The Valar's mistake did not lie in seeing a possibility of good in Melkor. Rather, their mistake lay in not seeing the equal possibility of him remaining evil.
#no you’re correct #also you can’t be harsher on the feanorians than actual melkor sorry #either everyone deserves a second chance and restorative justice is real or you have to admit you don’t really believe in that #also yeah you can give even the worst guy ever to worst guy the chance to set things right. that’s fair. #but you DO gotta actually mediate things with the people said guy hurt and maybe take some responsibility for how you’re handling things (@nelyoslegalteam)
I keep saying this. It wasn't the Noldor who broke the covenant; the Valar broke it first.
It was pretty much a liege-lord/vassal kinda deal. The liege-lord offers protection and acts in the interest of their vassal, and the vassal, in turn, offers service and obedience.
Then the Valar shat the bed and let Melkor out without safeguards. He went and killed the Two Trees, killed Finwë, and nabbed the Noldor's greatest treasure.
Fëanor, then, rightfully expected his liege-lords to act on his behalf.
They did not. They did not go and retrieve their wayward brother, they did not offer recompense for a murdered king and stolen goods. This raises the "The Valar Shat the Bed" count to two.
So the Noldor as a whole thought to themselves, well, they promised us protection and they weren't even capable of protecting our fucking king. They will not act on our behalf and in our best interest. So, we're leaving the covenant.
Which is a vassal's right!
And then the Valar shat the bed again by ordering the Teleri not to lend the Noldor their ships. We will never know what they would have decided otherwise - would Olwë have wanted to help avenge the death of his friend? Probably.
The difference between a prison and a safe haven is that you get to leave the safe haven whenever you choose to. So effectively, Aman was now a prison for the Noldor - and you know what is entirely justified when being held by any means necessary?
Breaking out.
The Valar had effectively pitted Noldor and Teleri against each other, forcing the events that followed. They seriously messed up not just by our understanding, but by the rules of their own world and society.
And it's one of my biggest gripes with Tolkien's narrative, that they never have to deal with the consequences of their actions.