[Anguirel]

Ah. I was missing this thread.

Well, as you can see above, I think Maglor was actually rather astute and valiant in military matters. His sobriquet in the Geste is, after all, Maglor the Mighty. He is the slayer of Uldor the Accursed. And he does succeed in guarding the Gap for ages-make no mistake about it, whether there was one brother there or seven, the Gap would have fallen at the time of the Bragollach. The geography simply does not allow sufficient warriors to be deployed to counter Glaurung and a renewed host. Maglor did the best he could.

Your point about Maglor's superior diplomatic abilities is a good one-he was present at the Feast of Reuniting, with Maedhros-but don't forget that Celegorm and Curufin had a fine veneer of these attributes as well. And some genuine diplomatic qualities. Their combined oratory could exert vast influence, vaster than that of any other Elf save Feanor, I suspect; Celegorm was a dynamic leader in a crisis, and is recorded as rescuing Orodreth.

Swapping round the brothers could make for fascinating fanfiction though.

Now, I ought to get round to contributing my views on Caranthir-many of which have been ably laid out previously, though.