Firstly, let us not call Feanor a villain. Morgoth is a villain. Sauron is a villain. Gothmog, Glaurung, and etc are villains. Not Feanor. He is not an evil guy. He is not even a bad guy. He's just a mad one. Well, at least partially. And many geniuses of the real world are partially mad.
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Originally Posted by Belegorn
Fėanor means "spirit of fire". This was his nature.
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I agree with that. Feanor is no Finarfin. He was born with an unusual strength of spirit - that which gave him his charisma and also his feyness and rashness.
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Originally Posted by Zigūr
Like all of Professor Tolkien's "villainous" characters (although he's more of an anti-hero, wouldn't you say?)
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Yes, I think that anti-hero works better for classifying him.
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Originally Posted by Zigur
I'm not sure how much sympathy I have for Fėanor, but despite the grandiosity of his deeds I do feel a great deal of empathy for him, because I think he encapsulates some very fundamental human themes, if in a rather exaggerated way.
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I'm not particularly sympathetic towards him either, but I love him as a character. Because it's his fault, but it's not his fault. Because he is a figure that only comes once (and he really does, haha...). Because he is fey, and you know that, but how do you change that, since it's his nature to be so fiery? Because you can't not be awed by him and by his deeds. Wrong as they were, you cannot deny their greatness. I wish more stories had their own Feanor figures.
And, bottom line is, every Noldo chose for himself. If they went with Feanor, it was because they chose to. Yes, Feanor was charismatic and inspiring and even fearsome to an extent (which, by the way, just makes me respect and be in awe of Feanor even more). But the Noldor collectively made the choice to follow him.