Elves
Also calledQuendi, The Firstborn, The Elder Children, Eldar (loosely), The Fair Folk, Edhil
The Elves, or Quendi, are the Firstborn Children of Ilúvatar, who awoke under starlight at Cuiviénen before the making of the Sun. Immortal within the world, keen of sense and matchless in craft, they were divided for ever by the summons of the Valar into those who went west and those who refused, and their history is the story of that sundering.
Description
Origins
The Elves awoke beside the lake of Cuiviénen, a bay of the inland Sea of Helcar in the far east of Middle-earth, in the age when only the stars gave light. Varda had newly kindled the great constellations, and the first thing the Elves saw was starlight on water; for that reason they have always loved the stars above every other thing and revered Varda most among the Valar. They named themselves the Quendi, the ones who speak with voices, because in all their wanderings they found no other creature that spoke.
They lived for a long while beside Cuiviénen unknown to the Valar, who had withdrawn to Aman after the ruin of Almaren. Melkor found them first. He sent shadows and evil spirits to haunt the lands about the lake, and his riders seized Elves who strayed alone. Those that were taken were never seen again; the Eldar believed that from them, broken and twisted in the pits of Utumno, Melkor bred the Orcs. It was Oromë, hunting in the east, who at last came upon the Elves and rode back to Valinor with the news. In fear for the Children the Valar made war on Melkor, broke Utumno, and bound him for three ages.
The summons and the Great Journey
After the Battle of the Powers, the Valar debated what to do with the Elves. Ulmo believed they should be left free in Middle-earth; the greater part of the Valar, out of love and fear for them, decided to summon them to Aman. Oromë brought three ambassadors from the three clans, Ingwë, Finwë and Elwë (later Thingol), to Valinor. They returned dazzled by the light of the Two Trees and urged their peoples to follow.
This was the first and greatest division of the Elves, called the Sundering. Those who accepted the summons became the Eldar, the People of the Stars, a name Oromë had given to all the Elves but which afterwards belonged only to those who set out. Those who refused were the Avari, the Unwilling. The Eldar marched west in three hosts: the Vanyar, the Noldor and the Teleri. The journey took many years. Some of the Teleri turned aside at the Misty Mountains under Lenwë and became the Nandor; the rest reached Beleriand, where Elwë was lost in the woods of Nan Elmoth and the Teleri who stayed to search for him became the Sindar. The Vanyar and Noldor were ferried across the Sea on an island, and the Teleri of Olwë followed later and became the Falmari.
Light and Darkness
Out of the Sundering came a second division that mattered even more to the Elves themselves. Those who reached Aman and saw the light of the Two Trees were the Calaquendi, the Elves of the Light. All who never saw that light, whether Avari, Nandor or Sindar, were the Moriquendi, the Elves of Darkness, a name that in Sindarin usage never implied any evil, only that they had lived without the Trees. Between the two lay a third term: the Úmanyar, those who were of the Eldar and had begun the journey but never came to Aman. The Sindar, the Nandor and the Laiquendi are all Úmanyar. The Avari, who never set out at all, are Moriquendi but not Úmanyar.
When the exiled Noldor returned to Middle-earth they used Moriquendi loosely for all the Elves they met there, and Thingol resented it. The distinction had real consequences. The Calaquendi were greater in body and mind, stronger against the darkness, and their kings claimed lordship over all Elves. Yet the Sindar of Doriath, under a Calaquendë king and a Maia queen, became the fairest and wisest of the Moriquendi and a match for the Exiles in many things.
Immortality, fading and Mandos
The Elves are immortal within Arda. They do not age as Men do and no sickness touches them, but they can be slain by weapon or by grief. When an Elf dies, the spirit, the fëa, is summoned to the Halls of Mandos in the west of Valinor, where it waits and is healed. In time the Valar may grant it a new body and it may return to life among its kin in Aman; this is the rebirth of which the Elves speak, and Glorfindel is the clearest example in the published texts of an Elf who died and was sent back. Some, like Fëanor, are refused release until the world's end. A few, like Míriel, decline to return. The spirit may also refuse the summons and remain houseless in Middle-earth, which is a perilous state that Sauron and the Necromancer sought to exploit.
