# The Oath of Feanor (Narration versus Quotation)



## Eljorahir (Oct 9, 2022)

The Silmarillion, "Of The Flight of The Noldor":

_*"Then Feanor swore a terrible oath. His seven sons leapt straightway to his side and took the selfsame vow together, and red as blood shone their drawn swords in the glare of the torches. They swore an oath which none shall break, and none should take, by the name even of Illuvatar, calling the Everlasting Dark upon them if they kept it not; and Manwe they named in witness, and Varda, and the hallowed mountain of Taniquetil, vowing to pursue with vengeance and hatred to the ends of the World Vala, Demon, Elf or Man as yet unborn, or any creature, great or small, good or evil, that time should bring forth unto the end of days, whoso should hold or take or keep a Silmaril from their possession."*_

This is one of my favorite paragraphs in all of Tolkien's writings. However, I've always wondered why Tolkien chose to describe the oath to us in the narration instead of giving us the oath in Feanor's own words, as a quotation. Something like: _And Feanor exclaimed so all could hear, "We here swear an oath, and may the Everlasting Dark fall upon us if we keep it not..."_

As powerful as the paragraph is, I always come out of it thinking it could have been even better if Tolkien had given it to us in the form of a quotation, directly in Feanor's voice.

My apologies if these are tedious annoying questions, but I thought I'd ask anyway.
Does Tolkien give us a direct quote version of "The Oath of Feanor" in any other writings?
Do you have any thoughts on whether a direct quotation in Feanor's own voice would be even more powerful?


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## Elthir (Oct 9, 2022)

Eljorahir said:


> (. . .) Does Tolkien give us a direct quote version of "The Oath of Feanor" in any other writings?



The oath can be found in _The Annals of Aman _[Morgoth's Ring], for example.

🐾


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## Elthir (Oct 9, 2022)

It's also in this thread.

"Be he foe or friend, be he foul or clean,

brood of Morgoth or bright Vala,
Elda or Maia or Aftercomer,
Man yet unborn upon Middle-earth,
neither law, nor love, nor league of swords,
dread nor danger, not Doom itself,
shall defend him from Fëanor, and Fëanor's kin,
whoso hideth or hoardeth, or in hand taketh,
finding keepeth or afar casteth
a Silmaril. This swear we all:
death we will deal him ere Day's ending
woe unto world's end! Our word hear thou,
Eru Allfather! To the everlasting
Darkness doom us if our deed faileth.
On the holy mountain hear in witness

and our vow remember, Manwë and Varda!"


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## Eljorahir (Oct 9, 2022)

Elthir said:


> It's also in this thread.
> 
> "Be he foe or friend, be he foul or clean,
> 
> ...


Wow! That's awesome. Just what I wanted. Thanks very much Elthir!

After your previous post I checked the price for "Morgoth's Ring" and then the whole "History of Middle-earth" boxed set. I'm thinking maybe I'll get it for myself for a Christmas present.


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## ZehnWaters (Oct 9, 2022)

Eljorahir said:


> Wow! That's awesome. Just what I wanted. Thanks very much Elthir!
> 
> After your previous post I checked the price for "Morgoth's Ring" and then the whole "History of Middle-earth" boxed set. I'm thinking maybe I'll get it for myself for a Christmas present.


That's what I did.


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## 🍀Yavanna Kementári🍀 (Oct 10, 2022)

Which do you think is more effective - the narrated version or the original quotation?


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## Eljorahir (Oct 10, 2022)

Nienna Qalme-Tári said:


> Which do you think is more effective - the narrated version or the original quotation?


I think hearing the oath in Feanor's own voice is very important. So, if I had to pick one, I'd choose the original quotation. However, the narrated version certainly conveys the full content of the oath very effectively.

As a side comment, there's one phrase inserted into the narrated oath that I find interesting: *"...none should take..." *If I'm understanding this phrase correctly, the narrator is basically telling us his opinion that taking this oath is a terrible idea right within his description of the oath itself! In my opinion, it's a great bit of foreshadowing of the woes to come with the insertion of three simple words.


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## Elthir (Oct 10, 2022)

Indeed, after *"Thus spoke* [insert names of Feanor's sons] . . ." [section 134, _Annals of Aman_] it is written: *"But by that name none should swear an oath, good or evil, nor in anger call upon such witness, and many quailed to hear the fell words."*

🐾 for effect


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## Eljorahir (Oct 10, 2022)

Elthir said:


> "But by *that name* none should swear an oath


In the reference is "that name" Eru? So, it's a warning that you should never cite Iluvatar in any oath?


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## Elthir (Oct 10, 2022)

As I read it, the name refers to Eru Allfather (_Ilúvatar_ "Allfather"), with the witnesses being Manwe and Varda.


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## 🍀Yavanna Kementári🍀 (Oct 10, 2022)

_Don't cite our Elder King and Queen of Arda either..._


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## Eljorahir (Oct 10, 2022)

Thou shalt not use the holy names for vain purposes.

Hmmm. Sounds familiar.


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## Eljorahir (Oct 16, 2022)

Eljorahir said:


> I've always wondered why Tolkien chose to describe the oath to us in the narration instead of giving us the oath in Feanor's own words, as a quotation.


I was reading the chapter "Of Beren and Luthien" last night and found something relevant to add to the thread.

After Beren makes his way to Nargothrond he explains to Felagund his need to attain a Silmaril. Then, Finrod tells his people he's going to assist Beren. Then Celegorm:

*Then Celegorm arose amid the throng, and drawing his sword he cried: 'Be he friend or foe, whether demon of Morgoth, or Elf, or child of Men, or any other living thing in Arda, neither law, nor love, nor league of hell, nor might of the Valar, nor any power of wizardry, shall defend him from the pursuing hate of Feaner's sons, if he take or find a Silmaril and keep it. For the Silmarils we alone claim, until the world ends.'*

So, The Silmarillion does gives us the oath directly in Celegorm's voice. And, assuming the timeline at the Tolkien Gateway is accurate, this is almost five centuries after the original "Oath of Feanor".


