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Originally Posted by Aiwendil
Feanor, quite possibly the most important sub-Angelic character in the Silmarillion
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Hm, I wonder by what criterion. He is the most gifted, but that, in and of itself, is not sufficient. If anything, I would give heed to Tolkien's comment in the letters:
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Originally Posted by Letter #131
The chief of the stories of the Silmarillion, and the one most fully treated is the Story of Beren and Luthien the Elfmaiden. Here we meet, among other things, the first example of the motive (to become dominant in Hobbits) that the great policies of world history, 'the wheels of the world', are often turned not by the Lords and Governors, even gods, but by the seemingly unknown and weak – owing to the secret life in creation, and the pan unknowable to all wisdom but One, that resides in the intrusions of the Children of God into the Drama. It is Beren the outlawed monal who succeeds (with the help of Luthien, a mere maiden even if an elf of royalty) where all the armies and warriors have failed: he penetrates the stronghold of the Enemy and wrests one of the Silmarilli from the Iron Crown. Thus he wins the hand of Luthien and the first marriage of mortal and immortal is achieved
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The professor considers this to be the chief story; that the unknown and weak become central to the stage is something consistent with the rest of his legendarium.
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Originally Posted by Aiwendil
It’s hard not to wonder how things might have gone if Feanor had lived
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Worse, most likely, seeing that even with the "foreknowledge of death", concerning unavoidable failure, he asks his sons to continue following their blasphemous oath.