[Orphalesion]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

Melko seems to have no idea what to do with himself once he has stolen the jewels--and, indeed, his motivation to take them in the first place seems to be mere greed.

Well the Silmarills weren't that important yet in a metaphysical sense, they were just the most beautiful of the gems created by the Noldoli. But even the later version Melkor is motivated, fundamentally motivated by greed, cosic-scale greed for the light untainted and the flame unperishable, but still greed.

It fascinates me that Fëanor was not originally Finwë's son, but all the more so because, as CT shows in the notes and commentary, Tolkien wavered between having his great desire for revenge be due to his grief as a son or father--and although Bruithwir would remain a distinct (if undifferentiated) character, I find myself wondering if the decision to go with "father" as the dead character was one that allowed much of the later history to develop. I do not think it would have made Fëanor as likely to be welded to the royal house, since the death of a royal grandson would not have had the same whole-nation motivating factor as the death of the Tribal Father--and I doubt whether the Seven Sons of Fëanor would have developed, since six surviving sons would have uncut the unsalvable grief of losing a most beloved child.

Which is not to say that it COULDN'T have been written! But I do think that the choice of father rather than son was more conducive to developing the story as we would have it and I incline to suspect it might have contributed to its fermentation. Imagine how different the legendarium would have been without the Seven Sons of Fëanor! Would there have been an Oath? Would the House of Finwë and its domestic drama have ever risen to such a central place?

Other thoughts...

1.) Lacking a connection to Fëanor, Finwë seems rather more saintly in the original text--more worth of his epessë Nólemë, anyway.

It is interesting how the family tree of Finwë developed out of necessity as roles needed filling in the various tales. Fëanor's sons will show up soon in the LT, of course still unrelated to Nólemë who only has two children here: Turgon (who is not born until they return to Middle Earth and Isfin (Aredhel). Later as Fëanor was integrated into the family tree Nólemë would be split into Finwe, Fingolfin and Fingon to account for all the different tales of the Elven king's death, the leaders of the Rodothlim from Turamba's tale would be integrated into the family, Finrod arose to reconcile the dualistic nature of the original character from the lay of Leithian.
I'm sadly no expert on it but it would interest me if any of the Finweans were created superfluously just to bolster the family tree (I always had that impression with Angrod and Aegnor)

However while I do love the screwed up family drama of Finwe's descendants later on as much as the next guy, there is something to be said about this early version were not everybody has to be related and Elves seem to be able to rise to leadership position on merit of skill, charisma....or luck.

3.) The story of the messenger killed by the angry Valar and Eldar is the only regret I have about losing the gap between the two calamities. Not to say that this taboo-breaking tale would necessarily have fit in the later tale, but it has weight to it, and it feels like an thematic precursor to the kinslayings.

Oh man, that would have never flown in the later mythology.

5. Ungwë Lianti covets the gems of the Noldor, but unless I'm missing something, she doesn't actually devour them in the old story. To quote: "so came all that treasury of most lovely gems fairer than any others that the world has ever seen into the foul keeping of Wirilómë, and was wound in webs of darkness and hidden deep in the caverns of the eastern slopes of the great hills that are the southern boundary of Eruman." The dread and horror of Ungoliant is far less here, but I'll grant that I like the mental image this evokes: a lost treasure in the most desolate of places in the most binding of cobwebs.

Actually, won't we see later that Ungwë Lianti had a much bigger role planned for her than ultimately materialized? The sun and the moon journey from east to west because Melko holds the north and Ungweliant the south. The (truly) lost tale when she, for a time capture the sun and moon in her nets and her planned demise at the hands of Earendel.
It's a pity that in the published Silmarillion all that is left of her fate is basically "she ran away....and probably ate herself"
She is really one of these tales that later ere lost like Ulbandi and Nuin.