Fëanor and the Faustian Man

Feb 25, 2025

The German philosopher and historian Oswald Spengler, author of the Untergang des Abendlandes and admirer of Nietzsche and Goethe proclaims the latter´s character Faust to be the archetypal figure of our very own civilisation. In pursuit of greater knowledge and power he makes a pact with the Devil and pays with his soul, in direct contradiction to the second temptation of Jesus as portrayed in Luke 4:5-8.

And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written,‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’”

Should Spengler be correct in his assessment of our civilisation as Faustian, we ought to find a similar figure in perhaps the most popular re-telling contemporary of the fundamental Western epic, the Legendarium of J. R. R. Tolkien. It appears that the Oxford professor was intent on exactly that, in a letter to Milton Waldman Tolkien states his purpose to make a body of more or less connected legend, that would resonate with England. It should possess the tone and quality that I desired, somewhat cool and clear, be redolent of our 'air' (the clime and soil of the North West, meaning Britain and the hither parts of Europe: not Italy or the Aegean, still less the East.

These references in the end of the sentence are direct references of the Homeric epics. The English historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee states in his 2^nd and 5^th volume (on pages 94-96 and 233-235) that the Greek epic poetry of Ionia has its counterpart in the Teutonic epic poetry of England and the Scandinavia Saga of Iceland1 , of which the former relates to Beowulf, from which he drew substantial influence, as he did from the Nibelungslied and the Edda. In that it appears that Tolkien´s legendarium stands to these Germanic epics as does Virgil´s Aeneid to the Homeric epics.

Tolkien´s legendarium features characters that embody the Faustian archetype, most prominently in Fëanor, one of the key characters in the Silmarillion (a similar motif appears in two other characters: Ar-Pharazôn, the last king of Númenor and Celebrimbor, who happens to be Fëanor´s grandson.)

Fëanor´s name literally means Spirit of Fire and this connection is repeatedly evoked. “Fëanor grew swiftly, as if a secret fire were kindled within him”, “when the fire of his heart grew too hot”, “ For Fëanor was driven by the fire of his own heart only”2 “Fiercest burned the new flame of desire for freedom and wider realms in the eager heart of Fëanor” 3. At the moment of his death so fiery was his spirit that as it sped his body fell to ash, and was borne away like smoke4.

He was tall, and fair of face, and masterful, his eyes piercingly bright and his hair raven-dark; in the pursuit of all his purposes eager and steadfast. 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 hand5.

He is the first one to be presented as a true individual, in that he was not neither an angelic spirit of the Valar or the Maiar, nor a patriarch of his tribe. Franz Borkenau comments the rise of the individuality and the use of the “I” pronoun in his very first chapter of his book begins with discussing the runic inscription I, Hlegestr from Holt, made this horn, dated to the year 400 AD 6. Indeed Fëanor embodies this Faustian ego habeo factum7 with profound intensity. Always diligent (Seldom were the hands and mind of Fëanor at rest.8 he embodies the new ethos of the West, which lay in strong contrast to the Classical attitude that saw manual labour as unworthy of the distinguished. This work ethic was instituted clearly with Saint Benedict and his rule of ora and labora, though it is doubtful to ascribe “ora” to the elf-artisan. The fruit of labours becomes increasingly more perfect – from the improvement of the writing system, through the forging of the palantíri (though not explicitly named as such in the Silmarillion, he indeed forged the seeing-stones, effectively creating an orb-version of live-video social media, which has ultimately driven Denethor to madness), till the creation of his masterpiece, so that the light of the Trees, the glory of the Blessed Realm, might be preserved imperishable. Then he began a long and secret labour, and he summoned all his lore, and his power, and his subtle skill; and at the end of all he made the Silmarils9. This relentless pursuit of mastery mirrors the Faustian tendency to dominate and reshape nature.

“The fall of the Elves comes about through the possessive attitude of Feanor and his seven sons to these gems”10 since “(t)he heart of Fëanor was fast bound to these things that he himself had made” and later For Fëanor began to love the Silmarils with a greedy love, and grudged the sight of them to all save to his father and his seven sons; he seldom remembered now that the light within them was not his own and ultimately the Silmarils held his heart in thrall.11 This greedy love for one´s own creation appears to have become idolatrous and gradually leads their creator to his Fall, which comes as he “may become possessive, clinging to the things made as 'its own', the sub-creator wishes to be the Lord and God of his private creation. He will rebel against the laws of the Creator – especially against mortality. Both of these (alone or together) will lead to the desire for Power, for making the will more quickly effective, – and so to the Machine (or Magic). By the last I intend all use of external plans or devices (apparatus) instead of development of the inherent inner powers or talents — or even the use of these talents with the corrupted motive of dominating: bulldozing the real world, or coercing other wills. The Machine is our more obvious modern form though more closely related to Magic than is usually recognised12. Tolkiens equation of Magic and the Machine appears clear at plain sight from this quote. The Faustian man today stands surrounded by a plethora of technological marvels – which would have been understood as magic to the uninitiated common folk of every other era. So too do the various devices forged by Fëanor, such as the palantíri, a communication technology represent the striving to dominate the world, to conquer nature.

