Valinor (Quenya: Land of the Valar) or the Blessed Realms is a fictional location in J. R.

Tolkien’s legendarium, the home of the immortal Valar on the continent of Aman, far to the west of Middle-earth. he used the name Aman mainly to mean Valinor.

Aman was known somewhat misleadingly as “the Undying Lands”, but the land itself does not cause mortals to live forever.[T 1] However, only immortal beings were generally allowed to reside there. Exceptions were made for the surviving bearers of the One Ring: Bilbo and Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee, who dwelt there for a time, and the dwarf Gimli.[T 2][T 3].

They note, too, that a mortal’s stay in Valinor is only temporary, not conferring immortality, just as in Dante’s Paradiso, the Earthly Paradise is only a preparation for the Celestial Paradise that is above.

The Christian theme of good and light (from Valinor) opposing evil and dark (from Mordor) has also been discussed.

Ekkaia, the encircling sea, surrounds both Aman and Middle-earth. Tolkien wrote that the name “Aman” was “chiefly used as the name of the land in which the Valar dwelt” [i.e.

Tolkien created no detailed maps of Aman. those drawn by Karen Wynn Fonstad, based on Tolkien’s rough sketch of Arda’s landmasses and seas, show Valinor about 800 miles wide, west to east (from the Great Sea to the Outer Sea), and about 3000 miles long north to south – similar in size to the United States.

Eldamar is “Elvenhome”, the “coastal region of Aman, settled by the Elves”, wrote Tolkien.[T 5] Eldamar was the true Eldarin name of Aman.[T 6] In The Hobbit it is referred to as “Faerie”. The land was well-wooded, as Finrod “walk[ed] with his father under the trees in Eldamar” and the Teleri had timber to build their ships.

The harbour is entered through a natural arch of rock, and the beaches are strewn with gems given by the Noldor.[T 7] In the bay is the island of Tol Eressëa.[T 8]. Calacirya (Quenya: “Light Cleft”, for the light of the Two Trees that streamed through the pass into the world beyond) is the pass in the Pelóri mountains where the Elven city Tirion was set.

The Valar would have closed the mountains entirely but, realizing that the Elves needed to be able to breathe the outside air, they kept Calacirya open. They also did not want to wholly separate the Vanyar and Noldor from the Teleri on the coast.[T 8].

The city had a central square at the top of the hill and a tower called the Mindon Eldaliéva, a beacon visible from the seashore miles to the east.[T 9].

Valinor is the home of the Valar (singular Vala), spirits that often take humanoid form, sometimes called “gods” by the Men of Middle-earth.[T 12] Other residents of Valinor include the related but less powerful spirits, the Maiar, and most of the Eldar.[T 13]. Each Vala has his or her own region of the land.

Yavanna, the Vala of Earth, Growth, and Harvest, resided in the Pastures of Yavanna in the south of the land, west of the Pelóri. Near-by were the mansions of Yavanna’s spouse, Aulë the Smith, who made the Dwarves.[T 14] Oromë, the Vala of the Hunt, lived in the Woods of Oromë to the north-east of the pastures.

Just south of Nienna’s home, and to the north of the pastures, were the Halls of Mandos. Mandos was the Vala of the After-life.

To the east of the Halls of Mandos is the Isle of Estë, which is situated in the middle of the lake of Lórellin, which in turn lies to the north of the Gardens of Lórien.[a]. In east-central Valinor at the Girdle of Arda (the Equator of Tolkien’s world) is Valmar, the capital of Valinor (also called Valimar or the City of Bells), the residence of the Valar and the Maiar in Valinor.

The mound of Ezellohar, on which stood the Two Trees, and Máhanaxar, the Ring of Doom, are outside Valmar.[T 13] Farther east is the Calacirya, the only easy pass through the Pelóri, a huge mountain range fencing Valinor on three sides, created to keep Morgoth’s forces out. In the pass is the city Tirion, built on a hill, the city of the Noldor Elves.

In the northern inner foothills of the Pelóri, hundreds of miles north of Valmar, was Fëanor’s city of Formenos, built upon his banishment from Tirion.

They also established Valimar, the radiant Two Trees, and their dwelling-places. Valinor was said to have surpassed Almaren in beauty.

They proposed to bring the Elves to the safety of Valinor, but to do that, they needed to get Melkor out of the way. A war was fought, and Melkor’s stronghold Utumno was destroyed.

But Melkor had come back to Valinor as a prisoner, and after three Ages was brought before the Valar and he sued for pardon, vowing to assist the Valar and make amends for the hurts he had done. Manwë granted him pardon, but confined him within Valmar to remain under watch.

Fëanor used some of the light of the Two Trees to forge the three Silmarils, beautiful and irreplaceable jewels.

Knowing that he was discovered, Melkor went to the home of the Noldorin elves’ High King Finwë, killed him and stole the prized jewels, the Silmarils. He then destroyed the Two Trees with the help of Ungoliant, plunging Valinor into darkness, the Long Night, relieved only by stars.

The Valar managed to save one last luminous flower from Telperion, and one last luminous fruit from Laurelin. These became the Moon and the Sun.

They raised the Pelóri mountains to even greater and sheerer heights. Off the coast, eastwards of Tol Eressëa, they created the Shadowy Seas and their Enchanted Isles.

For centuries, Valinor took no part in the struggles between the Noldor and Morgoth in Middle-earth. But near the end of the First Age, when the Noldor were in total defeat, the mariner Eärendil convinced the Valar to make a last attack on Morgoth.

During the Second Age, the Valar created the island of Númenor as a reward to the Edain, Men who had fought alongside the Noldor. Centuries later the kingdom of Númenor grew so powerful and so arrogant that Ar-Pharazôn, the twenty-fifth and last king, dared to attempt an invasion of Valinor.

Arda itself became spherical, and was left for Men to govern. The Elves could go there only by the Straight Road and in ships capable of passing out of the spheres of the earth.[T 17].

The opening of The Fellowship of the Ring finds an elven war-leader ordering his archers to fire, with arrows aimed so precisely they clip his exquisitely braided hair on their way past. We don’t see Elrond, the lord of Rivendell, for another hour — and while it’s been several thousand years, he hasn’t aged a day.

Jackson and company had to leave many details of Tolkien’s mythos unexplained for the Lord of the Rings movies, but the brilliance of the production is that they never let an opportunity to depict the effects of these details. We don’t need to be told that elves live a very long time because Hugo Weaving looks exactly the same in a multi-millennia flashback.

