Elves of Middle-earth: Kindreds, Immortality and Languages Explained

Quick Answer: The Elves of Middle-earth are the Firstborn of Ilúvatar. They woke at Cuiviénen before the Sun existed, and most of them, the Eldar, accepted the call to Valinor while the Avari refused. The Eldar divided into the Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri; part of the Teleri stayed in Beleriand as the Sindar, and others became the Silvan Elves of Mirkwood and Lothlórien. Elves do not age, but they can be slain or die of grief. They speak two languages Tolkien built in detail: Quenya and Sindarin. Their name for themselves is Quendi, "those who speak."

Tolkien's Elves are not the small, winged sprites of Victorian fairy tales. They are tall, wise, sorrowful and dangerous, closer to the Irish Tuatha Dé Danann than to Tinker Bell. They are the oldest speaking people in Arda, and Tolkien built more of his world around them than around any other race: their history fills most of The Silmarillion, and their two languages were the reason the whole legendarium exists. In a famous letter Tolkien said the stories were made to provide a world for the languages, not the other way round.

This guide covers the Elves from their awakening to their departure over the Sea: the kindreds and why they split, what immortality means for them, their great realms in each Age, and how to read the Elvish they speak. If you want an overview of every people first, start with the Races of Middle-earth complete guide.

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The Awakening at Cuiviénen

The Elves woke by the lake of Cuiviénen, the Water of Awakening, in the far east of Middle-earth. There was no Sun and no Moon yet; Varda had just kindled new stars, and the first thing the Elves saw was starlight. That is why they love the stars above all things and call on Varda by the name Elbereth.

The account in The Silmarillion (chapter 3, "Of the Coming of the Elves") is part of the Quenta Silmarillion. The first Elves were few, and they gave names to everything they saw. Their name for themselves was Quendi (singular Quendë), "those who speak," because before them nothing in the world had used words.

Morgoth found them before the Valar did. Some of the early Elves vanished, and later stories hint that the creatures who came out of his darkness were made from them. Oromë, the hunter among the Valar, finally found the Quendi, and the Valar went to war with Morgoth to protect them. After that war, the Valar decided to summon the Elves to Valinor, where they would be safe in the Blessed Realm.

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The Great Journey and the Sundering

The summons split the Elves, and the divisions of that journey shape every later story.

The Eldar and the Avari. Those who accepted the summons became the Eldar (singular Elda, glossed in Tolkien's papers as "High Elf of the West"). Those who refused stayed in the east and are called the Avari, whom The Silmarillion names the Unwilling. Tolkien says very little about the Avari later; they are the Elves who never saw the light of the Trees.

The three hosts. The Eldar marched west in three companies:

• The Vanyar, led by Ingwë, the smallest host and the most eager. Their name is connected with vanya, "fair, beautiful," for they were golden-haired. They went to Valinor and never came back, so they barely appear in the history of Middle-earth.
• The Noldor, led by Finwë, the people of craft and lore. Noldo is glossed in Tolkien's papers as "Deep Elf," and the Noldor were the great makers: Fëanor, who made the Silmarils, was one of them, and so was Galadriel.
• The Teleri, the largest host, led by the brothers Elwë and Olwë. They were the slowest and most reluctant, and they loved the water and the sea.

Those who stayed behind. On the long march, some of the Teleri turned aside. A company under Lenwë left before the Misty Mountains and became the Nandor, from whom the Silvan Elves descend. Later, in Beleriand, Elwë was lost in the woods after meeting Melian the Maia, and many of his people stayed to look for him. They became the Sindar, the Grey-elves, and Elwë became their king, Thingol Greycloak. The rest of the Teleri, under Olwë, crossed to Valinor and settled on the coast at Alqualondë.

Tolkien gives the result two more names. The Calaquendi, the Elves of the Light, are those who saw the Two Trees in Valinor; the Moriquendi, the Elves of the Darkness, are those who never did. The Sindar are an awkward middle case: they never saw the Trees but were not counted with the Avari, so the Sindar are often called Úmanyar, "those not of Aman." The language you learn when you study Sindarin is theirs.

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The Noldor and the Oath of Fëanor

The most famous part of Elvish history is the tragedy of the Noldor. It is told in The Silmarillion, chapters 6 to 9.

Fëanor, the greatest craftsman of the Elves, captured the light of the Two Trees in three jewels, the Silmarils. Morgoth, released from his chains, poisoned Fëanor's mind against his half-brothers and the Valar, then destroyed the Trees with the help of the spider Ungoliant, killed Finwë, and stole the Silmarils. Fëanor and his seven sons swore a terrible oath to pursue anyone who held a Silmaril, and led most of the Noldor out of Valinor in rebellion.

