Why did Feanor's sons take the Oath?

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

With all the discussion/speculation going on about the elves' motivations at Alqualonde, I'd like to throw this question out there: Why did Feanor's sons feel the need to simultaneously leap to his side and take the Oath? Was it truly a "madness" caused by grief over the death of their grandfather, family loyalty and Feanor's speeches? Was it an obligation to be by their father's side, or a sense of injustice, or simply the quasi-magical lure of the Silmarils? Was it more hesitant than the text paints it?

All of these? Or is there a simpler explanation, as in this Silmarillion/Good Omens fanfic?

Comments

[tehta.livejournal.com]

So you see the Oath as an entity with the ability to make decisions? Not necessarily good ones, at that -- I don't think the actions PERMITTED by the Oath were the pinnacle of sanity, either. They did cost most of the Feanorians their lives, and to no real purpose.

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

The way Tolkien described it, it did seem to have some sort of external existence beyond the people who swore it. Of course, it might just be a metaphorical expression of the internal motivations of the sons, but there were indications that at least some of the sons of Feanor tried to forswear the oath but couldn't. Given that they seemed to be fairly strong-minded people, and taking into account that in the Secondary World Manwe and Varda and the One are real, existent forces, so the Everlasting Darkness and the oath itself might be as well, there must have been a bit more to it than just a really strong moral commitment to keeping promises.

The oath wasn't a good oath to start with. It was an oath of hatred, in extreme terms. So it does not surprise me that it did not have good results for the people who swore it.