The elves become a fascinating embodiment of this less-is-more approach to exposition. Elves can die — Jackson and Co.

Elves are strange — they are oddly detached, even campy in their relations to men, dwarves, and hobbits. Elves remember — the great elf-lord Elrond seems to hold a grudge against Aragorn for a weakness he witnessed in his distant ancestor, and puts up a mighty resistance to Aragorn marrying his daughter.

Jackson’s elves are alien in ways that are difficult to articulate, but utterly compelling nonetheless. They seem indifferent and helpful, wise and overly judgmental.

See, elves can die, and when they do, they get to go to heaven. They can also come back any time they want to.

Like, on a map.

In the far west of Middle-earth, there is a continent called Aman (or at least there used to be, but we’ll come back to that), that was shaped by Middle-earth’s gods, the Valar, as the best place in the world for elves.

(Men were also in the blueprints for Middle-earth, but not for some eons later.) The Valar were not powerful enough to turn all of Middle-earth into a paradise, so after they made all the birds, and fish, and animals, and the mountains, and valleys, and rivers, and oceans, and most of the stars … they focused on crafting an elven homeland in the far west.

And when they found the first elves, they spent a long time gaining their trust and guiding them to Aman, with some factions of elves choosing to stay behind at various pinch points like mountain ranges and ocean shores — leaving a tidy trail of different elven cultures for Tolkien to play with during the course of The Silmarillion, his history of the pre-Lord of the Rings Middle-earth.

On the continent of Aman, the elves and the Valar founded a nation called Valinor. Valinor is Asgard, and it is Valhalla.

And within Valinor is the domain of Mandos, Middle-earth’s god of the afterlife. The Halls of Mandos are a system of great caverns and underground halls lined with god-woven tapestries depicting all of history.

Most of them are then returned to corporeal form and rejoin all the other elves living in Valinor.

And if an elf lacks the will to live again — which has happened at least a few times — they remain as a sad, disembodied shade in the Halls of Mandos until the end of time or until they feel better, whichever happens first. Their families and friends can visit them, but it’s not very fun.

So yes, if an elf is killed in battle, her death will separate her from any loved ones she has on Middle-earth as her spirit travels to Valinor to be re-embodied. But her elven friends and family know they’ll see her again eventually.

Any amount of time you spend apart from your loved one is, by definition, is a blip on the road of infinity.

Spooky. And very interesting that Tolkien’s own mythology is one in which humanity has no guaranteed afterlife of any kind.

Many elves traveled to Aman in the early days of Middle-earth and made it their home — some elves, like Galadriel, were simply born and raised in Valinor, the realm of the gods, which is part of the reason she’s such a stand-out badass compared to the other elves in The Lord of the Rings.

Not anyone. Not anymore.

But when Eru Ilúvatar created Middle-earth, it was flat. What happened in between starts with an island country called Númenor (which is likely to play a major role in Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV series).

Thousands of years before the War of the Ring, the human kingdom of Númenor was founded in the ocean between Aman and the rest of Middle-earth, under the leadership of Elrond’s twin brother Elros. See, Elrond and Elros were descended from such mixed parentage — multiple half-elven ancestors and one literal demigod — that the Valar threw up their hands and allowed the twins and their parents to choose their own fate: Immortality or mortality.

Elros was the only member of their family who chose to be human, and he was the first king of Númenor, from which Aragorn’s family line and the people of Gondor descended. (This is why Aragorn looks so good for an 87 year old: It’s the power of elvish blood.) But many generations later, Númenor fell under the sway of a black sorcerer who encouraged many on the island to spurn the Valar in favor of worshipping a dark god.

Yes, it was Sauron, back in the days when he could take physical form. The Dark Lord had convinced the last king of Númenor, Ar-Pharazôn, that if he built an armada to invade Valinor he could plunder the secrets of the gods and win immortality for humanity — a web of lies and manipulations.

As Ar-Pharazôn’s fleet set foot upon the continent of Aman, the Valar called on Ilúvatar to stop the invasion, as they were forbidden from harming his children. And boy did Ilúvatar stop it.

Middle-earth’s creator god cracked the plate of the world in two, snapping the continent of Aman off like a Kit-Kat bar and drowning Ar-Pharazôn’s fleet and the island of Númenor beneath the churning seas. The remaining piece Middle-earth was bent into a sphere, and any humans who tried to sail to Valinor again… well, I’ll let Tolkien say it, as he does in The Silmarillion:.

and they said: ‘All roads are now bent.’ [..] yet the [elves] were permitted still to depart and to come to the Ancient West [..], if they would. Therefore the loremasters of Men said that a Straight Road must still be, for those that were permitted to find it.

“Ilmen” is the elven word for the upper atmosphere of Middle-earth, through which the stars, sun, and moon pass. So, thanks to Sauron, the elven afterlife is technically in space now.

Tolkien wasn’t really explicit about that, but probably not. Immortality is a facet of the Elven race, not something conferred by Valinor itself.

The Grey Havens are in a region of Middle-earth called Lindon. In the map at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, it’s a coastal region all the way on the western side of the map.

But in the map of Tolkien’s Silmarillion, which largely takes place before the destruction of Númenor, Lindon is a tiny wedge of space beyond the map’s last eastern mountain range. Ilúvatar’s wrath drowned all of the lands that feature in The Silmarillion, turning Lindon into beachfront property overnight — and into the closest ocean shore to Valinor.

So, shortly after that cataclysm, surviving elves in Middle-earth — mainly a faction who had originated in Valinor and traveled back to the main continent thousands of years before for reasons that pretty much make up the core plotline of The Silmarillion — founded the Grey Havens as an ocean port specifically for sending ships over the Straight Road back to Valinor.

Still, many of those elves hung around for a long time afterwards. At that point, they’d spent a lot of time struggling for peace in Middle-earth, and they felt tied to the land and their allies there.

The Elves are the oldest species in Middle-Earth, and they factor into nearly every story before and during The Lord of the Rings. The events surrounding Frodo and his companions are only a small fraction of the Elves’ long history.

Related: Lord Of The Rings Characters That Only Exist In Video Games. While novels like The Silmarillion are beautiful works that any fantasy reader should have in their library, not everybody has the time to get through these wordy tomes.

Updated November 13, 2022 by Vaspaan Dastoor: Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series launched in 2022 and told of the forging of the Great Rings in the Second Age. The show picks up just after the battle in which Morgoth is defeated and the hunt for Sauron is on.

This update adds a section about the Elves’ journey to Middle-earth as illustrated in the TV show. You can find it under the Return To Middle-earth section.