On the way they attacked the Teleri at Alqualondë to take their ships, the first Kinslaying. Mandos pronounced the Doom of the Noldor on them. Fëanor then burned the ships and abandoned the host of his half-brother Fingolfin, who crossed the grinding ice of the Helcaraxë on foot. Galadriel was among those who made that crossing.

The rest of the First Age is the story of the Noldor fighting Morgoth in Beleriand, building kingdoms like Nargothrond and Gondolin, and losing them one by one. When Thingol learned of the Kinslaying, he banned the Quenya tongue in his realm, which is why Sindarin became the language the Noldor spoke in Middle-earth and Quenya became something like Latin, a language of lore, names and song.

Tolkien said the First Age ended with the War of Wrath, when the Valar overthrew Morgoth. Most of the exiles were pardoned and went back over the Sea. A few, including Galadriel, did not.

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What Elvish Immortality Really Means

Elves do not grow old or fall sick. They live as long as Arda lasts. But Tolkien was careful to say they are not invulnerable.

They can be killed. Elves die in battle all through The Silmarillion: Fingolfin in single combat with Morgoth, Glorfindel fighting a Balrog, Fëanor to Gothmog and his Balrogs.

They can die of grief. Míriel, Fëanor's mother, gave so much of her spirit to bearing him that she chose to leave her body. Elves can weary of the world.

Their spirits do not leave the world. When an Elf dies, the spirit goes to the Halls of Mandos in Valinor. After a time it may be re-embodied; Glorfindel, in Tolkien's later writings, is the Glorfindel of Gondolin returned to Middle-earth.

They fade. Over long ages the Elvish spirit consumes the body, and Tolkien wrote that in the far future the Elves who remained in Middle-earth would become invisible to Men.

The contrast with Men is the heart of Tolkien's mythology. Men die and leave the circles of the world altogether, to a fate even the Valar do not know. Tolkien called it the Gift of Ilúvatar, and the Elves did not always envy it, but Men did not always see it as a gift. The marriages of Beren and Lúthien, Aragorn and Arwen, and Tuor and Idril are all about that line between the two peoples. If you want the Elvish words that speak of this, start with the Quenya for "man, mortal human": Atan. You can read more about mortality and the Second-born in Men of Middle-earth.

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The Elves in the Second and Third Ages

After the First Age the remaining Elves of Middle-earth gathered in a few realms.

Lindon and the Grey Havens. Gil-galad, the last High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth, ruled Lindon west of the Blue Mountains. Círdan the Shipwright held the Havens; at the end of the Third Age he still built the ships that carry the Elves West, and it was Círdan who gave his Ring of Fire to Gandalf.

Eregion and the Rings. In the Second Age the Noldorin smiths of Eregion, led by Celebrimbor, were deceived by Sauron, disguised as Annatar, into forging the Rings of Power. Celebrimbor made the Three alone, which is why Sauron never touched them. Their friendship with the Dwarves of Moria produced the West-gate of Khazad-dûm, with its password mellon, "friend." See Dwarves of Middle-earth for that story.

The Last Alliance. Gil-galad and Elendil marched together against Mordor, and both died breaking Sauron's power at the end of the Second Age.

Rivendell. Elrond Half-elven founded Imladris during the war in Eregion. It is the Last Homely House of The Hobbit and the place of the Council in The Fellowship of the Ring. Read our Rivendell Elvish language guide and the Elrond Elvish guide.

Lothlórien. Galadriel and Celeborn ruled the Galadhrim, the Tree-people; the name is from Sindarin galadh, "tree." Galadriel kept Nenya, the Ring of Water, there. Her lament Namárië is the longest Quenya text in The Lord of the Rings. See Galadriel's Elvish quotes.

Mirkwood. Thranduil, the Elvenking of The Hobbit, ruled the Silvan Elves of northern Mirkwood. His son Legolas represents the Elves in the Fellowship. The films add Tauriel, a character Tolkien did not write; see The Hobbit films' Elvish: Thranduil and Tauriel and Legolas's Elvish lines.

When Sauron fell and the One Ring was unmade, the power of the Three failed with it. The Fourth Age belongs to Men, and the Elves leave Middle-earth from the Grey Havens.

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Elves in the Films Versus the Books

Peter Jackson's films kept the spirit of Tolkien's Elves but changed several scenes. A few worth knowing:

• In the book, Glorfindel meets Aragorn and the hobbits and sets Frodo on his horse Asfaloth. In the film, Arwen takes his place.
• Haldir and an army of Lothlórien Elves fight at Helm's Deep only in the film. In the book, no Elves fight there except Legolas.
• Tauriel exists only in The Hobbit films.
• Much of the Elvish the actors speak in the films was composed by David Salo for the production. It is well made, but it is not Tolkien's own text. Our guide to Lord of the Rings Elvish phrases labels which lines are Tolkien and which are film Sindarin.