The Elves' bodies are made of the stuff of Arda and cannot leave it. Their fate is bound to the world's fate, and this is both their gift and their burden. As the ages pass, the spirit slowly consumes the body, so that Elves who remain long in Middle-earth grow ever more ghostly to mortal eyes until they are no more than memories in the woods. This is fading, and it is why the Elves who stayed east of the Sea in the Fourth Age dwindled rather than died. The Elves know that they are the more fortunate of the two kindreds in some ways and the less fortunate in others, and the weariness of long life is a real theme of their songs. Beyond the end of the world they do not know what awaits them.
History by age
In the Years of the Trees the Eldar in Aman grew in wisdom under the teaching of the Valar. The Noldor made gems, the Teleri built ships, the Vanyar made poetry. Then Melkor, released from Mandos, sowed lies among the Noldor, and Fëanor made the Silmarils. The Darkening of Valinor, the theft of the Silmarils, the slaying of Finwë, the Oath of Fëanor and the Kinslaying at Alqualondë drove the greater part of the Noldor into exile, and the Doom of Mandos was laid upon them.
In the First Age the Exiles and the Sindar fought the long war of the Jewels against Morgoth in Beleriand. They won great victories, held the Siege of Angband for nearly four centuries, and built the hidden realms of Gondolin and Nargothrond. Then the war turned: the Dagor Bragollach, the death of Fingolfin, the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and the fall of every Elven kingdom one by one. The Oath brought two more kinslayings, in Doriath and at the Mouths of Sirion. Only the voyage of Eärendil moved the Valar to war, and Beleriand was drowned in the victory.
In the Second Age the surviving Eldar under Gil-galad settled in Lindon, and Celebrimbor founded Eregion. There Sauron deceived the smiths and the Rings of Power were forged, and in the war that followed Eregion was destroyed. The Elves made their last great alliance with Men at the end of the Age, and Gil-galad fell before Barad-dûr.
In the Third Age the Elves kept a few refuges: Rivendell under Elrond, Lothlórien under Galadriel and Celeborn, the woodland realm of Thranduil, and the Grey Havens under Círdan. They did not build again. Their power was spent preserving what remained, and with the destruction of the One Ring the Three Rings failed and the work of preservation ended.
Relations with other peoples
The Elves were the teachers of Men in Beleriand and their allies against Morgoth; the friendship of Finrod and the House of Bëor set the pattern. Their dealings with the Dwarves were profitable but cool, ruined in the First Age by the murder of Thingol and healed only briefly in Eregion and, at the last, in the friendship of Legolas and Gimli. Their enmity with the Orcs was absolute; the Orcs, twisted from Elves, hated them above all living things.
Fate
With the end of the Third Age the Elves' part in the world was over. Elrond, Galadriel and Gandalf sailed from the Grey Havens in T.A. 3021; Celeborn and the last of the High Elves lingered for a time; the Silvan folk of Thranduil and the wood-elves of Ithilien remained longest but slowly faded. By the later Fourth Age the Elves were no longer a power in Middle-earth, and their memory passed into the songs of Men.
Physical traits
Elves are close in form to Men, generally taller, and do not show the marks of age until immense weariness shows in the eyes. They are stronger and more enduring than Men, resistant to cold and weather, quick-healing, and their senses of sight and hearing are far keener; a Elf can see clearly at distances at which a Man sees only haze. They need little sleep and can rest with open eyes, walking in memory. Hair and eye colour vary by kindred: the Vanyar are golden-haired, the Noldor for the most part dark, the Teleri silver or dark. The Elven-light of Aman shone in the eyes of those who had seen the Trees. Elves do not grow beards save in extreme age, and their voices are their greatest beauty.
Culture
Language is the Elves' first art. They devised Primitive Quendian at Cuiviénen; from it descended Quenya, perfected in Aman and later a language of lore and ceremony, and Sindarin, the daily speech of Beleriand which the Exiles adopted. Fëanor devised the Tengwar and Daeron the Cirth. The Noldor excelled in stone, metal and gems, the Teleri in shipcraft and music, the Vanyar in verse. Elven society was organised by kindreds and houses under kings and lords, but the bond of kinship was strong and the king's authority rested more on love than on force. Marriage was for life and generally happened once; the Elves held that the spirit knows its mate, and second marriages were exceptional. The Elves loved the stars, the sea, trees and growing things, and their most beautiful works, from Menegroth to Lothlórien, were made to hold light and memory in a fading world.
