Hill Troll, you went and quoted two of the very things I was searching for this evening. [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img]
But that's okay, you made the point better than I could've.
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Perhaps having Fëanor be the way he was, was in part Eru's way of forcing the Valar to deal with the issue of Morgoth in a timely manner the second time around.
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Yes. That's what I've been trying to say. Feanor was created for a certain specific and high purpose, and was given such a nature that he could not possibly deny his destiny (nor delay it, since delay was exactly what his purpose was to avoid).
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Eru 'accepted and ratified the position' - though making it plain to Manwë that the Valar should have contested Melkor's domination of Middle-earth far earlier
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Yes. That wonderfully proves my point about the Valar not always having the best answer or approach. It's certainly within the realm of possibility that Feanor's approach is better than theirs and that the Valar should have "followed him" (as he spoke to the herald).
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Say this to Manwë Sulimo, High King of Arda: if Fëanor cannot overthrow Morgoth, at least he delays not to assail him, and sits not idle in grief. And it may be that Eru has set in me a fire greater than thou knowest. Such hurt at the least will I do to the Foe of the Valar that even the mighty in the Ring of Doom shall wonder to hear it. Yea, in the end they shall follow me.
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It was this statement by Feanor (and the reaction it got from the herald of the Valar) that really convinced me that Eru had to be behind the Feanor led exodus. It's such an amazingly powerful statement, and Feanor delivered it with such fire that the herald "bowed before him as one full answered". When I read that, I knew that Feanor was fulfilling some high purpose and that the Valar were making the wrong call on this issue.
Feanor had to do a certain deed for the good of the world, but how this deed could be accomplished was left up to the Valar. They chose to limit the paths he could follow to a single bloody road leading to his goal, so he took it. There's the one place that I disagree with you, Hill Troll. It would've taken too long to cross the Helcaraxe. He wouldn't have been back in time to destroy Morgoth's invasion force before it laid ruin to all of Beleriand (except Doriath). And who knows, if you give Morgoth a few extra days or extra weeks with absolutely no opposition, maybe he personally goes out to battle alongside Sauron, his Balrogs, and all his armies and they even break Doriath.