What does it mean for a person to be called The Great?
Why do people throughout our history call people The Great?
Why is Fëanor called The Greatest of all The Elves?
We can answer these questions by delving into the progenitor of historical record-keeping for the Children of Iluvatar, Rúmil and his successors, The Lambengolmor
Despite his renown, there are very few mentions of Rúmil amongst the earliest chronicles, save for his development of Sarati, the very first writing system in Arda. Using this system, Rúmil begins to cement his status as the sage of the Noldor by writing the first half of the published Ainulindalë, the Annals of Valinor, Lhammas, Lhammasethen, and Ambarkanta: The Shape of the World.1
Amongst these works, the Ainulindalë is the foremost among them as not only does it beautifully explain the creation of Eä and its inhabitants, but his sources were also the participants of that creation, the Valar themselves.2 However, it can be argued that his wisdom surpassed all his published works as it enabled both the budding and the wilting of the Children of Ilúvatar as a whole.
Not only did J.R.R. and Christopher Tolkien find and translate the Red Book of Westmarch, but also found the sources that Bilbo used for his translations. One often referred to text is I Equessi Rúmilo, or The Sayings of Rúmil)3 a treatise that is akin to the works of Plato’s Dialogues, and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Although not specifically stated in Christopher Tolkien’s Histories of Middle-Earth, like Plato, Rúmil likely had an academy in which the princes of the Noldor attended to learn the wisdom of the Valar given to Rúmil, alongside his own experience based sagacity.4
As these princelings and noblemen developed their love of knowledge, languages and lore from their master, they would go on to emulate Rúmil and establish their own school and call themselves the Lambengolmor, The Loremasters of the elves.5 The members of this group were: Rúmil, Pengoloð, (who later expanded Rúmil’s histories into what we know as the published Ainulindalë and the Quenta Silmarillion), Ecthelion, Finrod, Orodreth, and the founder of the Lambengolmor and the chief among them, Fëanor.6
Described from his youth by either Rúmil or his collaborator, Pengoloð as “Fëanor grew swiftly, as if a secret fire were kindled within him. He was tall, and fair of face, and masterful. Few ever changed his courses by counsel, none by force. He became of all the Noldor, then or after, the most subtle in mind and the most skilled in hand”.7
What makes a Noldõ great are their skills in language, craftsmenship, lore mastery, and war, all skills that Fëanor masterfully possessed. Fëanor’s subtlety of mind enabled him to improve upon his teacher’s writing system by developing a system of his own, Tengwar. This system provided the Free Peoples of Arda a written lingua franca. Not only was Fëanor able to surpass his master by further developing a full writing system, he could also understand the language of the Valar well beyond his peers.8 As many polymaths move on to develop skills in other fields, Fëanor soon moved his spirit to the art of invention and gemcrafting.
Fëanor’s fascination with gems and their making was focused in how he could make them “Brighter than those hidden in the earth.”9 His fascination would lead him to the creation of lamps, described as ‘crystals hung in a fine chain net, the crystals being ever shining with
an inner blue radiance10 He would also go on to develop the palantiri, the seeing-stones later used by the Númenorians and their descendants. As he continued to challenge his skills, he soon shifted his focus on an even stronger source of light, the light of the Two Trees, Laurelin, and Telperion. After 200 years of toil and strife in trying to pursue the purest of lights, Fëanor succeeded by capturing the light of the two trees in the greatest of all gems, the Silmarils. 11
Pengoloð and Rumil claim Fëanor as the greatest of all the elves not only because he surpsases the skills they passed down to him, but for his singular ability to be a finger-tip away from the divinity of the Valar, the sub-creators of Arda.
1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, “Part Four. Quendi and Eldar: Appendix D. *Kwen, Quenya, and the Elvish (especially Ñoldorin) words for ‘Language’: Note on the ‘Language of the Valar'”, pp. 343
2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, “Part Four. Quendi and Eldar: Appendix D. *Kwen, Quenya, and the Elvish (especially Ñoldorin) words for ‘Language’: Note on the ‘Language of the Valar'”, pp. 406
3 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, “Part Four. Quendi and Eldar: Appendix D. *Kwen, Quenya, and the Elvish (especially Ñoldorin) words for ‘Language’: Note on the ‘Language of the Valar'”, pp. 397-398
4 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.) The Peoples of Middle-Earth XI. The Shibboleth of Fëanor, pp.342
5 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, “Part Four. Quendi and Eldar: Appendix D. *Kwen, Quenya, and the Elvish (especially Ñoldorin) words for ‘Language’: Note on the ‘Language of the Valar'”, pp. 396
6 “Nor were the ‘loremasters’ a separate guild of gentle scribes, soon burned by the Orks of Angband upon pyres of books. They were mostly even as Fëanor, the greatest, kings, princes and warriors such as the valiant captains of Gondolin, or Finrod of Nagothrong and Rodothir [> Artothir] his kinsman and steward.” J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.) The Peoples of Middle-Earth XI. The Shibboleth of Fëanor, pp.358
7 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, “Quenta Silmarillion”, “Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor”, pp. 72
8 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, “Part Four. Quendi and Eldar: Appendix D. *Kwen, Quenya, and the Elvish (especially Ñoldorin) words for ‘Language’: Note on the ‘Language of the Valar'”, pp. 405
9 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth’s Ring, “Part Two. The Annals of Aman: Notes [on Section 4]”, pp. 93
10 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, “Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin”, note 2 pp.51
11 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth’s Ring, “Part Two. The Annals of Aman: Notes [on Section 4]”, pp. 95
Cinemallennials 