Origins
The Elves awoke beneath the stars at Cuiviénen, a bay on the eastern inland sea, in the Valian year 1050 by the reckoning of the Eldar. They were found first by the shadows of Melkor and then by Oromë, whose horse Nahar's hooves they learned to trust. The Valar summoned them to Aman for their safety, and the summons divided them for ever.
Fate
Immortal but bound to a mortal world, the Elves slowly fade as the ages pass. Nearly all the Eldar of Middle-earth had departed over the Sea by the early Fourth Age; those who stayed dwindled into the woods and out of the knowledge of Men.
Sub-kindreds2
- Kindred
The Eldar are the Elves who answered the call of the Valar and marched west from Cuiviénen: the three kindreds of the Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri. Whether they reached Aman or stopped short in Beleriand, they are the Elves whose deeds fill the histories, as distinct from the Avari who refused the journey.
- Kindred
The Avari are the Elves who refused the summons of the Valar and stayed behind at Cuiviénen when the Eldar marched west. They are the Unwilling, the Elves who never entered the histories, though some drifted westward in later ages and mingled with the Silvan folk.
Notable figures
Of the wider kindred
High King of the Noldor (claimed)
Fëanor
NoldorFëanor, eldest son of Finwë, was the greatest craftsman and the most fiery spirit ever born among the Elves, maker of the Silmarils and of the Tengwar. His Oath to recover the jewels from Morgoth drove the Noldor into rebellion and exile, brought about the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, and shaped the whole tragedy of the First Age.
Tirion, then FormenosHigh King of the Noldor
Fingolfin
NoldorFingolfin, eldest son of Finwë and Indis, was the first High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth, who led his people across the grinding ice of the Helcaraxë after Fëanor abandoned them. He held Hithlum through the long Siege of Angband and died in single combat with Morgoth at the gates of Angband, the most famous duel of the Elder Days.
HithlumKing of Nargothrond
Finrod
NoldorFinrod Felagund, eldest son of Finarfin, was the wisest and most generous of the Noldorin princes in exile. He founded Nargothrond, was the first Elf-lord to befriend Men, and kept his oath to Barahir by going with Beren on the quest of the Silmaril; he died in Sauron's dungeon killing a werewolf with his bare hands to save his mortal friend.
NargothrondLady of Lothlórien
Galadriel
NoldorGaladriel, only daughter of Finarfin and the greatest of the Noldor after Fëanor, left Valinor in the rebellion, learned wisdom from Melian in Doriath, and outlived every other leader of the Exiles by three Ages. Bearer of Nenya, founder with Celeborn of the realm of Lórien, and a member of the White Council, she refused the One Ring when Frodo offered it, threw down Dol Guldur, and at last sailed West with the Ring-bearers.
LothlórienHigh King of the Noldor
Gil-galad
NoldorEreinion Gil-galad was the last High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth. Sent to the Havens as a child, he took up the kingship after the fall of Gondolin, ruled Lindon through the whole of the Second Age, refused Sauron the gates of his realm, received two of the Three Rings, and led the Last Alliance of Elves and Men with Elendil. He died with Elendil on the slopes of Mount Doom overthrowing Sauron.
LindonPrince of the Woodland Realm
Legolas
Silvan ElvesLegolas, son of Thranduil of the Woodland Realm, was the Elf of the Fellowship of the Ring. A peerless archer and tracker, he walked from Rivendell to the Black Gate beside Aragorn and Gimli, forged the first true friendship between Elf and Dwarf in an age, and after the death of the King Elessar built a ship and sailed into the West with his Dwarven friend.
The Woodland Realm, later IthilienPrincess of Doriath
Lúthien
SindarLúthien, daughter of King Thingol and the Maia Melian, was the fairest of all the Children of Ilúvatar. For love of the mortal Beren she overcame Sauron, put Morgoth himself to sleep in his own hall, and won a Silmaril from the Iron Crown; she then moved Mandos to pity and chose mortality so that she and Beren might not be parted. Every line of the Half-elven descends from her.
Doriath, later Tol GalenLord of Himring
Maedhros
NoldorMaedhros, eldest son of Fëanor, was the tallest and most temperate of the seven brothers, the captive of Thangorodrim rescued by Fingon, and the lord of Himring who anchored the eastern Siege of Angband. Bound by the Oath, he led the last two Kinslayings and ended his life by casting himself and a Silmaril into a chasm of fire.