The Elves were spread across the world in mated pairs, while humans were held back until a later time. The Elves awakened and wandered the land by starlight, as the Sun and Moon had not yet been created, eventually meeting each other and inventing music, language, and poetry — in that order.

These 144 original Elves settled in a place called Cuiviénen, living harmonious immortal lives, as the only things that will cause an Elf to die are violence and heartbreak, neither of which were present among them. The Elves’ happiness caught the attention of Melkor, the first and most prideful of the Valar — lesser gods second only to Eru Ilúvatar.

The location of the Elves’ awakening had not been disclosed to the Valar, and having found them first Melkor created a ruse. He set his spirits upon them in a form similar to that of his brother Oromë, expecting them to react with fear and terror when Oromë truly found them.

In the chaos, Melkor captured some of the Elves and used dark magic to twist and transform them, creating the first Orcs. After this initial chaos, Oromë earned the Elves’ trust and lived among them.

After the conflict, in which the Valar had been careful not to involve the Elves, Oromë came back to Cuiviénen and told them they should relocate to Aman, the continent to the west where the Valar had originally come from. Unwilling to leave their home and fearful of the world beyond, the Elves appointed three of their number — Elwë, Finwë, and Ingwë — to go with Oromë and see what Aman was like.

A handful, however, feared becoming caught in the Valar’s machinations and opted to remain in Middle-Earth. These became called the Avari — “unwilling” — and remained secluded in the forests.

In Aman, Elven culture flourished. Each clan chose a place to settle, with Ingwë leading all the clans as High King of the Elves.

Eventually, Melkor served his period of exile and returned to Valinor claiming to be reformed. However, he now wanted to corrupt and destroy the Elves more than ever.

The Noldor, however, believed that Melkor, first of the Valar, had much to teach them. Melkor shared secrets with the Noldor that the other Valar had not — namely, that Middle-Earth would one day be inherited by humans.

Related: Weird Things In The Lord Of The Rings That Weren’t In The Movies. Fëanor, son of Finwë and prince of the Noldor, was especially vocal about the Elves’ right to rule Middle-earth.

Fëanor’s testimony exposed Melkor’s deception, and the Dark Lord — bearing a new name, Morgoth, attacked with the monstrous Ungoliant, the spider-mother whose descendant, Shelob would come to reside in Mordor. Morgoth and Ungoliant destroyed the Two Trees of Valinor, killed Finwë, and stole the Silmarils, then fled across the sea to Middle-earth.

As Fëanor and his followers would not listen to the Valar and insisted on going to war, they were banished from Aman. For hundreds of years Fëanor and his clan fought against Morgoth wherever and however they could, occasionally supported by Elven adventurers who traveled to Middle-earth to aid their kin.

The Elves found a natural ally in the humans, who by this time had been placed in the world, and even intermarried with them. Eventually, the many long-lived Elves grew weary of war and returned to Aman to ask forgiveness from the Valar.

Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, launched in 2022, told of the forging of the Great Rings and the major characters during the Second Age. However, the producers didn’t stick strictly to Tolkien’s version.

After Morgoth’s defeat, the Elves remained in Middle-earth for two reasons — to remain vigilant over the Men whose ancestors aided Morgoth and to hunt down his servant Sauron. The latter had not been seen in years, and many believed he was no longer a threat.

However, Galadriel, then a commander in the Elven army, was not convinced that Sauron had been truly defeated. She is also driven by the fact that her brother was slain in the battle against the Dark Lord in Middle-earth.

After more centuries passed, a visitor from the Valar named Annatar visited the Elves offering knowledge. Celebrimbor, lord of Eregion and the last of Fëanor’s descendants, accepted — against the advice of his kinsman Gil-Galad.

Related: The Lord Of The Rings: Things About Legolas That Make No Sense. Annatar was in truth Sauron, a longtime servant of Morgoth, and he forged the One Ring to control the wearers of the others.

Over the following centuries the Elves fell into decline, and after the War of the Ring opted to return to Aman forever. Only Arwen remained in Middle-earth, having married Aragorn.

It is common knowledge that Icelandic people are superstitious by nature. I was raised in a family where the Elves were a part of the landscape and life in general.

There was even one elf story related to when I was born, but I will save that for our Reykjavik Folklore Walking Tour together. The most common Elves in Iceland are called the Hidden People.

The Elves, as they are depicted in the Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion, look very much like they are described in Norse mythology. It is not common knowledge, but he was influenced by the Icelandic Sagas and Norse mythology when he wrote his stories, but that is another story.

Additionally, they do not have philtrum or philtral ridges. But generally, they just look and behave as humans do.

They dance, drink and party like humans, especially around Christmas, which is a time many people have seen their habitats brightly lit. In Prose-Edda, elves are usually close to the gods and often talked about in the same sentence.

The Light elves are fairer to look at than the sun, while the Dark elves were blacker than pitch-black. According to the Icelandic Elf School, there are over 50 types of Elves in Iceland.

In April 2021, I went and met with the headmaster and owner of the Icelandic Elf School, Magnús Skarphéðinsson. The Icelandic Elfschool describes itself as an introduction to the Elves and Hidden People of Iceland.

Students of the Elfschool learn there is everything to know about elves and hidden people. Additionally, they learn about gnomes, dwarfs, fairies, trolls, and mountain spirits, as well as other nature spirits and mythical beings in Iceland and other countries.

Eve was washing their children before the visit to make them presentable, and she did not finish before God knocked on the door, so she hid the rest of the children. When God found out what Eve had done, he declared, “What man hides from God, God will hide from man,” so the Hidden people came to be.

In Jón Árnason’s Folklore and Fairy tales are a few variations of the hidden people’s origin. You could say that Jón is Iceland’s Grimm.

One story goes like this: Once upon a time, a man was travelling.

Finally, he arrived at a farmstead he knew nothing about. There he knocked on the door.

He accepted it.

The woman led the man to the living room, and there were two young and beautiful girls. He saw no more people on the farm than the elderly woman and the girls.

The man asked to sleep with one of the girls, and it was allowed. They then lay down.

He grabbed her, but he felt nothing between his hands. the girl was still with him in bed, so he always saw her.

She says he should not be surprised “because I am a disembodied spirit,” she said.

Those who watched him were cast out of heaven. But those who were neither for nor against him and did not join the rebellion were driven down to earth and ordered to live in hills, mountains and rocks and are called elves or hidden people.

They do not have a body as human beings but can appear to you whenever they want. I’m now one of that group of fallen spirits, so there’s no hope that you can have more love from me than you already have.”.

