What happened was that originally in Aman, titles such as "Prince" were merely titular, no real duties were involved, because the King wouldn't die. This was before the Elves realized that trusting the tall evil Dark Lord was a bad idea.
In Middle-earth, titles such as Crown Prince, Prince, etc. fully came into being, since it was assumed that the High King would eventually be killed in battle, and the crown would pass to his son. It went like that from Fingolfin, to Fingon, and to Ereinion Gil-galad. Maedhros and the House of Fëanor don't count, even though they are the "Elder" House, because they were also the "Dispossessed," which meant that they had no "royal" rights any more. They were just Elven nobles in Middle-earth, not Kings.
Once the High Kings (now dead) reached Mandos' Halls, they were eventually reborn, and I assume they were under the rule of Finarfin, who was the High King of the Noldor in Aman. No matter who the reborn Elf was, be it Fingolfin or Maedhros, Finarfin still had authority over them, since he was High King, and he probably wouldn't die. In the extraordinary case that he did die, the crown would pass to Finrod, his eldest son, not to the House of Fingolfin and definitely not the House of Fëanor.
Finwë couldn't be depended upon to do anything outside of Mandos because of what had happened with Miriel. When Finwë died, and reached the Halls of Mandos, both he and Miriel were given a choice. Miriel could be "let out" in a sense, but Finwë would have to remain behind in Mandos until the End of Days. Naturally, Finwë loving his wife as much as he did, agreed to remain in Mandos forever, and Miriel joined Vairë's following, and helped her with her tapestries.
__________________
But Melkor also was there, and he came to the house of Fëanor, and there he slew Finwë King of the Noldor before his doors, and spilled the first blood in the Blessed Realm; for Finwë alone had not fled from the horror of the Dark.
|