Himring and the March of MaedhrosKing of Doriath
Thingol
SindarElwë Singollo, called Thingol, led the Teleri on the Great Journey, met the Maia Melian in Nan Elmoth and never left Middle-earth again. As King of Doriath he ruled the Sindar for the whole of the First Age, set Beren the impossible price of a Silmaril for his daughter Lúthien, and was slain in his own treasury by Dwarves over the jewel he had once demanded.
DoriathKing of Gondolin
Turgon
NoldorTurgon, second son of Fingolfin, was the founder and king of the hidden city of Gondolin, built in secret at Ulmo's prompting and kept from Morgoth for nearly four centuries. He became High King of the Noldor after the Nirnaeth, received Tuor and Ulmo's warning, and died when the city fell through the treason of his nephew Maeglin.
GondolinPrincess of the Noldor
Aredhel
NoldorAredhel, the White Lady of the Noldor, was the daughter of Fingolfin and sister of Fingon and Turgon, a restless huntress who left Gondolin, was taken to wife by the Dark Elf Eöl, and bore him Maeglin. Fleeing back to Gondolin, she died of a poisoned javelin her husband had thrown at their son.
GondolinChief of the Marchwardens of Doriath
Beleg
SindarBeleg Strongbow, chief of the marchwardens of Doriath and the greatest woodsman of the Sindar, was the friend and teacher of Túrin. He followed Túrin into outlawry and into the enemy's country to save him, and died at his hand in the dark of Taur-nu-Fuin, killed by mistake with the very sword he had carried to the rescue.
DoriathLord of Lothlórien
Celeborn
SindarCeleborn, a Sindarin prince of Doriath and the husband of Galadriel, outlasted three Ages of Middle-earth as lord of the Galadhrim. He shared the rule of Lothlórien with his wife, led the host that stormed Dol Guldur at the end of the War of the Ring, held East Lórien for a season of the Fourth Age, and at last, when the Golden Wood had emptied, went to Rivendell and thence over the Sea.
LothlórienLord of Eregion
Celebrimbor
NoldorCelebrimbor, grandson of Fëanor, renounced his father Curufin's deeds and became the greatest smith of the Second Age. As lord of the Elven-smiths of Eregion he was deceived by Sauron in the guise of Annatar and forged the Rings of Power, but he made the Three alone and hid them when he perceived the One. Sauron destroyed Eregion and slew him, and his body was borne as a banner before the enemy host.
EregionLord of Himlad
Celegorm
NoldorCelegorm the Fair, third son of Fëanor, was a hunter and friend of Oromë, master of the great hound Huan. With his brother Curufin he seized Lúthien in Nargothrond and tried to force a marriage, lost Huan and his honour, and died in the sack of Doriath at the hands of Dior.
HimladLord of the Falas
Círdan
SindarCírdan the Shipwright, a Telerin kinsman of Thingol who stayed on the shores of Middle-earth when the ships sailed West, was lord of the Falas in the First Age and of the Grey Havens through the Second and Third. He built the ships of the Elves for three Ages, bore the Ring of Fire until he gave it to Gandalf, and remained at the Havens until the last ship should sail.
The Falas; afterwards Lindon and the Grey HavensLord of Himlad
Curufin
NoldorCurufin the Crafty, fifth son of Fëanor, was the son most like his father in skill and temper, and the father of Celebrimbor. With Celegorm he schemed for the lordship of Nargothrond, tried to kill Lúthien, and was repudiated by his own son; he died in the sack of Doriath.
HimladHigh King of the Noldor
Fingon
NoldorFingon the Valiant, eldest son of Fingolfin, rescued Maedhros from Thangorodrim and so healed the breach in the Noldor, drove Glaurung back at his first appearance, and succeeded his father as High King. He was slain by Gothmog at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the battle he had helped to plan.
HithlumLord of the House of the Golden Flower
Glorfindel
NoldorGlorfindel was lord of the House of the Golden Flower in Gondolin, golden-haired and reckoned among the mightiest of the Noldor of the Hidden City. He died killing a Balrog above the pass of Cirith Thoronath so that the refugees of Gondolin could escape, and by long tradition he is the same Glorfindel who returned to Middle-earth, routed the Witch-king at Fornost, carried Frodo to the Ford of Bruinen, and sat at the Council of Elrond.
