Were Feanor and His Sons Really Guilty?

     Despite being on the side of the defense, I believe it was fair that Feanor and his sons were found guilty. While I do understand the side I was meant to defend, of them being victims of cruel fate, they still do hold a certain responsibility for their actions. However, had I not been assigned to the side of the defense, I probably would have continued to see them as essentially villains, so this was still an interesting perspective to consider. 

Aside from the fact that it does not excuse their actions entirely, I still do think in the case of Feanor and his sons it is worthwhile to take a step back and look at the situation as a whole. While they did do unspeakable things in the name of their oath, it was an oath taken in extreme frustration and grief, both of which cause people to do unspeakable things in the real world. Furthermore, once the oath had been rashly taken, I do believe that they were bound to it in every way that would have mattered to them individually. From the outside, it can be easy to look in and say they should have forsaken it, but the average person, given the choice between saving others and themselves, would likely do the same. Breaking their oath would have led to their absolute, horrible demise, and it is only a natural instinct for someone to try to save themselves from such a terrible fate. 

With that being said, I do agree with the jury’s decision of finding Feanor and his sons guilty. While taking context into consideration can be helpful when dealing with specifics such as sentencing, grief and anger would not be used to exonerate someone in a court of law in nearly any other situation. There is no doubt that they committed the crimes they were accused of and deserve punishment in some form, but given the external influences, I was glad that the court did not give as extreme of a sentence as the prosecution recommended they should.