People are regularly surveyed in Iceland regarding their beliefs. The surveys are everywhere, from academic to simple newspaper surveys.

54.4% of people said yes. However, in 2006 an academic study was made into the beliefs of Icelanders.

In that survey, 35% of people said hidden people might exist. 18% said “probably”, 9% were convinced they existed, while 39% said it was unlikely and impossible that they existed.

The study can be found here: Interestingly, only 11% of people thought it was probable or certain that flower fairies existed (with only 26% of people saying it was possible and 63% saying it was unlikely and impossible to exist).

Icelanders are, in a way, much more likely to believe in dreaming true and hauntings. 42% said it was possible to dream true, with 50% saying it was probable or certain.

So, to be totally honest, today, most Icelanders actually don’t believe in Elves, so to speak. it’s more that they don’t dismiss the possibility.

The response rate was 51,6%. People could answer with yes, no, I don’t know, and I don’t want to answer.

11% weren’t sure, and 1% didn’t want to answer. If we only look at those who answered, then 35% of people say they believe, while 65% say they don’t believe.

And women are more likely to believe than men. 44% of women believe in elves, while only 27% of men.

People aged 55-64 are the most likely, but 49% of them say they believe in elves. 25-34-year-olds were the least likely, with only 23% affirmative answers.

Once, a woman told her son off for misbehaving and said: You elf. (as an insult).

She went up to the mother and snarled: “The hidden people are no more elves than you humans. ”.

” 41% of those who answered said it was possible, 19% probable, and 9% were certain. 32% said it was unlikely or impossible.

So it still happens that roads that are being built are moved to go around known elf dwellings or churches instead of just bulldozing them down. Recently, there was a news story on the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV regarding an apartment building that was going to be built on an elf stone.

There are quite a few stories like this. We actually visit an elf house or rock and pay our respects to the elves on our Reykjavik Walking Tour – Walk With a Viking and Reykjavik Folklore Walking Tour.

January 6th (The Thirteenth), Midsummer night, Christmas night, and finally, New Year’s Eve. The folk belief regarding those four days is pretty much the same.

You will most likely lose your mind. Seals change into humans.

The hidden people (or elves) moved house on these days and will try to tempt you with gifts. It is important to not accept any of their gifts because you will lose your mind if you do so.

A man who sat down at crossroads to meet the elves moving houses. They kept coming to him and offering him great treasures.

This went on all night, but lastly, a woman came who offered him melted fat, which he loved. Instead of just waiting for her to leave, he said, “I have never been able to say no to that”, and all his treasures disappeared.

He lost everything, his mind and livelihood. January 6th has long been a nig.

In J. R.

Tolkien’s legendarium, the Elves or Quendi are a sundered (divided) people. They awoke at Cuiviénen on the continent of Middle-earth, where they were divided into three tribes: Minyar (the Firsts), Tatyar (the Seconds) and Nelyar (the Thirds).

That summoning and the Great Journey that followed split the Elves into two main groups (and many minor ones), which were never fully reunited.

The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey writes that The Silmarillion derived from the linguistic relationship between the two languages, Quenya and Sindarin, of the divided Elves. The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger states that Tolkien used the Indo-European type of proto-language as his model.

the highest Elves are those who deviated least from that state, meaning that in Tolkien’s scheme, ancestry is a guide to character.

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 philologist, an expert in the changes in words between languages.

He stated that his languages led him to create the 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.

In Tolkien’s legendarium, the 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 Oromë, the huntsman, to live with him and the other Valar in Valinor, on Aman.

Their name, literally Star People, was given to them by Oromë, in their own language, Primitive Quendian. The Avari are those who refused the summons.

The Eldar migrated westwards across the north of Middle-earth in their three groups. The Minyar became known as the Vanyar, meaning the Fair Elves, with golden-blond hair.

The Nelyar who went west were known as the Teleri (Those who come last) or, as they called themselves, the Lindar or Singers. They stayed on the east of Aman, in Tol Eressëa.

Those of the Teleri who reached Beleriand by the Great Sea but chose not to cross to Valinor were later called the Sindar (Grey Elves). their language was Sindarin.

Many of the Sindar chose to remain behind to look for their lord Thingol (Elwë), who disappeared near the end of the journey.

Those who chose to remain behind and populated the lands to the north-west of Beleriand were called the Mithrim or Grey People, giving their name to the region and the great lake there. Most of them later merged with the Noldor who returned to Middle-earth, especially those of Gondolin.[T 3] Those who reached Aman were called Amanyar Teleri.

Those of the Teleri who refused to cross the Misty Mountains and stayed in the valley of Anduin were called the Nandor (Those [Elves] who turn back). Those of the Nandor who later entered Beleriand were called the Laiquendi (Green Elves or Green People, so named because their attire was often green.) “Laiquendi” was the term in Quenya, while the Sindarin version was “Laegrim”.

Hearing of the peaceful territories of King Thingol, Denethor, son of Lenwë, collected as many of his scattered people as he could and finally ventured westward over the Ered Luin into Ossiriand.

They were joined there by those Avari who eventually decided to move to the West.[T 5]. The Vanyar were the fairest and most noble of the High Elves.

Their small clan was founded by Imin, the first Elf to awaken at Cuiviénen, with his wife Iminyë and their twelve companions: they broadly correspond to the Minyar. Ingwë was the Vanya Elf to travel with the Vala Oromë to Valinor, and became their king.

Since they stayed in Valinor, they played no part in the wars in Beleriand, except for the War of Wrath that brought an end to the region.[T 3]. 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.

Instead, Moriquendi was used for all other Elves except Noldor, Vanyar, Falmari, and Sindar. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes that the Sundering allowed Tolkien to explain the existence of Norse mythology’s Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar, Light and Dark Elves.

The Dark Elves, who lived underground in Svartalfheim (“Black Elfhome”), Tolkien “rehabilitates” as his Moriquendi.

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.

Fingolfin, furious, was obliged to make the perilous journey on foot via the Helcaraxë, the Grinding Ice of the far north. These groups of Noldor became known as the Exiles.

After the War of Wrath that ended the First Age, the greater part of the surviving Noldor and Sindar (mostly mingled into a single people) returned into the West to dwell in Tol Eressëa. The rest remained in Middle-earth throughout the Second and Third Ages, entering the realm of Mirkwood of the Wood Elves or establishing the kingdoms of Lindon, Eregion, Lothlórien and Rivendell.[T 3].

