Silmarillion: Main characters (Book report)

[Anguirel]

Very convenient, but regrettably balderdash. Maedhros, Maglor and the twins in particular have plenty of their mother in them...

The seven sons are not a more survivable split up Feanor clone. Feanor did not reproduce asexually.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

the phantom would pick Feanor and Turin because they are by far the most interesting characters.

And no, that's not an opinion, that's just the truth.

I disagree with the Phantom's opinion.
I'd suggest Maedhros as the most interesting and conflicted person, and the character who arguably most drives the story overall.

Earendil is clearly a/the key secondary character. Is Turin really
all that important to the tale of the Silmarils? Tuor, Beren and
Luthien, and Morgoth it seems are more relevant secondary
characters. But in a Shakespearean tragedy (or perhaps more
a Grrek tragedy) sense, I'd say
Maedhros should be the key character to the tale overall. He
tries to mean well but at numerous times feels compelled to
follow an evil and hopeless path.

[drigel]

You could almost suggest that the Oath of Feanor as a character. This way, you could encompass more than one entity.

[Eldar14]

You could almost suggest that the Oath of Feanor as a character. This way, you could encompass more than one entity.

the Silmarils, even though they are an object not a character, are in many ways more important than the primary characters in many novels.

Now wouldn't that be an interesting paper. Pick as your two main characters things which aren't really characters: The Oath and The Silmarils.

[Glirdan]

Unfortunately, you are all getting to far ahead of yourselves. a)It's a Character analysis and we have to stick with it. b) I'm in grade ELEVEN, not university. Mind you, all of those ideas seem rather interesting and would actually create another challenge for me. Which is why I might do it again in grade 12 or once I get to uni that is.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Anguirel

Very convenient, but regrettably balderdash. Maedhros, Maglor and the twins in particular have plenty of their mother in them...

The seven sons are not a more survivable split up Feanor clone. Feanor did not reproduce asexually.

Of course not. But that oath! I just re-read it. It is one fierce oath! All genetics, inclinations, et cetera, become subservient to it due to its sheer scope. The seven sons of Feanor bound themselves with their father to that oath. So maybe the oath is after all a rather fitting possibility as a character....

Glirdan, I hope you don't mind if this thread goes off in directions you didn't originally intend. There's a lot of good possibility for discussion here.

[narfforc]

My own view is that the Oath is only a characteristic of Feanors lack of control. However, it is very central to the whole story, for one of the last things we see in The Silmarillion true, is Maglor throwing the Silmaril into the sea, after fulfilling the oath. Therefore if you included The Oath of Feanor into your list, then The Prophecy of the North/Doom of the Noldor was equally as binding and powerful.

[Glirdan]

Lmp, I'm absoultely fine with that. I was actually going to come back on and say (even though I'm now done the project) to continue these discussions as they are all great ideas and I would have loved to have been able to use them all.

Now to deliver good news that I hope you will all be proud of. Keep in mind that I'm only a Grade 10 student in a Grade 11 class (my schedule got messed up). Also keep in mind that the Silmarillion is a rather difficult book to analyze (as has been proven earlier in the thread).

Anyway, back to the good news. I finished the analysis. But that's not the good part. The good part is that it's 10 pages long and 2,530 some words. So, what do you think of one of the youngest members now??

[littlemanpoet]

I'm not sure about the lack of self-control, as such. I think there is this, but only in certain senses. Feanor was a very self-controlled individual, except in two particular ways.

His oath is fascinating in its motivations, of which there were basically two:

1. what he loved
2. his separation

He loved his father, the silmarils, and his superiority/separation from other Eldar. While he had the first two, the effects of his separation from others was mitigated.

He lost his father and his silmarils in the same day, and Morgoth was responsible. Feanor was not in control of what he loved, nor of the degree to which he was separated from others by his abilities, his birth mother, and his character.

His separation from others combined with the loss of what he loved, resulted in anger and hate. The oath sprang from this. Why an oath, though? Why swear to his course of action? The reason was to demonstrate his determination to regain at least the silmarils, for he could not regain his father. He desired the silmarils and he was proud enough to believe himself capable of reclaiming them from Morgoth. The result was his passion, which took the form of the oath he and his seven sons swore.

So yes, there is an element of lack of self-control, but there is a lot of self-control in Feanor too. Considering how Feanor was described, it would take a lot more character to control oneself if one was Feanor than if one was, say, Elempí.

