[davem]

Flieger's entire argument here seems to be based on the "extra" freedom given to Men in the Ainulindale - from which she surmises that Men have free will and Elves do not. I do not think this is a trivial conclusion. It seems to me that Elves do have free will, moral and actual. There are other ways to interpret the additional freedom given to Men.

My reading of Flieger is that she sees Elves having freedom of thought & the freedom to choose how they will do things, but not the freedom to choose what they will do. The problem is, Tolkien says the Music is as Fate to all but Men.

I suppose we could interpret that to mean that only Men are free from 'fate', while all other races have their fates set out in the Music. But maybe its less definite. When Tolkien says Men are not bound by the Music he is possibly talking about the whole race, rather than individuals. This would mean each individual (or at least certain individuals) has freedom of action as well as free will, but that, overall, Elves will follow the pattern set out in the Music.

Of course, Men do seem to have individual fates - Halbarad foretells his own death before entering the Paths of the Dead. But was that his unavoidable fate - ie, did he have no choice but to enter the Paths oif the Dead & fall on the Pelennor. Or was it that he could see that only if he took the Paths he would die. Could he foresee multiple futures/fates for himself (ie was he generaly foresighted) or only the consequences of that particular future which he had instigated by following Aragorn.

So, if Halbarad's end was already laid before him, & he was destined to die on the Pelenor, was Feanor's end equally fated? The fact of the Music being 'as fate' certainly implies that a great deal of what happens to Elves is fated. In the light of that Statement it would seem odd if the destiny of a Man is set while the destiny of an Elf is not.

The easy answer as regards Feanor is that he actually went against the Music & led the Noldor astray, & that none of them were fated to go into M-e. Of course, it seems they were meant to go, as that was necessary for the fall of Morgoth to be accomplished.

Now, in response to that final point, I'm sure someone will come up with the old chestnut about God/Eru being able to bring good out of evil, & that He merely used the Noldor's revolt to bring about the destruction of Morgoth.

But we're still stuck with the fact that the Music is 'as fate' to the Elves, & the question of how much freedom of action as well as of thought/will they have.