At least six kindreds existed, and they continued to call themselves ‘Quendi’,[b] considering those who went away, the Eldar, as deserters. Some of these tribes later journeyed westward, intermingling with the Nandor in Rhovanion, and a few even reached Beleriand, though usually remaining on unfriendly terms with the Sindar.[T 1].

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.

Shippey suggests that the “real root” of The Silmarillion lay in the linguistic relationship, complete with sound-changes and differences of semantics, between the two languages of the divided elves. He adds that the elves are separated not by colour, despite names like light and dark, but by their history, including their migrations.

The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger states that in the Lhammas and “The Etymologies” Tolkien used the Indo-European type of proto-languages with branches and sub-branches of language families while inventing his various languages of Middle-earth. This picture of increasing separation is analogous to the progressive decline and fall in Middle-earth from its initial perfection, of which the Sundering of the Elves is a major element.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episodes 1 & 2.In The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episode 1, Galadriel recounts how the Elves “left Valinor, our home” and journeyed to Middle-earth in order to fight off Morgoth during the First Age. However, strictly speaking, Valinor isn’t the home of the Elves.

In a gloriously autumnal scene, Gil-galad hails the “most valiant of warriors” and declares that they will be “granted an honor unrivaled” in all the lore of the Ñoldorian Elves. “They will be escorted to the Grey Havens and granted passage across the sea to dwell for all eternity, in the Blessed Realm, the Far West.

” Gil-galad’s words suggest a sort of homecoming, and though the Elves have a long association with the realm, their true origin is more complicated. Related: Is The Rings Of Power Based On A Book.

Viewers familiar with The Lord of the Rings trilogy will recall that, after the War of the Ring, Frodo departs Middle-earth from the Grey Havens to head for the Undying Lands where he would find lasting peace from his trials. The common perception is that Valinor is a kind of heaven for the inhabitants of Middle-earth (especially the Elves), a place they can go after a well-lived life.

In fact, according to supplementary Middle-earth material, the Elves actually came from another place entirely – Cuiviénen. The Elves’ unearthly beauty, wisdom, and immortality could lead even the most knowledgeable Númenórean to assume they come from the land of the Valar, the archangel-like beings who shaped all of Arda after its creation by Eru Ilúvatar.

In “Quendi and Eldar,” part of The History of Middle-earth, Vol. 11 by Christopher Tolkien, Eru Ilúvatar awakens the Elves by the lake (or bay) of Cuiviénen.

These three couples are the forbears of the three Elvish tribes: Minyar (later known as Vanyar), Tatyar (later known as Ñoldor, to which Galadriel belongs), and Lindar. The couples begin traversing Middle-earth where they find and awaken other groups of Elves.

Unfortunately, the corrupt Valar Morgoth is the first to learn of this newly awakened creation in Arda. He sends evil spirits among the Elves who have been spending their time creating words, language, poetry, and music.

Before too long, one of the other Valar, Oromë, finds the Elves and offers them an emigration to Valinor. Thanks to Morgoth’s lies, some of the Elves are suspicious, but three of the Elvish lords and their people agree to take the trip.

Later, some Elvish leaders return to Cuiviénen to convince the rest of their kind to come to Valinor. While whole tribes up and leave for the Undying Lands, many refuse in an event known as the Sundering of the Elves.

The Elves who remained at Cuiviénen eventually discover the race of Men when they are awakened at the beginning of the First Age. Related: The Rings Of Power’s World Map (& How It’s Different From LOTR).

It’s the place many of them chose to live long before the sun and moon ever rose over Middle-earth. They prospered in their new land, basking in the light of the Two Trees of Valinor.

Suddenly awakened to this enormous threat, the High Elves of Valinor set sail for Middle-earth to fight The War of Wrath, eventually defeating Morgoth, bringing an end to the First Age. The Elves who left Valinor remain in Middle-earth throughout the Second and Third Ages, which are defined by the fight against Morgoth’s servant Sauron.

Following the Third Age, when the Fellowship of the Ring leads the final fight against the Dark Lord, Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, Frodo, Bilbo, and the Keepers of the Rings travel to the Undying Lands of Valinor. The last of the High Elves (those who originally left Cuiviénen for Valinor along with their descendants) leave Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age.

Canonically, all Elves (being the Firstborn of the Children of Ilúvatar) go to Valinor when they die and can choose to go there whenever they desire. Whether The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power shows further Valinor-centered action remains to be seen.

Want more The Rings of Power articles. Check out our essential content below..

The first episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power covers a lot of ground, and we’re not just talking about its extensive location-hopping. The show is dense in Tolkien lore and there are several mentions of the First Age, Morgoth, Sauron, and countless introductions to new characters and peoples (hi, Harfoots).

Towards the end of the opener, Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel and several other Elves set off on a journey to Valinor, too – and if you’re a little confused as to what that actually is, then we’ve got you covered. While Galadriel ends up jumping ship and swimming back to Middle-earth before the boat reaches it, we’re likely to visit Valinor again later on in the series.

Valinor, or Valinórë, meaning ‘Land of the Valar’, is a place in the blessed realm of Aman (also known as the Undying Lands) and is said to be free from all evil (read: heavenly). The angel-like Valar – great beings who helped shaped the world in Tolkien’s mythology – built Valinor following their initial battle with Melkor, better known as Morgoth, a corrupted Valar who caused chaos.

At a later stage, something called the Sundering of the Elves took place, in which the immortal Elves – born on Middle-earth – were allowed to travel to Valinor to live in eternal bliss. The trip itself was called the Great Journey, though some Elves remained on Middle-earth.

The realm of Aman was later removed altogether from the rest of the Earth (known as Arda) and Elves were only capable of getting to Valinor by going on the Straight Road, an invisible bridge that left the curve of the Earth. The Elves have to travel in ships capable of making the journey (this is the voyage Galadriel almost makes in the opening episode of The Rings of Power).

Of course, there were some famous exceptions: ring-bearers. Frodo Baggins and Bilbo, as seen at the end of The Return of the King, took a boat to the Undying Lands as they had both held the Ring of Power.

Meanwhile, following King Aragorn’s death, Legolas, the Elf, sailed to Valinor alongside Gimli, making him the first and only dwarf to travel to the Undying Lands. They all said to have lived out their days happily ever after there.

Tol Eressëa is the most important island off its east coast. Each Valar is believed to have their own domain in Valinor.

Other areas include the Halls of Mandos, Halls of Tienna, Isle of Estë, Gardens of Lórien, and the Mansions of Manwë and Varda. The languages spoken in Valinor are Valarin and the Elvish, Quenya.

