[William Cloud Hicklin]

Okay, yes. That certainly raises a material point- in Valinor, a race of immortals would have had no need for any concept of succession, save as a sort of hangover from the Great Journey and before. Which leads to the observation that Tolkien lost the plot a bit ca 1958 when revising QS: he has Feanor and Fingolfin squabbling over who was their father's heir- why? To what end? Inheritance would not have been a concept that any Elf of Valinor would have given the time of day to.

Things were different in Beleriand- especially since Feanor died almost immediately and the issue was front and center. But, yes, it probably was rather ad-hoc, other than a broad consensus that the House of Finwe was in charge. It's certainly fair to say that, viewed pragmatically, the title of High-King was meaningless after the Nirnaeth, sort of like "Holy Roman Emperor" after 1648. Turgon ruled Gondolin, Orodreth ruled Nargothrond, Thingol ruled Doriath, Cirdan was in charge at Sirion's mouths and Balar, the Feanorians were wandering exiles, the Green-elves did their own thing, and there was no central authority at all in a land where Morgoth was in effective control outside those few enclaves.