What this is
In brief
Origins
The Elves awoke at Cuiviénen under the stars in the Elder Days, the first of the Children of Ilúvatar to come into being. The Valar summoned them to Aman; some went west and were counted the Eldar, others remained in Middle-earth. Their fate is bound to Arda until the world’s end.
Culture
A culture of memory, craft and song. Elves do not die of age but can be slain or fade as the ages wear on; many are gifted in lore, music, healing and the making of things. Pride, grief and the longing for the Sea run through their stories.
Language
Quenya and Sindarin are chief among the Elven tongues; many other dialects existed.
History
From Cuiviénen and the Great Journey, through the kinslaying and the exile of the Noldor, the Siege of Angband, the ruin of Beleriand and the War of Wrath, the Elves never wholly left the story of Arda. In the Second and Third Ages they held the great realms of Eregion, Lindon, Rivendell, Lothlórien and Mirkwood, and with the passing of the Three Rings departed at last into the West.
Leaders
Settlements
- rivendell
- lothlorien
- grey-havens
- mirkwood
- eregion
- gondolin
Alliances
- dunedain
- gondor
- arnor
- the-white-council
- last-alliance
Conflicts
- war-of-the-jewels
- battle-of-the-last-alliance
- war-of-the-ring
- fall-of-gondolin
Notable members
CharacterElrond
Lord of Rivendell, keeper of the Elven-ring Vilya, loremaster and healer, and foster-father of Aragorn.
CharacterGaladriel
An Elven-queen of the Noldor, wielder of Nenya, and one of the wisest and most powerful figures remaining in Middle-earth.
CharacterLegolas Greenleaf
Son of Thranduil and the Elven archer of the Fellowship, whose friendship with Gimli breaks an old estrangement.
CharacterArwen Undómiel
Daughter of Elrond who chose mortality to wed Aragorn, uniting the lines of Lúthien and Beren.
CharacterGlorfindel
A mighty Elf-lord of Rivendell and, in the First Age, a hero who fell fighting a Balrog.
CharacterThranduil
King of the Woodland Realm and father of Legolas, who imprisoned Thorin’s company and later fought at Five Armies.
Sources
The Silmarillion · 1977
Posthumously edited. Contains the Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion, Akallabêth and Of the Rings of Power.
The Lord of the Rings · 1954–55
Three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.
Unfinished Tales · 1980
Expanded and alternative accounts of the First, Second and Third Ages.
Related entries
PeopleNoldor
The second great kindred of the Eldar, master craftsmen and lore-masters, whose exile and wars against Morgoth shaped the whole history of the First Age.
PeopleSindar
The Grey Elves of Beleriand, the great kindred who remained in Middle-earth under Thingol and Melian and whose tongue became the common Elvish speech of later ages.
PeopleSilvan Elves
The woodland Elves of Mirkwood and Lothlórien, largely of Nandorin descent, who loved the forests and never journeyed to the West.
PeopleMen
The Secondborn Children of Ilúvatar, mortal and brief-lived, whose kingdoms and choices dominate the later ages of Middle-earth.
PeopleDwarves
A stone-hewing race of great craft and endurance, made by Aulë before the Children awoke and famed for their smithing, their halls and their long grudges.