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It's All in the Family: The Finweans - Page 2

© Michael Martinez

Nonetheless, the Noldor, more than any other Elven people whose culture Tolkien wrote about, maintained a very patriarchal system. The Noldorin kings achieved a near absolute authority over their people, much like the authority Melkor wielded over his own subjects. In a way, the Noldor became a parody of the very thing they despised: Morgoth's realm. Their social structure must have been compelled toward such autocracy by ancient customs more than by experimentation. In fact, it is reasonable to infer from the names of several Avarin groups that the Tatyar were more prone to division than the Nelyar. If that is so, then Finwe's ability to retain the full loyalty of his people in Aman was remarkable. Feanor was far less popular than his father. So, whereas the autocratic authority of the later Noldorin kings implies that they may have inherited a primal authority from Tata, Finwe's personality may have played a greater role in establishing that authority than his heritage. That is, for the Noldor, descent from Finwe would be more important than descent from Tata. Which is not to say that the original chieftains of the Tatyar should not have been descended from Tata. It makes sense that, if Iluvatar selected Tata to awaken first of the Elves, he would have the qualities of a natural leader Iluvatar felt the Tatyar would require. Hence, Tata would (if he were a good father) raise his children to be good leaders, too. Leadership would have become the natural role of the family simply because the family exercised leadership. Hence, if Finwe had brothers or cousins who elected not to go to Valinor, they may have become the leaders of the Tatyarin Avari. The issue of whether Finwe had other relatives is interesting though not necessarily critical to understanding the Noldorin culture. There were other princely houses among the Noldor. They may have shared a kinship with the royal house through common descent from Tata, but Tolkien never explores the subject in any published writing. There were princes in Gondolin, such as Glorfindel (whom Gandalf tells Frodo is descended of a house of princes). Unfortunately, the history of the Gondolin texts makes it impossible to determine how many princes there were in Gondolin, or what their relationship to the Finweans (if any) may have been. Vonronwe claimed kinship with the House of Fingolfin. A common descent from Tata might explain that apparent discrepancy. A descent through a daughter of Fingolfin (one of whom went into exile) might also explain Voronwe's claim. But some people argue that Voronwe's statement may only imply a feudal relationship between his family and Fingolfin's family.

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