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Elves in Elvish

Here are the words the Elves used for themselves and their kindreds, as attested in Tolkien's writings.

Two notes on these words. Noldor has no connection to dor, "land"; it is simply the plural of Noldo. And Galadriel does not come from galadh, "tree," even though the Galadhrim do; Tolkien derived her name from galad, "radiance."

You heard one of these words in The Silmarillion's most famous battle cry: Fingon's call to the Eldalië before the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. To put words like these together yourself, try the Elvish translator, which handles both Quenya and Sindarin, or look up individual words in the Elvish dictionary of common words.

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The Two Elvish Languages

Tolkien's Elves have many dialects, but two languages matter for readers.

Quenya was spoken by the Vanyar and Noldor in Valinor. In Middle-earth it became a learned language after Thingol's ban. You meet it in Galadriel's Namárië, in Frodo's greeting to Gildor (Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo), and in names like Elendil and Isildur.

Sindarin is the language of the Grey-elves and, by the Third Age, of nearly every Elf in Middle-earth. The Elvish you hear in Rivendell and Lothlórien, Mae govannen, Mellon, the hymn A Elbereth Gilthoniel, is Sindarin.

Which should you learn first? It depends on what you want to read. Our Quenya vs Sindarin comparison walks through the choice, and What Language Do Elves Speak in Lord of the Rings? explains who speaks what in the books. For the deeper history of all of Tolkien's Elvish tongues, read Tolkien's Elvish Languages: The Complete Guide.

The Elves also wrote. The Tengwar, the script Fëanor devised in Valinor, is used for both languages; you can see your own name written in it with the Tengwar name tool, or learn the letters in the Tengwar alphabet guide.

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The Elves and the Other Races

The Elves' relations with the other peoples are a thread through every Age:

• With Dwarves, friendship and feud. Eregion and Moria were allies; Doriath and Nogrod fought over the Nauglamír. Legolas and Gimli's friendship heals some of that history. See Dwarves of Middle-earth.
• With Men, teachers and kin. Three marriages joined the two races, and the Dúnedain kept Elvish names and learning. See Men of Middle-earth.
• With Hobbits, curiosity and kindness. Gildor's Elves shelter Frodo in the Shire, and the Elves call Hobbits Periannath. See Hobbits of Middle-earth.
• With Orcs, war without end. The belief recorded in The Silmarillion that Orcs came from captured Elves makes this the bitterest relation of all. See Orcs and Goblins.
• With Ents, an old alliance. Treebeard says the Elves woke the trees and taught them to talk. See Ents and Huorns.

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People Also Ask

Who is the oldest Elf in Middle-earth? By the Third Age, Círdan the Shipwright is usually named as the oldest Elf still in Middle-earth; he was already a lord among the Teleri before the Sun rose.

Do Elves have pointed ears in Tolkien? Tolkien's published works barely describe Elvish ears at all. Pointed ears are much more a feature of later art, games and the films than of the books, so treat them as an adaptation choice rather than canon.

Can Elves and Men have children? Yes, three times in recorded history: Beren and Lúthien, Tuor and Idril, Aragorn and Arwen. Their descendants, the Half-elven, were given a choice of fate. Elrond chose the Elves; his brother Elros chose Men and became the first King of Númenor.

What happened to the Elves after the Third Age? Most sailed West. Some stayed in Middle-earth for a while; Legolas and Thranduil's people lived on in Ithilien and Mirkwood, and Celeborn stayed for a time before going to Rivendell.

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Learn the Language of the Elves

If the Elves are your favourite people in Middle-earth, their languages are the closest you can get to them. Tolkien spent his whole life on Quenya and Sindarin, and they are complete enough to read his texts and write your own short sentences.

Learn Elvish free. Tengwar's course gives you ten free lessons in Quenya and Sindarin, with Tolkien's own vocabulary, audio for every word and a review system that keeps it in your memory. Start learning Elvish now, or write a line in Tengwar with the Tengwar Scribe.

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Related Reading

• Races of Middle-earth: The Complete Guide
• Dwarves of Middle-earth
• Men of Middle-earth
• Hobbits of Middle-earth
• What Language Do Elves Speak in Lord of the Rings?
• Quenya vs Sindarin
• Galadriel's Elvish Quotes
• Legolas's Elvish Lines
• Sindarin for Beginners
• Quenya for Beginners