Gondolin, later RivendellPrincess of Gondolin
Idril
NoldorIdril Celebrindal, only child of Turgon of Gondolin, married the mortal Tuor and bore Eärendil, the mariner who saved both kindreds. Her foresight built the secret way out of the hidden city, and by it she led the survivors of Gondolin's fall to safety. She was the second union of Elves and Men, and the ancestress of the Half-elven.
GondolinLord of the House of the Mole
Maeglin
NoldorMaeglin was the son of Eöl the Dark Elf and Aredhel of the Noldor, born in the shadowed wood of Nan Elmoth and brought by his mother to Gondolin, where he rose to be the greatest of Turgon's counsellors. His unlawful desire for his cousin Idril soured into hatred; taken alive by Orcs, he bought his own life and the promise of Idril by telling Morgoth where the hidden city lay, and Tuor threw him from its walls when it burned.
GondolinLord of Maglor's Gap
Maglor
NoldorMaglor, second son of Fëanor, was the greatest singer and harper of the Noldor, who held the gap between Himring and the Blue Mountains and fostered Elrond and Elros after the Third Kinslaying. Last of his brothers, he cast his Silmaril into the Sea and wandered the shores of Middle-earth in grief, singing.
Maglor's GapKing of the Woodland Realm
Thranduil
SindarThranduil, son of Oropher, ruled the Silvan Elves of northern Mirkwood from underground halls for the whole of the Third Age. He led the remnant of his father's host home from the Last Alliance, imprisoned Thorin's company, fought at the Battle of Five Armies, held Gollum as a prisoner, and in the War of the Ring defeated the assault of Dol Guldur under his own trees.
The Woodland Realm in northern MirkwoodLord of Dorthonion
Aegnor
NoldorAegnor, youngest son of Finarfin, held the northern slopes of Dorthonion with his brother Angrod for four centuries of the Siege of Angband. His name means Fell Fire, for the fierceness of his spirit in battle, and he died in the flames of the Dagor Bragollach beside his brother.
DorthonionLords of the south of East Beleriand
Amrod and Amras
NoldorAmrod and Amras, the red-haired twin sons of Fëanor and the youngest of the seven, were hunters who held the wide woods of southern East Beleriand. They followed their brothers through every battle and both Kinslayings in Beleriand and died together in the assault on the Havens of Sirion.
East Beleriand south of the AndramKing of Lórien
Amroth
SindarAmroth, King of Lórien after Amdír, loved the Silvan maiden Nimrodel. When the Balrog woke in Moria and she fled south, he followed her to the havens of Belfalas; waiting there for her in vain, he leapt from his ship in a storm and drowned. Cerin Amroth in Lórien and Dol Amroth in Gondor bear his name.
LórienLord of Dorthonion
Angrod
NoldorAngrod, third son of Finarfin, held the northern highlands of Dorthonion with his brother Aegnor through the Siege of Angband. He was the first of the Noldor to be received by Thingol as a messenger, and the one who, stung by Caranthir's insult, told the king the whole truth of the Kinslaying. He died in the fires of the Dagor Bragollach.
DorthonionLord of Thargelion
Caranthir
NoldorCaranthir the Dark, fourth son of Fëanor, was the harshest and quickest to anger of the brothers, lord of Thargelion beside Lake Helevorn. He grew rich in trade with the Dwarves, quarrelled with the house of Finarfin, took in the people of Haleth, and died in the sack of Doriath.
ThargelionLady of Rivendell
Celebrían
NoldorCelebrían, daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn, married Elrond of Rivendell and bore him Elladan, Elrohir and Arwen. In T.A. 2509 she was captured and tormented by Orcs in the Redhorn Pass; though rescued by her sons and healed in body by Elrond, she could find no joy in Middle-earth and sailed into the West the following year.
Lothlórien, then RivendellMinstrel of Doriath
Daeron
SindarDaeron, minstrel and loremaster of Thingol's court, was the greatest of all Elven singers and the deviser of the Cirth, the runes later used by Dwarves and Men. He loved Lúthien, twice betrayed her to her father out of jealousy, and after she left the world he wandered into the East lamenting her and was never heard of again.
