Sundering of the Elves: Difference between revisions

{{== Context <span class="anchor|" id="Eldar}}"></span>==

[[J. R. R. Tolkien]] (1892–1973) is best known as the author of the [[high fantasy]] works ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. He was a professional [[philology|philologist]], an expert in the changes in words between languages.<ref name="Carpenter 1977">{{cite book | last=Carpenter | first=Humphrey |author-link=Humphrey Carpenter | title=[[J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography]] | publisher=[[George Allen & Unwin]] | publication-place=London | date=1977 | isbn=978-0-04-928037-63 | oclc=3046822 |pages=111, 200, 266 and throughout}}</ref> He created a family of [[Constructed language|invented languages]] for [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elves]], carefully designing the differences between them to reflect their distance from their imaginary common origin. He stated that his languages led him to create the [[A mythology for England|invented mythology]] of ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', to provide a world in which his languages could have existed. In that world, the splintering of the Elvish peoples mirrored the fragmentation of their languages.<ref name="Shippey 2001"/><ref name="Flieger 1983 Darkness"/>

{{=== Awakening of the Elves <span class="anchor|" id="Awakening}}"></span>===

In [[Tolkien's legendarium]], the [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elves]] awoke at [[Cuiviénen]], a bay on the eastern side of the Sea of Helcar, on the continent of [[Middle-earth]], where they were divided into three tribes: Minyar (the Firsts), Tatyar (the Seconds) and Nelyar (the Thirds). After some time, they were summoned by the [[Vala (Middle-earth)|Vala]] [[Oromë]], the huntsman, to live with him and the other Valar in [[Aman (Middle-earth)|Valinor, on Aman]]. The Eldar are those who accepted the summons. Their name, literally ''Star People'', was given to them by Oromë, in their own language, [[Primitive Quendian]].<ref name="Tyler 1980">{{cite book |last=Tyler |first=J. E. A. |title=The New Tolkien Companion |publisher=[[Avon Books]] |year=1980 |page=166 |isbn=978-0-380-46904-8}}</ref><ref name="Dickerson 2013"/> The Avari are those who refused the summons.<ref name="Dickerson 2013"/> Half of the Avari (meaningthe "refusers")<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.elfdict.com/w/Avari |title=Avari |website=Parf Edhellen: an elvishElvish dictionaryDictionary |access-date=2 October 2022}}</ref> came from the largest tribe, the Nelyar, but most of the Nelyar went on the journey.{{efn|"The proportions, out of 144, that when the March began became Avari or Eldar were approximately: ''Minyar'' 14: ''Avari'' 0, ''Eldar'' 14; ''Tatyar'' 56: ''Avari'' 28, ''Eldar'' 28; ''Nelyar'' 74: ''Avari'' 28, ''Eldar'' 46: ''Amanyar Teleri'' 20, ''Sindar and Nandor'' 26." (''Nandor'' 8 - p. 412) It can be seen that the Avari are made up of aroughly proportionequal numbers of 28 Tatyar and 28 Nelyar.<ref name="Quendi and Eldar" group=T/>}}<ref name="Quendi and Eldar" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1994|loc="Quendi and Eldar"}}</ref>

[[File:Elvish_Migrations_and_Kindreds.svg|thumb|center|upright=3.5|[[Arda (Middle-earth)|Arda]] in the [[First Age]]. The Elves awoke at Cuiviénen, on the Sea of [[Helcar]] (right) in [[Middle-earth]], and many of them (green titles for kindreds) migrated (arrows) westwards to [[Valinor]] in Aman, though some stopped in [[Beleriand]] (top), and others returned to Beleriand later (red arrows). Those who obeyed the summons to Aman were known as the Eldar; the rest, the Avari or refusers. Those who saw the light of the Two Trees of Valinor in the blessed land of Aman were called Calaquendi, Elves of Light; those who did not were called the Moriquendi, Elves of Darkness. Locations are diagrammatic.<ref name="Dickerson 2013"/><ref name="Quendi and Eldar" group=T/>]]{{-}}

[[File:Sketch Map of Beleriand.svg|thumb|upright=2|Sketch map of [[Beleriand]]. Thingol's forest realm of Doriath with its [[Sindar]] Elves is in the centre; the [[Noldor]] cities of [[Gondolin]] and [[Nargothrond]] are to its northwest and southwest respectively. Ossiriand is in the southeast.]]

