, bc that is waaaay too much effort!
Tagging greenekangaroo.
*knock politely*. If you don’t mind me asking, greenekangaroo, what are your thoughts on this? You know a *lot* more about the Silmarilion then I do.
I’ve always read the Oath almost as a spell- once spoken, once bound, there was no going back. That line, ‘Feanor’s Kin’, could have indeed fucked over every child and grandchild that the line produced.
Barring that, the problem for the offspring of the Line of Feanor isn’t so much the Oath of the Feanorians as it was Mandos’ Doom of the Noldor, which was a prophecy/curse/Mandos being an asscanoe depending on who you talk to. By the time Celebrimbor came around, Beleriand was already underwater and according to some readings the Noldor’s Doom was lifted, or they were at least allowed back across the sea.
I am vehemently against the Arkenstone being canonically a silmaril simply because it’s..not anywhere near where the one silmaril it could be was dropped? It makes no logistical sense? If the Arkenstone WAS a silmaril, it would have to be the one that Maedhros the One Handed took with him into a fiery chasm- and as far as anyone knows that fiery chasm was miles away from any dwarven stronghold. Even accounting for shifting rock, and I got nothing on the tectonic plates of Middle Earth, it would have had to move a long friggin’ way to get under the Lonely Mountain.
(there is an argument here, of course, because why is the Lonely Mountain lonely if not for violent underground activity suddenly forming a single peak? My counter is if the Arkenstone was meant canonically to be a Silmaril, Galadriel would have come riding out of Lothlorien hellbent for bedlam. Her uncle made the silmarils, her cousins died for them, and Galadriel is not the kind of lady to give up that kind of power- and she knows dwarves well enough that she might have been able to get it.)
I was and remain a bit leery about Tauriel’s red hair. I think it was a stylistic choice on the part of costuming, and Evangeline rocks it, but the fact remains that the only elves ever mentioned who had red hair had a really hard time of it.
Excellent points, thanks – I hadn’t thought of what Galadriel might do!
Tauriel’s red hair – it appears that the movie!Silvan elves have all manner of hair colours (aviva0017 mentioned that quite a few of the Mirkwood guard have red/auburn hair? and that it is mentioned in the book that red hair is very rare, even amongst the Noldor).
IDK, it’s a fun idea and all power to those who jive with it, but I personally prefer Tauriel as a Silvan Elf. It makes no sense to me for Thranduil to oppose a match between her and Legolas if she were a scion of one of the ancient great royal families.
Aw Yiss 