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of the flight of the noldor, silmarillion
But the Teleri were unmoved by aught that he could say. They were grieved indeed at the going of their kinsfolk and long friends, but would rather dissuade them than aid them; and no ship would they lend, nor help in the building, against the will of the Valar. As for themselves, they desired now no other home but the strands of Eldamar, and no other lord than Olwë, prince of Alqualondë. And he had never lent ear to Morgoth, nor welcomed him to his land, and he trusted still that Ulmo and the other great among the Valar would redress the hurts of Morgoth, and that the night would pass yet to a new dawn. Then Fëanor grew wrathful, for he still feared delay; and hotly he spoke to Olwë. 'You renounce your friendship, even in the hour of our need,' he said. 'Yet you were glad indeed to receive our aid when you came at last to these shores, fainthearted loiterers, and wellnigh emptyhanded. In huts on the beaches would yon be dwelling still, had not the Noldor carved out your haven and toiled upon your walls.'
But Olwë answered: 'We renounce no friendship. But it may be the part of a friend to rebuke a friend's folly. And when the Noldor welcomed us and gave us aid, otherwise then you spoke: in the land of Aman we were to dwell for ever, as brothers whose houses stand side by side. But as for our white ships: those you gave us not. We learned not that craft from the Noldor, but from the Lords of the Sea; and the white timbers we wrought with our own hands, and the white sails were woven by our wives and our daughters. Therefore we will neither give them nor sell them for any league or friendship. For I say to you, Fëanor son of Finwë, these are to us as are the gems of the Noldor: the work of our hearts, whose like we shall not make again.'
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it seems to me olwe was concerned for the noldor and hoped against hope they may come to reason....the valar had ever looked out for the firstborn and olwe was not as hasty to turn against them...the refusal of his ships may also have been his subtle way of showing feanor how arrogant and uncooperative his refusal of the silmarils to the valar was.....
olwe's reaction seems a reasonable one to me, trying to keep his friends from what he feared would be a dark path....
Quote:
of the return of the noldor, silmarillion
Now King Thingol welcomed not with a full heart the coming of so many princes in might out of the West, eager for new realms; and he would not open his kingdom, nor remove its girdle of enchantment, for wise with the wisdom of Melian he trusted not that the restraint of Morgoth would endure. Alone of the princes of the Noldor those of Finarfin's house were suffered to pass within the confines of Doriath; for they could claim close kinship with King Thingol himself, since their mother was Eärwen of Alqualondë, Olwë's daughter.
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why elwe would not grant finwe's kin entry i'm not sure....one would definitely assume he would welcome the sons of his friend....
on the other hand i assume he had become somewhat of a recluse in his kingdom of doriath, hiding behind melian's girdle all this time...so he may have felt too distanced from the noldor and would only grant passage to close family....
perhaps melian being maia may have also felt what she did not know of the kinslaying....this being of course speculation...she may have advised elwe against letting finwe's kin enter....
elwe however also doesn't strike me as the most congenial of elven lords, his treatment of beren, while he of course was not of the eldar, doesn't make him out to be someone easily gotten along with...
so even though we as readers know the noldor were in the wrong, seeing as elwe had no message of the kinslayings, his reaction is harder to understand than olwe's...
twinkle