Chances are, though, it was based more heavily on the Christian version of heaven, as Tolkien was heavily influenced by the religion.

It’s worth noting, then, that – and this could end up being a spoiler – during this period of Middle-earth history, Sauron poisoned the Men of Númenor with ideas of immortality, prompting them to plot an invasion of Valinor. Worried about the Men’s schemes, all-mighty creator Ilúvatar himself got involved, and sunk the kingdom of Númenor to thwart them.

The first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are streaming now on Prime Video.To ensure you don’t miss an episode, be sure to keep our The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power release schedule to hand.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episodes 1 & 2.In Amazon Prime’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Elves seemingly can’t return to Valinor of their own accord, but the reason for this is not explained. Galadriel’s opening narration describes the Elves leaving their blessed home to fight against Morgoth in Middle-earth, but this exodus is inferred to be a one-way trip.

Elrond makes it clear to Galadriel that this is a one-time only opportunity for any Elf, further mystifying the quandary surrounding the Elves’ home of Valinor. The Rings of Power takes place during the Second Age of Middle-earth, when Sauron’s malevolent plans interrupt a period of extended peace following the War of Wrath.

Because of this, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power can only take loose inspiration from those more informative texts about this period of Middle-earth’s history. Related: Is Rings Of Power’s Gil-Galad More Powerful Than Galadriel & Elrond.

There is far more context to the situation in Tolkien’s writing, but The Rings of Power skipped The Silmarillion’s complexities regarding Elves and the War of Wrath. Because of this, it’s unclear if the Doom of Mandos, a curse preventing certain Elves, including Galadriel, from returning to Valinor ever occurred.

The Rings of Power, however, puts this authority into Gil-Galad’s hand, allowing him to judge which Elves have earned a discharge from Middle-earth. Once an Elf is granted passage from the Grey Havens to Valinor, they sail across the Sundering Seas and enter the Undying Lands, never to return to Middle-earth.

Tolkien doesn’t say if they die when Elves go into the light at Valinor, but in The Rings of Power, it feels narratively as though Galadriel is choosing between two finalities. In both Tolkien’s writing and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Elves have a complicated relationship with the blessed realm of Valinor.

Fortunately for them, the light of Valinor will always be there, because in their world at least, heaven can wait.

Spoiler Alert.

For those already initiated into Tolkeins magical realm, let’s get started.

The answer is pretty straightforward, but as you are about to see, it’s also shrouded in mystery. First, let’s have a little recap.

They sail away on the Elven vessel alongside Gildor, Elrond, Celeborn, and Galadriel, and a whole host of other Elves. They are heading West across the seas to the Elven realm of Valinor, part of the mysterious and heavenly ‘Undying Lands.’.

The realm contains the magical land of Valinor, the ancestral home of the Valar. Valar is an angelic spiritual being that is often referred to as ‘masters of spirits.’ Born from Eru Iluvatar’s (God’s) own mind, these beings have no physical body.

Elves also live alongside the Valar in the mystical Undying Lands, but unlike their human, hobbit, and dwarf friends, they never die. Both the Valar and the Elves are immortal beings, hence the name, The Undying Lands.

In that guarded land the Valar gathered great store of light and the fairest things that were saved from the ruin. and many others yet fairer they made anew, and Valinor became more beautiful even than Middle-earth in the Spring of Arda.

for the very stones and waters were hallowed.”. As you can see from Tolkein’s description in The Silmarillion, Valinor is essentially paradise, but not the kind that you have to die before you can go there.

Their great sacrifice and bravery earned them a special place in Valinor. Here, Frodo can heal the deep physical and spiritual wounds that he suffered during his epic journey into Mordor.

If he stayed in Middle Earth, the injuries inflicted on him would eventually destroy him. But here in the Undying Lands, he can rest, heal and replenish in absolute bliss.

Some fans of the Trilogy suggest that Valinor and The Undying Lands are a metaphor for heaven itself. Is it possible that Frodo had actually died before he boarded the White Ship, and was he sailing off towards the afterlife.

Here’s a quote from The Return of the King that kind of hints towards this idea. “And the ship went out into the High Sea on into the West, until at last on a night of rain, Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water.

But to Sam, the evening deepened to darkness as he stood at the Haven. and as he looked at the grey Sea, he saw only a shadow on the waters that was soon lost in the West.

Beside him stood Merry and Pippin, and they were silent.”. From Frodo’s perspective, he’s heading into a beautiful new world, but all Sam can see is “a shadow on the waters that was soon lost in the West”.

As any LOTR fan knows, this epic tale is packed with metaphors, but even so, Tolkein was always adamant that his books weren’t allegory. For this reason, most Tolkein scholars agree that the author’s description of the events at the end of the final book should be taken literally rather than metaphorically.

Robert Foster, the author of The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth, explained in his foreword that he didn’t provide the dates and nature of the deaths of the characters who sailed to Valinor, “for they still live.”But despite this, the common consensus between LOTR super fans seems to be that every mortal who goes to the Undying Lands will eventually die.

And Tolkein himself confirms this in his own private letters, where he makes it clear that Frodo and his friend Sam (who is also eventually granted a place in Valinor) would always be mere mortals and would eventually succumb to death even if they were to remain in The Undying Lands.

“Frodo was sent or allowed to pass over Sea to heal him – if that could be done before he died. He would have eventually to ‘pass away’: no mortal could, or can, abide forever on earth, or within Time.”.

The Valar had neither the power nor the right to confer ‘immortality’ upon them. Their sojourn was a ‘purgatory’, but one of peace and healing, and they would eventually pass away (die at their own desire and of free will) to destinations of which the Elves knew nothing.”.

Their Time spent there was a kind of purgatory, but not the temporary state of punishment from the Catholic faith. instead, it’s a purgatory of “peace and healing.” And a well-deserved one at that.

Many believe that due to the power and intensity of The Undying Lands, mortals such as Frodo and Bilbo would actually live a shorter life than the one they would have if they remained on Middle Earth.One thing we know for sure is that many years after Frodo arrives in the Undying Lands, his fellow ringbearer and best friend Sam is also granted a place in the guarded realm and is allowed to join Frodo in what must have been a very happy reunion.

Where Frodo went at the end of the Trilogy is no mystery. He sailed off to The Undying Lands, the realm of Elves and Valar, under special invitation thanks to his incredible sacrifice.

But what happened next is still up for debate. What do you think became of Frodo in the end.

Let me know in the comments below.

