Unremarkablelunacy - Rather Quiet, But Rarely Concise

Fëanor unilaterally decides that he is a member of the Fellowship. Attempts to dissuade him or leave him behind fail too.

He spends most of the journey to Moria disagreeing with everyone, especially Gandalf. He doesn't manage to usurp leadership (Aragorn and Frodo only trust Gandalf), but not for lack of trying. Boromir is impressed, and invites him to Gondor.

When he launches himself at the Balrog, Gandalf takes the opportunity to ditch him. "Don't worry about him, he'll be fine." It's truly unfortunate that when the combatants fall into the abyss, the Balrog snags Gandalf as well.

Fëanor refuses to die like this (not metal enough for him), so he manages to crawl his way out of Moria and tracks the Fellowship to Lothlórien. Once there, he demands to be shown immediately to the leaders of the realm.

As soon as Fëanor, Galadriel, and Celeborn set eyes on one another, the whole place explodes.

Fëanor: *waking up in a cold sweat* Mandos I need out and I need out now

Námo: ... why

Fëanor: My grandson gave my hammer to Sauron after taking out all of the gems and making magic rings

Námo: *scrambling* OH SHIT

Fëanor: I KNOW SO LET ME OUT

Námo: still no but OH SHIT

Galadriel: Celebrimbor, this Annatar character's claims don't add up. He's using his charm and his knowledge to manipulate you. Celeborn: There's only one thing to do with honey-tongued, two-faced outsiders. Throw him out the window. Galadriel: That's...a bit excessive. Celeborn: Toss the dwarves out too. I don't know why you keep dealing with them. You can never trust a dwarf, you know. Celebrimbor: And *that* is why you have trouble making friends, Celeborn. You are too suspicious. You need to embrace new opportunities. Be more open-minded! Galadriel: Yes, but within reason. You worry me, Celebrimbor. Celebrimbor: *sparkling with creative ambition* *not listening*

tracking down all of the passages that Charlie likely used for inspiration for his Sauron is genuinely the gift that keeps on giving bc Tolkien saying that Sauron is 'evil, and therefore stupid' is genuinely one of the funniest things I've ever read about Sauron.

But yes, I'll be posting more book experts. And if anyone wants me to track things down for other characters, lmk ☺️

Reminds me that random strangers we meet are more likely to be civil, and even helpful, than the vitriolic media culture leads us to fear

something absolutely lovely about especially the first half of fellowship is that the hobbits keep meeting random kind helpful strangers - the elves, bombadil, butterbur, aragorn (also farmer maggot and his wife, though they're not strangers) - until the book solidifies in you the feeling that these are not really instances of random luck, but rather the inherent nature of the world. kind people are everywhere, and no matter where you are, there is surely someone closer than you think that would offer help if you needed it. it's such a beautiful theme across all of LOTR, and it's very sweet to me that it starts from the very beginning of the journey, on such a 'small' (comparatively), everyday scale