DoriathLord of the House of the Fountain
Ecthelion
NoldorEcthelion of the Fountain was lord of one of the twelve houses of Gondolin and the warden of its Great Gate, a captain famous for the beauty of his voice and the music of his people's flutes. When the Hidden City was stormed he held the square before the king's tower against the Balrogs, and there he and Gothmog their lord destroyed each other.
GondolinLord of Nan Elmoth
Eöl
SindarEöl the Dark Elf, a kinsman of Thingol who chose the shadowed wood of Nan Elmoth over Doriath, was a smith of surpassing skill who forged the black swords Anglachel and Anguirel. He took Aredhel of Gondolin as his wife, fathered Maeglin, and when they escaped him he followed them to the hidden city, killed Aredhel with a poisoned javelin meant for their son, and was thrown from the walls.
Nan ElmothKing of the Noldor in Aman
Finarfin
NoldorFinarfin, youngest son of Finwë and Indis, was the wisest and fairest of the princes of the Noldor. He alone turned back from the rebellion after the Doom of Mandos and ruled the Noldor who remained in Tirion; his children Finrod, Orodreth, Angrod, Aegnor and Galadriel went on to Middle-earth.
TirionPrincess of Nargothrond
Finduilas
NoldorFinduilas, daughter of Orodreth and granddaughter of Finarfin, was the last princess of Nargothrond. Betrothed to Gwindor before the Nirnaeth, she could not love the broken thrall who came back from Angband and gave her heart instead to Túrin, who would not take her. She was taken in the sack of the city, speared to a tree by the Orcs at the Crossings of Teiglin, and buried in the mound called Haudh-en-Elleth.
NargothrondKing of the Noldor
Finwë
NoldorFinwë is the first King of the Noldor, who led his people to Aman as one of the three ambassadors and ruled them in Tirion. Father of Fëanor by Míriel and of Fingolfin and Finarfin by Indis, he was slain by Melkor at Formenos, the first death by violence in the Blessed Realm.
TirionPrince of Nargothrond
Gwindor
NoldorGwindor, son of Guilin and a prince of Nargothrond, charged out of the line at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad in grief for his brother Gelmir and so broke the plan of the battle. Taken alive and enslaved in Angband for fourteen years, he escaped, guided Beleg to Túrin, brought Túrin to Nargothrond, lost Finduilas to him, and died at Tumhalad warning him that her life stood between him and his doom.
NargothrondMarchwarden of Lothlórien
Haldir
Silvan ElvesHaldir was a marchwarden of the Galadhrim who, with his brothers Rúmil and Orophin, met the Fellowship of the Ring at the northern border of Lothlórien in January T.A. 3019, guided them across the Celebrant and through the wood to Caras Galadhon, and led them out again to the Anduin at their departure.
LothlórienKing of the Vanyar
Ingwë
VanyarIngwë is the king of the Vanyar and, by right of being first of the three ambassadors to see the light of the Trees, the High King of all the Elves. He led the first host of the Great Journey to Aman and never returned to Middle-earth.
ValinorCaptain of Doriath
Mablung
SindarMablung of the Heavy Hand was the chief captain of Thingol's Doriath. He cut the Silmaril from the belly of Carcharoth, fought at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, escorted Morwen and Nienor toward Nargothrond and lost them to Glaurung's malice, and died defending the Silmaril in Menegroth when the Dwarves of Nogrod sacked the Thousand Caves.
Doriath- Sindar
Nimrodel was an Elf-maiden of Lothlórien who lived beside the mountain stream that bears her name and was loved by Amroth the king. She fled the wood when the Balrog woke in Moria and was lost in the White Mountains on the way to the sea; her story became a song that Legolas sang to the Fellowship at the stream's edge.
Lothlórien King of the Teleri of Aman
Olwë
TeleriOlwë, brother of Elwë Thingol, led the Teleri who completed the Great Journey to Aman after his brother was lost, and became King of the Falmari at the Swanhaven of Alqualondë. He refused Fëanor the ships of his people, and the Noldor took them by force in the first Kinslaying. Through his daughter Eärwen he was the grandfather of Finrod and Galadriel.