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## Elthir (Oct 16, 2022)

Eljorahir 👍

Celegorm also gives a rhyming couplet
version in _The Lay of Leithian_:

"Be he friend or foe, or demon wild
of Morgoth, Elf, or mortal child,
or any that here on earth may dwell,
no law, nor love, nor league of hell,
no might of Gods, no binding spell,
shall him defend from hatred fell
of Feanor's sons, whoso take or steal
or finding keep a Silmaril,
These we alone do claim by right,
our thrice-enchanted jewels bright."

Compare to the earlier oath
in the same Lay:

"Curufin, Celegorm the fair,
Damrod and Diriel were there,
and Cranthir dark, and Maidros tall
(whom after torment should befall),
and Maglor the mighty who like the sea
with deep voice sings yet mournfully.
"Be he friend or foe, or seed defiled
of Morgoth Bauglir, or mortal child
that in after days on earth shall dwell,
no law, nor love, nor league of hell,
not might of Gods, not moveless fate
shall him defend from wrath and hate
of Feanor's sons, who takes or steals
or finding keeps the Silmarils,
the thrice-enchanted globes of light
that shine until the final night."

JRRT, The Lay of Leithian

[interesting, the rhyme of _steals_ with_ Silmarils_]

I myself prefer the alliterative verse above, from the Annals of Aman,
which had an earlier form in _The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor_

Be he friend or foe or foul offspring
of Morgoth Bauglir, be he mortal dark
that in after days on earth shall dwell,
shall no law nor love nor league of Gods,
no might nor mercy, not moveless fate,
defend him forever from the fierce vengeance
of the sons of Fëanor, whoso seize or steal
of finding keep the fair enchanted
globes of crystal whose glory dies not,
the Silmarils. We have sworn forever.

🐾


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## Eljorahir (Oct 16, 2022)

Many thanks. These are great. 

When reading aloud I think it works to cheat just a little on the "Silmaril" pronunciation:

_of Feanor's sons, whoso take or steal
or finding keep a Silmareal,_

It looks kind of blasphemous in writing, but spoken I think the mispronunciation just adds a little color to the recitation. (I can pretend I'm speaking in Hugo Weaving's Elrond accent maybe.) 🙂 

Also, I've always liked the Gil-galad poem. A few months ago I finally got around to committing it to memory. Now that you provided the Celegorm rhyming couplet I note that it has almost identical structure to the Gil-galad verses almost down to the syllable count per line. Cool! (And now, I have another poem to memorize.)



_Gil-galad was an Elven-King.
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
The last whose realm was fair and free
Between the mountains and the sea.
His sword was long, his lance was keen
His shining helm afar was seen.
The countless stars of heaven's field
Were mirrored in his silver shield.
But long ago he rode away,
And where he dwelleth none can say
For into darkness fell his star;
In Mordor, where the shadows are._​
_Be he friend or foe, or demon wild
of Morgoth, Elf, or mortal child,
or any that here on earth may dwell,
no law, nor love, nor league of hell,
no might of Gods, no binding spell,
shall him defend from hatred fell
of Feanor's sons, whoso take or steal
or finding keep a Silmaril,
These we alone do claim by right,
our thrice-enchanted jewels bright._​


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## Elthir (Oct 16, 2022)

👍 

Also, I should note an error of mine above. 

of the sons of Fëanor, whoso seize or steal
of or finding keep the fair enchanted

and please excuse other errors that I'm possibly missing!


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## d4rk3lf (Oct 17, 2022)

Elthir said:


> shall defend him from Fëanor, and Fëanor's kin,


Hmmm... interesting... 

I wonder.. does that mean, if some Silmaril somehow appeared in second age, Celebrimbor would be obliged to fulfill the oath, even he didn't give oath personally (wasn't even born yet)?


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## Eljorahir (Oct 17, 2022)

d4rk3lf said:


> I wonder.. does that mean, if some Silmaril somehow appeared in second age, Celebrimbor would be obliged to fulfill the oath, even he didn't give oath personally (wasn't even born yet)?



_*"...shall defend him from Feanor and Feanor's kin..."*_

That is an interesting question that comes up with this version of the wording. The other versions all cite "Feanor and his Sons". I'd like to think that Celebrimbor would be free and not bound by the oath taken by his father and grandfather.


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## Elthir (Oct 17, 2022)

d4rk3lf said:


> some Silmaril somehow appeared in second age, Celebrimbor



_"Some Silmaril somehow surfaced in the second age" _seems to be an sss-ier way to say this, especially for certain someones who say Selebrimbor.

Sorry.


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## Eljorahir (Oct 17, 2022)

Elthir said:


> _"Some Silmaril somehow surfaced in the second age" _seems to be an sss-ier way to say this, especially for certain someones who say Selebrimbor.
> 
> Sorry.


I was one of those Selebrimbor somebodies for many years. Then one day I thought...hmmm I wonder if there's anything important in those appendices I never read. (What kind of crazy person puts appendices at the end of a novel anyway?!)


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## Elthir (Oct 17, 2022)

In the original Foreword to _The Lord of the Rings_ -- the better Foreword in my opinion (even if Tolkien himself disagreed) -- JRRT included a preliminary note, if brief, on pronunciation, including C = K even before e, for example.

Of couse you have to remember that for later in the story . . . but still


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