Is a sort of Ragnarok cannon. If so I think you’d have to have dwarves and elves (and hobbits—remember their archers) and ents there—with Turin taking names and kicking asses (he’s back to meet Morgoth, and this time it’s personal), and perhaps then in a remade Arda.

Tolkien abandoned the idea of any sort of Ragnarok-like event. See my article on the Second Prophecy of Mandos.

The Akallabeth states that “…the world was diminished, for Valinor and Eressëa were taken from it into the realm of hidden things” (Silmarillion, page 279). It’s a confusing topic and really cannot be resolved properly.

In that article I mentioned that change my mind on the topic and at that time I wrote: My thoughts on the matter have jumped back and forth through the years.

To be honest, I will probably never settle this question for myself, much less anyone else. I just read your other essay.

I doubt there would be other planets and stars though. Aman was just one land and I think it would be self-contained.

Regarding the ultimate fate of elves, I was struck by Finrod’s last word in his discussion with Andreth: “But you are not for Arda. Whither you go may you find light.

My impression is that Finrod believed, or at least hoped, that elves and humans would be reunited after the end of the world.

Perhaps it doesn’t matter. Physicists are sure there are more than the four dimensions we can experience, three space and time.

Simply moving it “over” a bit in a fifth dimension would take it out of our visible world, yet it would still be at the same place, relative to our four dimensions. Travel back and forth would be relatively simple, if one had a way of moving in the extra dimension, so sailing would work.

For the Ainur, who came from outside our space-time to begin with, finding a way to do this would probably be simple, and teaching the Elves to build ships capable of it not too difficult. In theory, we could probably build a device that would do it, but we don’t have the theory yet, much less the technology.

Probably NOT in Aman.

I wonder how much Tolkien loved his elves. With all their grandeur and sorrow, how could he write a sequel with them gone.

Your articles have only added to that wonderful mystery, beauty and sorrow. Thank you.

I have read this article and your other related articles and have found them very illuminating with regard to the elven worldview. When I first read LOTR with its glimpses into the past (for example – the tale of Luthien and Beren near Weathertop) there was a sense of mystery, beauty and sorrow of a world now passed away.

I wonder how much he loved his elves. Perhaps, he could not bring himself to write a sequel because his beloved elves had gone or faded, it would have been for him to commit the same sin as they did – trying to keep alive their world which had gone.

I have really enjoyed your investigations into the big picture view of Middle Earth. It has added to my interpretation richly and yet at times also added to my sadness relating to things Middle Earth.

I have no text at hand but I remember soemthing like that. What do you think.

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We also welcome discussion at the J.R.R. Tolkien and Middle-earth Forum on SF-Fandom.

In J. R.

Tolkien’s writings, Elves are the first fictional race to appear in Middle-earth. Unlike Men and Dwarves, Elves are immortal, though they can be killed in battle.

After a long life in Middle-earth, Elves yearn for the Earthly Paradise of Valinor, and can sail there from the Grey Havens. They feature in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien derived Elves from mentions in the ancient poetry and languages of Northern Europe, especially Old English. These suggested to him that Elves were large, dangerous, beautiful, lived in wild natural places, and practised archery.

Tolkien-style Elves have become a staple of fantasy literature. They have appeared, too, in film and role-playing game adaptations of Tolkien’s works.

The framework for J. R.

Tolkien’s conception of his Elves, and many points of detail in his portrayal of them, is thought by Haukur Þorgeirsson to have come from the survey of folklore and early modern scholarship about elves (álfar) in Icelandic tradition in the introduction to Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (‘Icelandic legends and fairy tales’).

[a] that they could marry humans. and that they lack an immortal soul.

The modern English word Elf derives from the Old English word ælf (which has cognates in all other Germanic languages). Numerous types of elves appear in Germanic mythology.

Tolkien made it clear in a letter that his Elves differed from those “of the better known lore”[T 1] of Scandinavian mythology.

1250, describes elves much as Tolkien does:. Some of Tolkien’s Elves are in the “undying lands” of Valinor, home of the godlike Valar, while others are in Middle-earth.

Similarly, some of the Legendary’s Eluene are on Earth, others in the “Earthly Paradise”. So, did they have souls, Shippey asks.

but given that they didn’t disappear completely on death, the answer had to have been yes. In Shippey’s view, the Silmarillion resolved the Middle English puzzle, letting Elves go not to Heaven but to the halfway house of the Halls of Mandos on Valinor.

By the late 19th century, the term ‘fairy’ had been taken up as a utopian theme, and was used to critique social and religious values, a tradition which Tolkien and T. H.

One of the last of the Victorian Fairy-paintings, The Piper of Dreams by Estella Canziani, sold 250,000 copies and was well known within the trenches of World War I where Tolkien saw active service. Illustrated posters of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem Land of Nod had been sent out by a philanthropist to brighten servicemen’s quarters, and Faery was used in other contexts as an image of “Old England” to inspire patriotism.

Tolkien had been gently warned against the term ‘fairy’, which John Garth supposes may have been due to its growing association with homosexuality, but Tolkien continued to use it. According to Marjorie Burns, Tolkien eventually but hesitantly chose the term elf over fairy.

but in later times, through their use in translation, fairy and elf have acquired much of the atmosphere of German, Scandinavian, and Celtic tales, and many characteristics of the huldu-fólk, the daoine-sithe, and the tylwyth-teg.”.

The Old English Beowulf-poet spoke of the strange eotenas ond ylfe ond orcnéas, “ettens [giants] and elves and demon-corpses”, a grouping which Shippey calls “a very stern view of all non-human and un-Christian species”. The Middle English Sir Gawain meets a green axe-wielding giant, an aluisch mon (“elvish man”, translated by Shippey as “uncanny creature”).

Elves were directly dangerous, too: the medical condition “elf-shot”, described in the spell Gif hors ofscoten sie, “if a horse is elf-shot”, meaning some kind of internal injury, was associated both with neolithic flint arrowheads and the temptations of the devil. Tolkien takes “elf-shot” as a hint to make his elves skilful in archery.

All the same, an Icelandic woman could be frið sem álfkona, “fair as an elf-woman”, while the Anglo-Saxons might call a very fair woman ælfscýne, “elf-beautiful”. Some aspects can readily be reconciled, Shippey writes, since “Beauty is itself dangerous”.

Yet another strand of legend holds that Elfland, as in Elvehøj (“Elf Hill”) and other traditional stories, is dangerous to mortals because time there is distorted, as in Tolkien’s Lothlórien. Shippey comments that it is a strength of Tolkien’s “re-creations”, his imagined worlds, that they incorporate all the available evidence to create a many-layered impression of depth, making use of “both good and bad sides of popular story.

