#Noldor and/or Fëanor as the perfect innocent victim is such a boring take

[crownedwithstars]

I don't personally think this is even a particularly hot take, although you might think so judging by how much you see Noldor bias in the Silm fandom, but just hear me out:

Olwë doesn't owe the Noldor and/or Fëanor shit. His refusal to give the ships doesn't mean he doesn't care about his kin in Middle-earth. He has every reason to be suspicious of Fëanor and his company just showing up at Alqualondë, demanding for ships. He is not and never was involved with the unrest of the Noldor and at this point probably has only a vague idea of what has happened. He probably thinks something ought to be done about the attack on the Trees and undoubtedly is sorry for Finwë's death, but is that going to be managed by a crazed Fëanor leading only a small group of Noldor? Yeah, that's weird. If this were a Valar-approved mission, then it would be more orderly, Eönwë or some other high-ranking Maia would be commanding it, and the rest of the Noldor and Vanyar would be there, too. Or, they would not just show up requesting passage - there would be messages and planning and preparations, not angry and heated demands.

Olwë and Teleri were never involved in the Morgoth debacle because Morgoth thought about them as useless, so the atmosphere at Alqualondë would be very different than in Tirion. They are content in their circumstances and are not interested in going back to Middle-earth. They don't want to go on a potentially dangerous journey on a moment's notice, their ships are as precious to them as the Silmarils are to Fëanor, and they probably want to hear what the Valar say about this all. Perhaps they even have concerns about whether their ships can sail all the way to Beleriand.

Look, I like Noldor as much as the next person but not everything is about them.