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In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings . Their complex history is described in The Silmarillion , as well as in the Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth . Technically, "Middle-earth" is but one continent in this world. While the Elves originated on that continent, many of the elves in this list lived only in Aman (on a different continent) to which their ancestors had migrated.
The following is an alphabetically ordered list of Elves that are named in Tolkien's works. It excludes the Half-elven such as Elrond and Arwen.
Elvish names have meanings in the Elvish languages devised by Tolkien, e.g. Quenya, Noldorin, Goldogrin, Sindarin.
Tolkien decided late in his life that Elves of the Second Clan who lived in Eldamar bore several names:
Most elves in Tolkien's writing appear with only one name.
In the fictional universe, or legendarium, described in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Vanyar are the fairest and most noble of the High Elves. They are the smallest of the three clans of the Eldar, and were the first to arrive in Aman. According to legend, the clan was founded by Imin, the first Elf to awake at Cuiviénen, with his wife Iminyë and their twelve companions. Ingwë was the Vanya Elf to travel with Oromë to Valinor, and became their king. The Vanyar speak a dialect of Quenya called Vanyarin.
In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Noldor are High Elves of the Second Clan who migrated to Valinor and lived in Eldamar. The Noldor are called Golodhrim or Gódhellim in Sindarin, and Goldui by Teleri of Tol Eressëa. The singular form of the Quenya noun is Noldo and the adjective is Noldorin. 'Noldor' meant 'the Wise', that is those who have great knowledge and understanding. The Noldor indeed early showed the greatest talents of all the Elves both for intellectual pursuits and technical skills. They were the Second Clan of the Elves in both order and size, the other clans being the Vanyar and the Teleri. Like the Teleri, they typically had grey eyes and dark hair. The Noldor Elves were the most intellectually gifted of all the Elves, as well as the strongest and the most proud. The Noldor were the bravest and most powerful people among the Sons of Ilúvatar, with a light in their eyes similar to that of the stars. They fought the greatest wars of which dwarves or men have heard.
Finwë, sometimes surnamed Noldóran, is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He was the first High King of the Elven Noldor to lead his people on the journey from Middle-earth to Valinor in the blessed realm of Aman. He was a great friend of Elu Thingol, the king of Doriath. The story of Finwë and Míriel, his first wife, has been described as an important element of Tolkien's mythology. The Silmarillion, prepared by Christopher Tolkien from his father's unpublished writings, only briefly mentions the tale, although sources suggest that Tolkien had intended to incorporate a fuller version.
Fëanor is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium who plays an important part in The Silmarillion. He was the eldest son of Finwë, the High King of the Noldor, and his first wife Míriel Serindë. Fëanor's mother, Míriel, died shortly after giving birth, having given all her strength and essence to him. "For Fëanor was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind: in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and subtlety alike: of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and a bright flame was in him."
In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Teleri, Those who come last in Quenya were the third of the Elf clans who came to Aman. Those who came to Aman became known as the Falmari or "sea elves" and these are the Elves who are generally known as Teleri, though the term also includes their Middle-earth cousins the Sindar, Laiquendi, and Nandor of Middle-earth.
In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, the fictional Sindar are Elves of Telerin descent. They are also known as the Grey Elves. Their language is Sindarin. The King of Doriath, Elu Thingol (Elwë) was the King of the Sindar.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional legendarium, Beleriand was a region in northwestern Middle-earth during the First Age. Events in Beleriand are described chiefly in his work The Silmarillion, which tells the story of the early ages of Middle-earth in a style similar to the epic hero tales of Nordic literature. Beleriand also appears in the works The Book of Lost Tales, The Children of Húrin, and in the epic poems of The Lays of Beleriand.
Ereinion Gil-galad is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is mentioned in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.
Lúthien Tinúviel ['lu:θiɛ̯n ti'nu:viɛ̯l] Y.T. 1200–Y.S. 503; died aged 3377) is a fictional character in the fantasy-world Middle-earth of the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. She is an elf, daughter of Thingol and Melian. She appears in The Silmarillion, the epic poem The Lay of Leithian, the Grey Annals section of The War of the Jewels, and in other texts in Tolkien's legendarium. Her story is told to Frodo by Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings.
Elu Thingol is a fictional character in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He appears in The Silmarillion, The Lays of Beleriand and Children of Húrin as well as in numerous stories in the many volumes of The History of Middle-earth. He is notably a major character in many of the stories about the First Age of Tolkien's Middle-earth and he is an essential part of the ancestral backgrounding of the romance between Aragorn and Arwen in The Lord of the Rings.
Finarfin is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, featured in The Silmarillion.
Finrod Felagund is a fictional character in the fantasy-world Middle-earth of the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. He appears in The Silmarillion, the epic poem The Lay of Leithian and the Grey Annals, as well as other material.
Maedhros is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. First introduced in The Silmarillion and later mentioned in Unfinished Tales and The Children of Húrin, he is one of the most enduring characters in The Silmarillion, and has been the subject of paintings by artists such as Jenny Dolfen and Alan Lee.
Eöl, called the Dark Elf, is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Silmarillion as an Elf of Beleriand and is a character existing in some form from the earliest to the latest writings.
In Norse mythology, a half-elf is the offspring of an elf and a human.
The tale of Beren and Lúthien, told in several works by J. R. R. Tolkien, is the story of the love and adventures of the mortal Man Beren and the immortal Elf-maiden Lúthien. Tolkien wrote several versions of their story, the latest in The Silmarillion, and the tale is also mentioned in The Lord of the Rings. The story takes place during the First Age of Middle-earth, about 6,500 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. Unlike Men and Dwarves, Elves are immortal. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion. Tolkien had been writing about Elves long before he published The Hobbit. Like many of the other concepts Tolkien introduced in his books, elves have become a staple of fantasy literature both in the West and in Japan.
Galadriel is a fictional character created by J.R.R. Tolkien, appearing in his Middle-earth legendarium. She appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales.
Sindarin is one of the fictional languages devised by J. R. R. Tolkien for use in his fantasy stories set in Arda, primarily in Middle-earth. Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the Elves, called the Eledhrim[ɛˈlɛðrim] or Edhellim[ɛˈðɛllim] in Sindarin. The word Sindarin is itself a Quenya form. The only known Sindarin word for this language is Eglathrin, a word probably only used in the First Age.
The Silmarillion is a collection of mythopoeic works by English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, edited and published posthumously by his son, Christopher Tolkien, in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R. Tolkien's other works, forms an extensive, though incomplete, narrative that describes the universe of Eä in which are found the lands of Valinor, Beleriand, Númenor, and Middle-earth, within which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place.