[Thalion]

If you're sticking with the Silmarillion, then the two main characters are clearly and undoubtably Morgoth and Feanor...without these two, the tale doesn't happen, period, end of story...you need Melkor/Morgoth to steal the Silmarils and Feanor to swear an Oath which leads the Noldor back to Middle Earth...which is what the Silmarillion is about, the plight of the Noldor on Middle Earth...even if you include the Akallabeth, this is an extension of the plight of the Noldor (albeit mixed now with the plight of Men...but really they are called "half-elven" not "half-men") but now dealing with Morgoth's underling Sauron...

Back to point...Morgoth and Feanor...two main characters, that is what the Silmarillion is about...Oath of Feanor against Morgoth because of the Simarils, thats why the Noldor leave Aman

5 secondary characters is much tougher...

NOTE: Although I personally love the story and tale of Turin, his is the easiest removed from this discussion because he really never drives the Silmarillion story...he has no interaction with the Silmarills or with Morgoth...his story is named the saddest and he suffers most from the evil begot by Morgoth but not directly, only indirectly through trechery, sorrow and lies...therefore I think you can rule him out

1) Sons of Feanor...group these together (unless you want to do 6 plus Maedhros as he plays a somewhat more important role)...they as secondary characters are chiefly important because they continue the Oath of Feanor...although otherwise they suck because they don't do much for the story in terms of plots and interesting actions

2) Beren/Luthien...clearly important because a) they interact with the Silmarils, b) they interact with Morgoth (and his chief underling Sauron), c) they interact with the Son's of Feanor, d) their story was most dear to Tolkien's heart (his tombstone has Beren below his name and Luthien below his wife's name)

3) Earendil...the "Jesus" figure of this work...he not only is bound to a Silmaril (permanently in the sky), but he is the savior of Middle Earth when he voluntarily sacrifices himself to venture to Valinor for help

After those three, pick as you choose...Finrod helps Beren on his way...Tuor and his comming to Gondolin, which was one of the first stories Tolkien wrote and is the last stronghold of the Elves, minus Cirdan's havens of course...Hurin who is named Mightest of Warriors of mortal men, who interacted with Morgoth, Thingol, Turgon, ect...Hurin's tale more so than his son's is important because it ties together many plots...again, I love Turin, but his story is cheifly concerning the fall of Nargothrond and Glaurung, doesn't further the story of the Silmarils...

I also venture now to say that I would probably break up the Son's of Feanor into two groups...Maedhros, and the other 6 smucks...Maedhros deserves his own piece now that I think about it because he drives the plot significantly more than his brothers

anyways, those are my thoughts on the subject, all is well and open to debate...I'm sure many will disagree

[Macalaure]

I also agree with Morgoth and Fëanor as the chief characters.

But I think it’s very though to pick the five minor characters – there are at ten or more that would qualify.

1) and 2) Beren and Lúthien. Not only because of the importance of their story, but because they simply are interesting characters which grow as the tale proceeds. I would not put them together as one character, they deserve to be treated individually. Also Beren will be the only mortal and Lúthien the only non-noldorin elf on my list.

3) Maedhros plus 6 (rather 4, isn’t it), as Thalion put it. Every time it is told that Fëanor’s sons did something together, Maedhros had the last word on it. His actions bring the plot forward and his decisions are worthy to be looked at in detail. But the other six/four shouldn’t be put into one box, that would do injustice at least towards Maglor.

4) Turgon. You simply need an elf not from Fëanor’s house in here, I think. Turgon to me is more interesting than Fingolfin, Finrod or Fingon because of his actions and decisions. Why does he leave Tirion? Why does he hide himself when his kin would have needed his help? Why does he then decide to come out for the Nirnaeth? And, maybe most of all, why doesn’t he listen to Ulmo’s words brought to him?

5) Sauron. He’s of minor imprortance in the Quenta but the chief baddie of Akallabêth and Third Age. Not including him would leave those important chapters out.

“on the outside looking in”:
Húrin and Túrin, for the above reasons. As interesting and tragic as their story is, they don’t really contribute to the whole story.
Finrod. Again, his decisions would be fascinating to examine. I would pick him as 6).
Thingol. A very complex and intriguing character and main force behind the deeds of Beren and Lúthien.

I would object against Eärendil. Yes, I know, he’s important, but what do we know about him, actually? His symbolic meaning is undisputed, but he only appears as an active character in one (and not the longest) chapter.

Another idea:
What do you think about, instead of trying to cover the whole book, to concentrate on one single chapter. That would of course be “Of Beren and Lúthien”.
The main characters are clear here.
The secondary characters would be Thingol, Finrod, Celegorm and Curufin as one, Morgoth and then Daeron or Sauron, maybe Melian or Orodreth.
The interesting thing about this is: not only gives it the opportunity to give more detail instead of putting a little bit of everything in it, the background story of the characters would at the end be covering the whole story, since you can’t talk about the Silmarils without mentioning Fëanor and his oath.