AlqualondëKing of Nargothrond
Orodreth
NoldorOrodreth, second son of Finarfin in the published Silmarillion, held the tower on Tol Sirion until Sauron drove him out, and became King of Nargothrond when his brother Finrod left on the quest of the Silmaril. Under the sway of Túrin he abandoned the secrecy that had kept the city safe, and he was slain at the battle of Tumhalad in the year Nargothrond fell.
NargothrondKing of the Silvan Elves of Greenwood the Great
Oropher
SindarOropher, a Sindarin lord of Doriath, led his people east after the drowning of Beleriand and was taken as king by the Silvan Elves of Greenwood the Great. He founded the Woodland Realm, withdrew it northward from Dwarves and Noldor alike, and died in a rash charge at the Battle of Dagorlad, leaving the crown to his son Thranduil.
Greenwood the GreatMariner of Gondolin
Voronwë
NoldorVoronwë, son of Aranwë of Gondolin, was the only survivor of the ships Turgon sent to seek Valinor. Spared by Ulmo and cast ashore at Nevrast, he met Tuor at Vinyamar and guided him through the Fell Winter to the hidden city, so that Ulmo's warning reached Turgon.
GondolinKing of Lórien
Amdír
SindarAmdír was the Sindarin king of the Silvan Elves of Lórien in the Second Age and the father of Amroth. He led his people to the Last Alliance and was slain at the Battle of Dagorlad when his lightly armed host was cut off and driven into the marshes.
LórienLord of the Laiquendi
Denethor
NandorDenethor, son of Lenwë, led part of the Nandor over the Blue Mountains into Ossiriand, where they became the Green-elves and were welcomed by Thingol as kin. He was slain on Amon Ereb in the First Battle of Beleriand before the rising of the Sun, and his people never took another king.
Ossiriand- Noldor
Gildor Inglorion, a Noldo of the House of Finrod, led the company of wandering Elves who met Frodo, Sam and Pippin in the Woody End on the first night of their journey, drove off a Black Rider by their coming, and sent word of the Ring-bearer's peril across Eriador. He passed West with the last riding of the Elves in T.A. 3021.
Wandering; Rivendell and Lindon Queen of the Noldor
Indis
VanyarIndis of the Vanyar was the second wife of Finwë and the mother of Fingolfin and Finarfin. Through her the golden hair of the Vanyar entered the royal house of the Noldor, and her marriage was the occasion of Fëanor's lifelong estrangement from his half-brothers.
TirionLeader of the Nandor
Lenwë
TeleriLenwë was the Telerin Elf who, daunted by the Misty Mountains, turned aside from the Great Journey with a part of Olwë's host at the river Anduin. Those who followed him became the Nandor, the wood-elves of the river vales from whom the Silvan Elves of Lórien and Mirkwood descended.
The Vales of AnduinQueen of the Noldor
Míriel
NoldorMíriel Serindë was the first wife of Finwë and the mother of Fëanor, the most skilled needleworker among the Noldor. Worn out by the birth of her son, she chose to release her spirit to Mandos and refused ever to return, and her death opened the rift in the house of Finwë.
Tirion- Noldor
Nerdanel, daughter of the smith Mahtan, was the wife of Fëanor and the mother of his seven sons. A sculptor of great skill and a woman of patience and judgement, she alone could restrain her husband for a time; she parted from him before the flight of the Noldor and remained in Aman.
Tirion Queen of Doriath
Nimloth
SindarNimloth, a Sindarin lady of the royal house of Doriath and kinswoman of Celeborn, married Dior, the son of Beren and Lúthien, and was the mother of Eluréd, Elurín and Elwing. She was slain with her husband when the sons of Fëanor sacked Menegroth in the Second Kinslaying.
DoriathCounsellor of Thingol
Saeros
SindarSaeros was an Elf of Doriath, one of Thingol's counsellors, who envied Túrin the king's favour and mocked him and the women of his people at the king's table. His taunts and the ambush he set the next morning ended with his own death in the gorge of the Esgalduin, and drove Túrin out of Doriath into outlawry.
