rocky41_7

"The fact that the Feanorians choose to pursue Luthien's Silmaril with violence and bloodshed rather than make a go at the two that Melkor has always revealed their hypocrisy to me."

YES!! YES TO THIS, I always wonder why they chose to do the easy way out and commit horrific acts instead of doing what Luthien did to retake the silmarils from Melkor again. Didn't Maedhros hear the deeds of Beren and Luthien? How come he didn't go like 'Maybe I should do that too instead of committing mass murder?' Like, many can boast about the might of the feanorians, but the fact that they committed the kinslayings when Doriath was vulnerable and the ruler was still young shows how much of a coward they are.

You said so many good takes that I really want to discuss, but I don't wanna annoy you with too many asks hahahaha

As someone fairly pointed out in the tags, an effort for Melkor’s total overthrow was made (I do think “defeat Melkor” and “regain the Silmarils” are two separate goals, although the former would definitely make the latter much easier), and the Nirnaeth ends in a very decisive and lasting defeat for Maedhros, which I’m sure put him off trying again.

Interestingly, Beren and Luthien were precisely what inspired Maedhros to try the Nirnaeth:

However, what’s notable about all other successful efforts to get in and out of Angband is that they were all stealth missions to a degree. It was just a handful of people–or even a single person–not a whole armed assault. Why didn’t Maedhros ever try this? We can only speculate.

My personal take has been that he simply despaired after the Nirnaeth. He believed Melkor could not be overcome (indicated above he had already before the Nirnaeth begun to believe that it was not possible to successfully attack Melkor) and therefore there was no point in trying to obtain the two Silmarils that he had–better to go for the one where they might have success: the one held by other Elves, who can be defeated.

Particularly interesting is that where Maedhros originally took hope from the success of Beren and Luthien, he later apparently comes to see it as their holding something which belongs to him–which to me speaks to his no longer seeing the other two Silmarils as in play, and falling back on the one which is still obtainable.

Does that justify it? Of course not.

Furthermore, one would ask why this allegedly skilled diplomat was unable to come to any understanding with Dior and in this, I’m inclined to put the fault on Maedhros, who is older and frankly, after what his house has done to Dior’s house, the one who needs to be making concessions. After all, why was it so urgent? Why could the Feanorians not take time to try to convince Dior of their view? Elves are immortal, after all–it’s not like Maedhros had a ticking clock behind him, unless he believed (as I think he did) that Melkor’s victory over Middle-earth was assured, and wanted to get at least one Silmaril before the ultimate defeat of the free peoples of Middle-earth. But that’s just my opinion.

As I noted to a friend this morning, I have an unfortunate condition of being incapable of not sharing my opinion when it’s asked for, so don’t you worry about that XD If I need a break from answering asks, I’ll take it.

Anyway, this stuff is so interesting to think about! It’s not really a surprise why Maedhros has captured the fandom so well–there’s a lot going on there.