Fingon Rescues Maedhros, by Rick Ritchie. (Source)

In him we find a Promethean figure, reminded very consciously by his eldest son Maedhros hanging quite literally like Prometheus of the Greek myth from the cliffs of Thangorodrim. For though the entire legendarium is interwoven in a very Epimethean, Hesiodic conception of time, of the gradually decreasing splendour of successive ages, in Tolkien´s word, of history as a long defeat, a world full of entropy whose decline can be halted in enchanted Elvish realms with help of magic. We see this throughout Beleriand, the dwindling of Arnor and Gondor and the Dwarves. Yet perhaps in Fëanor we find a perception of time contrary to the rest of the legendarium, an optimistic impulse, a vision that the future offers more than the past. His quest to cross the sea and seek his destiny in Middle-Earth embodies a plus ultra, a striving to follow him and by their own prowess to win freedom and great realms in the lands of the East13. In him we find a yearning for the limitless space for vast horizons yet unseen, combined with an eagerness to dominate and conquer. So too we find this change of ethos in Númenor from gift-giving as told in the Akallabeth: For with the aid and counsel of Sauron they multiplied then: possessions, and they devised engines, and they built ever greater ships. And they sailed now with power and armoury to Middle-earth, and they came no longer as bringers of gifts, nor even as rulers, but as fierce men of war.

Fëanor gradually begins to reject the gods as he began openly to speak words of rebellion against the Valar, crying aloud that he would depart from Valinor back to the world without, and would deliver the Noldor from thraldom, if they would follow him14. As many of us struggled to find solution to the problem of evil, should there be an omnipotent, omniscient and loving God, Fëanor´s atheism comes about with associating the Valar with Morgoth and condemning them all in one package And is he not Vala as are they and describing them as jealous, declaring them kin of my father's slayer15 . Ultimately, Fëanor and his sons then take a terrible and blasphemous oath of enmity and vengeance against all or any, even of the gods, who dares to claim any part or right in the Silmarilli. They pervert the greater part of their kindred, who rebel against the gods, and depart from paradise, and go to make hopeless war upon the Enemy16. Not only is his oath blasphemous, it is idolatrous. As Tolkien´s friend, C.S.Lewis wrote: The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them which will not make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide17. In the Fëanorian oath we find exactly that a declaration of relentless and wrathful pursuit of one single objective.

In Fëanor is also embodied a revolutionary orator, a demagogue, who gathers the Noldor with torches and convinces them to leave: Fëanor was a master of words, and his tongue had great power over hearts when he would use it; and that night he made a speech before the Noldor which they ever remembered. Fierce and few were his words, and filled with anger and pride; and hearing them the Noldor were stirred to madness.18 The torchlight procession and a certain Noldorin nationalism evoke a Promethean, revolutionary spirit, a passion-driven man of the Romantic Nationalism.

Interestingly, Fëanor in his forging of the Silmarils has a stark parallel in his grandson Celebrimbor forging the Rings of Power in Eregion, listening to Sauron´s to the luring utopian visions presented by Sauron. Similar to how his grandfather´s downfall began as he begun listening to the lies of Morgoth, so too the fall of Eregion begins with Celebrimbor being friends with Sauron. Thus the Doom of Mandos in his cursing of Fëanor´s house To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well19 has thus finally caught Celebrimbor.

Fëanor’s story encapsulates the duality of the Faustian man. His genius and creativity are awe-inspiring, yet they are inseparable from his flaws: pride, impulsiveness, and a relentless drive that leads to ruin. In Spenglerian terms, Feanor is both a pinnacle of Noldorin achievement and a harbinger of its decline their greatest renown and their most grievous woe (The Silmarillion, Chapter 13: Of the Return of the Noldor)

Fëanor is the quintessential Faustian man—a figure of boundless ambition and tragic overreach. His story encapsulates both the creative and destructive forces of Western civilization, grappling with the divine and ultimately succumbing to its own excesses. It appears as if Tolkien Fëanor’s legacy, like that of the Faustian West, is one of brilliance tempered by tragedy—a poignant reminder of the costs of unyielding striving and the hubris of attempting to transcend all limits.

Civilisation and Tradition

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