Doriath
Relations with other peoples
- Related toEldar(the Elves who accepted the summons of the Valar)
- Related toAvari(the Elves who refused the summons)
- Allied withMen(Edain in Beleriand, Númenor, the Last Alliance)
- Related toDwarves(trade and occasional friendship, marred by old grievances)
- Enemy ofOrcs(held to have been bred from captured Elves)
- Allied withValar(summoned to Aman and taught by the Valar)
- Related toHalf-elven
- Allied withAinur(the Valar summoned and sheltered the Eldar; Melian wed Thingol)
- Allied withEnts(the Elves taught the Ents to speak)
- Allied withIstari
- Allied withMaiar
- Allied withDwarves(in Beleriand and Eregion; broken by the sack of Doriath and never wholly mended)
- Descended fromAvari
- Related toChildren of Ilúvatar(the Firstborn)
- Descended fromEldar
- Descended fromHalf-elven
- Allied withFallohides(the most Elf-friendly of the Hobbits)
- Allied withHobbits(the Fallohides were Elf-friends)
- Related toMen(the Elder Children; allies of the Edain and later estranged from Númenor)
- Enemy ofMonsters and Servants of the Shadow
- Corrupted fromOrcs(by the account in The Silmarillion)
Places
Originated in
- CuiviénenLake
Settled
- AmanContinentthe Eldar of Aman
- LindonRealm
- RivendellRealm
- LothlórienRealm
- MirkwoodForestSilvan realm of Thranduil
- The Grey HavensCity
Homeland
- BeleriandRegionSindar, Exiles and Nandor in the First Age
Timeline
- Y.T. 1050
Awakening at Cuiviénen
The Firstborn awake beneath the newly kindled stars beside the eastern lake.
- Y.T. 1085
Oromë finds the Elves
Oromë comes upon the Quendi and returns to Valinor with the news, prompting the War of the Powers against Melkor.
- Y.T. 1102
The three ambassadors
Ingwë, Finwë and Elwë are brought to Aman and return to urge their peoples to accept the summons; the Sundering into Eldar and Avari follows.
- Y.T. 1105
The Great Journey begins
Three hosts of Eldar set out west; over the following decades the Nandor turn aside and the Teleri linger in Beleriand.
- Y.T. 1132
Vanyar and Noldor reach Aman
Ulmo ferries the first two hosts across the Sea on the island that becomes Tol Eressëa.
- Y.T. 1152
The Teleri come to Aman
Olwë's people are ferried to Tol Eressëa and later build Alqualondë; the Sindar remain in Beleriand under Thingol.
- Y.T. 1495
Darkening of Valinor
Melkor and Ungoliant destroy the Two Trees; Finwë is slain and the Silmarils stolen.
- Y.T. 1495
The Oath and the Kinslaying
Fëanor swears his Oath, the Noldor rebel, and the Teleri of Alqualondë are slain for their ships; the Doom of Mandos is pronounced.
- F.A. 1
Return of the Noldor
The Exiles land in Middle-earth as the Moon and Sun first rise; the war of the Jewels begins.
- F.A. 455
Dagor Bragollach
Morgoth breaks the Siege of Angband and the long retreat of the Elves of Beleriand begins.
- F.A. 472
Nirnaeth Arnoediad
The Union of Maedhros is destroyed; the Noldor and Edain are broken as a fighting power.
- F.A. 587
War of Wrath
The Host of the Valar overthrows Morgoth; Beleriand is ruined and the Elves are summoned back to the West.
- S.A. 1590
Forging of the Three Rings
Celebrimbor completes the Elven Rings in Eregion; ten years later Sauron forges the One.
- S.A. 1697
Fall of Eregion
Sauron destroys the last Noldorin realm founded in Middle-earth; Rivendell is established as a refuge.
- S.A. 3441
Last Alliance
Gil-galad and Elendil overthrow Sauron and both fall; the Eldar are never again a great host in Middle-earth.
- T.A. 1981
Flight from Lórien
The Balrog wakes in Moria and many Silvan Elves flee south; Amroth and Nimrodel are lost.
- T.A. 3019
The One Ring destroyed
The Three Rings lose their power and the age of the Elves in Middle-earth ends.
- T.A. 3021
Departure of the Ring-bearers
Elrond, Galadriel and Gandalf sail from the Grey Havens with Frodo and Bilbo.
Sources
- The SilmarillionQuenta Silmarillion chapters 1 to 24; Of the Rings of Power
- The Lord of the Rings: AppendicesAppendix A part I, Appendix B, Appendix F
- The Fellowship of the RingBook I chapter 3; Book II chapters 1, 6 to 8
- Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earthThe History of Galadriel and Celeborn