[the phantom]

The quote supplied by the phantom about Feanor's might was from within the narrative and at a time when Luthien did not yet exist.

Luthien did exist at the time. She was born when "the glory of Valinor was at its noon", where as the quote is from the passage mentioning Manwe's grief at Melkor's marring of Feanor, after Feanor and the Noldor have set off for Middle Earth.

The quote definitely includes her.

But I don't think the quote necessarily conflicts with the "Luthien is the greatest" quote. As Thalion has brought up more than once, what does "greatest" mean? What did Tolkien have in mind? It is very possible that there are some components such as popularity and renown wrapped up in "greatest".

For instance, it could be said that Star Wars is the greatest movie of the 20th century. Star Wars was absolutely huge! It sold gobs of tickets, mountains of merchandise, and featured cutting edge details and special effects (when it came out). It resulted in five more blockbuster movies, books, comics, fan clubs, toy collections, conventions, and fan websites. No one would argue if someone wrote in a book that Star Wars was the greatest movie force of the century.

However, that does not mean Star Wars, when compared to the other movies in the century, had the best writing, directing, acting, sound, visuals, sets, or anything else. In other words, it doesn't mean that Star Wars was the "best" film.

Do you see what I'm saying?

Tolkien saying Luthien was the "greatest" does not mean that she was more "powerful" or "talented" than Feanor any more than it means that she would beat Feanor in a game of billiards. Tolkien didn't say that. He only said she was the "greatest".

Feanor, on the other hand, got some extremely specific praise.

For Feanor was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind, in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and in subtlety alike, of all the Children of Iluvatar, and a bright flame was in him. The works of wonder for the glory of Arda that he might otherwise have wrought only Manwe might in some measure conceive.

That quote is almost too ridiculous to believe. It's overwhelming. It says that the King of Arda, Manwe, is the only one who can even begin to comprehend the things Feanor was capable of. I mean... wow!

All of this next part is a rambling opinion of a sleepy biased phantom, so feel free to ignore it-

I have always gotten the feeling that Feanor was the most powerful/talented/whatever in Tolkien's world, but that Tolkien simply didn't like him as much as Luthien and Galadriel, and so did what he could to put them on level with Feanor. As we know, Luthien was Tolkien's wife, so he obviously favored her, and we've also discussed on this forum Tolkien's increasing Galadriel worship as he aged. This certainly influenced his writings.

From deeds and such it seems clear to me that Feanor was superior, and I think Tolkien knew it. When he wrote the quote I supplied, I think it was a moment when he was reluctantly admitting Feanor's unfathomable power- I don't recall seeing any quote of that magnitude about the others, probably because Tolkien, despite his love for them, couldn't bring himself to write things that were distorted beyond the normal amount of author bias.

When you consider Tolkien's feelings towards Luthien and Galadriel, I think it is not just likely, but a guarantee, that he favored them more than he should have in some of his writing. Anyone who has ever written stories or RPGed much can certainly understand this point. If a character within your story sort of represents you or a dear friend, you tend to give them more credit than they really should have.