Those of the Teleri who reached [[Beleriand]] by the [[Belegaer|Great Sea]] but chose not to cross to Valinor were later called the Sindar (''Grey Elves''); their language was [[Sindarin]]. They stayed in the west of Middle-earth and were ruled by Thingol.<ref name="Dickerson 2013"/> Many of the Sindar chose to remain behind to look for their lord [[Thingol]] (Elwë), who disappeared near the end of the journey. These later inhabited [[Doriath (Middle-earth)|Doriath]], and were named the Iathrim or ''People of the Girdle'', for the magical 'Girdle of [[Melian (Middle-earth)|Melian]]' that surrounded and protected the kingdom.<ref name="Túrin Turambar" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977|loc=ch. 21 "Of Túrin Turambar"}}</ref>

Those who came to the shores of the Great Sea of [[Belegaer]] but decided to stay there, or who arrived too late to be ferried, were called the '''Falathrim''' (''People of the [[Falas|Shore]]''). They were ruled by Cirdan the Shipwright.<ref name="Dickerson 2013"/>

[[File:August Malmström - Dancing Fairies - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar|Elves were associated with light or darkness]] in [[Norse mythology]].<ref name="Shippey 2001"/> 1866 painting ''Elfplay'' by [[August Malmström]] ]]

The Vanyar, the Noldor, and those of the Teleri who reached [[Valinor]] are called the Calaquendi (''Elves of Light'') because they saw the light of the [[Two Trees of Valinor]]. In [[Quenya]], the language of the Noldor in Valinor, all other Elves were called the Moriquendi (''Elves of Darkness'') in recognition of the fact that they did not see (and did not desire) the Light of Valinor, but later the Sindar were counted among neither of these groups. Instead, ''Moriquendi'' was used for all other Elves except Noldor, Vanyar, Falmari, and Sindar.<ref name="Shippey 2001"/><ref name="Dimitra 2008">{{cite book |firstlast=DimitraFimi |lastfirst=FimiDimitra |author-link=Dimitra Fimi |title=Tolkien, Race, and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits |pagetitle-link=158Tolkien, |Race and Cultural History |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan|Palgrave]] |year=2010 |orig-year=2008 |isbn=978-0-230-21951-9 |oclc=222251097 |page=158 <!--Fimi quotes ''Jewels'' p. 373, a very late writing, hmm-->}}</ref> The Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] notes that the Sundering allowed Tolkien to explain the existence of [[Norse mythology]]'s [[Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar|''Dökkálfar'' and ''Ljósálfar'']], Light and Dark Elves. The Light Elves lived in ''Alfheim'' ("Elfhome") and correspond to his Calaquendi. The Dark Elves, who lived underground in ''Svartalfheim'' ("Black Elfhome"), Tolkien "rehabilitates" as his Moriquendi.<ref name="Shippey 2001">{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century]] |date=2001 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0261-10401-3 |pages=228–231}}</ref><!--more in his ''[[The Road to Middle-earth]]''-->

Most of the Noldor returned with [[Fëanor]] to Beleriand in Middle-earth before the raising of the Sun. Fëanor however sailed in haste in ships stolen from the (Telerin) Falmari. The Falmari resisted, and Fëanor's Noldor fought and killed them in the First Kinslaying, a battle of Elves upon Elves. In addition, Fëanor left behind his half-brother [[Fingolfin]]'s Noldor, who also wanted to return. Fingolfin, furious, was obliged to make the perilous journey on foot via the HelcaraxeHelcaraxë, the Grinding Ice of the far north. These groups of Noldor became known as the Exiles. In Beleriand they became divided by their place of dwelling, namely [[Hithlum]], [[Gondolin]], [[Dorthonion]], [[Nargothrond]] and the [[March of Maedhros]].<ref name="Return of the Noldor" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977|loc=ch. 13 "Of the Return of the Noldor"}}</ref><ref name="Beleriand and its Realms" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977|loc=ch. 14 "Of Beleriand and its Realms"}}</ref>

[[Matthew Dickerson]], writing in the ''[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]]'', notes the "very complicated changes, with shifting meanings assigned to the same names" as Tolkien worked on his conception of the Elves and their divisions and migrations. All the same, he notes, Tolkien kept to a consistent scheme. He states that the sundering of the elvesElves allowed Tolkien, a professional [[philologist]], to develop two [[Elvish languages (Middle-earth)|elvishElvish languages]], distinct but related, [[Quenya]] for the Eldar and [[Sindarin]] for the Sindar, citing Tolkien's own statement that the stories were made to create a world for the languages, not the reverse.<ref name="Dickerson 2013">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Dickerson |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Dickerson |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=Elves: Kindreds and Migrations |encyclopedia=[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1 |pages=152–154}}</ref>