Shippey suggests that the “fusion or kindling-point” of Tolkien’s thinking about elves came from the Middle English lay Sir Orfeo, which transposes the classical myth of Orpheus and Eurydice into a wild and wooded Elfland, and makes the quest successful.

Shippey comments that Tolkien took many suggestions from this passage, including the horns and the hunt of the Elves in Mirkwood. the proud but honourable Elf-king.

Tolkien might only have had broken fragments to work on, but, Shippey writes, the more one explores how Tolkien used the ancient texts, the more one sees “how easy it was for him to feel that a consistency and a sense lay beneath the chaotic ruin of the old poetry of the North”.

Tolkien developed his conception of elves over the years, from his earliest writings through to The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and The Lord of the Rings.

Barrie’s Peter Pan in Birmingham in 1910, and his familiarity with the work of Catholic mystic poet, Francis Thompson which Tolkien had acquired in 1914.[T 2]. O.

In his The Book of Lost Tales, Tolkien develops a theme that the diminutive fairy-like race of Elves had once been a great and mighty people, and that as Men took over the world, these Elves had “diminished”[T 2][T 3] themselves. This theme is shared especially by the god-like and human-sized Ljósálfar of Norse mythology, and medieval works such as Sir Orfeo, the Welsh Mabinogion, Arthurian romances and the legends of the Tuatha Dé Danann.[T 4].

Terry Gunnell finds the relationship between beautiful ships and the Elves reminiscent of the god Njörðr and the god Freyr’s ship Skíðblaðnir. He also retains the usage of the French derived term “fairy” for the same creatures.

The larger Elves are inspired by Tolkien’s personal Catholic theology, representing the state of Men in Eden who have not yet fallen, like humans but fairer and wiser, with greater spiritual powers, keener senses, and a closer empathy with nature. Tolkien wrote of them: “They are made by man in his own image and likeness.

They are immortal, and their will is directly effective for the achievement of imagination and desire.”. In The Book of Lost Tales, Tolkien includes both more serious “medieval” elves such as Fëanor and Turgon alongside frivolous, Jacobean elves such as.

Warning: Spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episodes 1 & 2. A legion of Elves was taken in by the light of Valinor in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episode 1, thus raising questions about what happens to those who choose that fate.

Rather than follow her brethren into the light, Galadriel leaped from the boat to continue her pursuit of Sauron, whom she’s convinced is still a threat. The Undying Lands of Valinor are a key part of The Lord of the Rings lore, even though certain aspects of it have always been rather mysterious.

In Tolkien’s world, Valinor is viewed as the endgame for all Elves, who seek to go there after they’ve finished with their affairs in Middle-earth. In The Rings of Power episode 1, a ship full of Elves passed directly into the light of Valinor, but exactly what happened to them after that wasn’t shown.

Presumably, the Elves who faded into the light went into a heaven-like paradise. Of course, the implication of going to heaven implies that a trip to Valinor involves death.

True to the source material, Rings of Power leaves this element of the story open to interpretation. What is known though, is that they found their way to a beautiful, wondrous land where the Elves can live peacefully for eternity.

Venturing into a world that’s described as heaven for The Lord of the Rings’ Elves obviously sounds like it would be a one-way trip, especially if Elves die when they enter. However, it technically is possible for Elves to leave.

What stands in the way of that though, is that there’s very little reason for Elves to go back to Middle-earth. For the most part, Elves travel to Valinor when they’ve done everything they’ve set out to do and no longer wish to continue spending time in Middle-earth.

Instead, it can be assumed that they found what they were looking for and are now enjoying the peaceful, ever-lasting existences promised to them. Galadriel, on the other hand, won’t step foot into Valinor until the Third Age when the conflict with Sauron finally reaches a conclusion.

Welcome back to my series of posts detailing how J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings differs from its film adaptations.

If all you know is the movie, it may surprise you to learn that the hobbits actually met these elves and even travelled with them for a day. Let’s get started.

As night fell, the hobbits started singing, but Frodo soon heard hoofbeats, and they slipped into the shadows beneath some oak trees. With the ringwraith crawling nearer and nearer, Frodo once again felt compelled to put the Ring on.

An eager Samwise tried to go and say hello, but the others stopped him, and they listened to a few verses of the elves’ song. The song spoke of Elbereth—the Lady of the Stars—and Frodo realized these were High Elves.

Their conversation was interrupted when Pippin asked the elves about the Black Riders. After some deliberation, Gildor’s company decided, given the Nazgûl situation, that the hobbits should travel with them for a short time.

To the hobbits, however, the food was “richer than the tended fruits of gardens.” Even once Sam and Pippin had fallen asleep, Frodo stayed awake and talked with Gildor. Gildor had already figured out that Frodo was leaving the Shire and that Sauron was pursuing him.

But he did give Frodo some prophetic advice: ‘I cannot imagine what information could be more terrifying than your hints and warnings,’ exclaimed Frodo.

but I did not expect to meet it in our own Shire. Can’t a hobbit walk from the Water to the River in peace.

‘But it is not your own Shire,” said Gildor. “Others dwelt here before hobbits were.

The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.’. This would of course prove true in Book Ⅵ: The End of the Third Age.

Frodo asked Gildor if he should wait for Gandalf: Gildor was silent for a moment.

‘That Gandalf should be late, does not bode well. But it is said: Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

‘And it is also said,’ answered Frodo: ‘Go not to the elves for council, for they will say both no and yes.’. ‘Is it indeed.

‘Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.’. Gildor nonetheless gave Frodo this piece of advice:

I think you should go at once, without delay, and if Gandalf does not come before you set out, then I also advise this: do not go alone. Take such friends as are trusty and willing.’.

‘But my heart forebodes that, ere all is ended, you, Frodo son of Drogo, will know more of these fell things than Gildor Inglorion. May Elbereth protect you.

Gildor vowed that he and his company would spread word of Frodo’s peril to their allies. This he did, and both Aragorn and the mysterious Tom Bombadil learned of Frodo’s quest as a result.

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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a series with an epic scope — and with that scope comes a massive ensemble cast and the expansive world of Middle-earth. If you’re worried about having to commit a whole slew of character and location names to memory, don’t be.

Below, you’ll find a list of the key characters from The Rings of Power, as well as where in Middle-earth you’ll find them. You might recognize some characters from The Lord of the Rings or The Silmarillion, but many will be completely unfamiliar.

Tolkien’s work. Old or new, here are the characters you need to know about in The Rings of Power — and where you’ll find them towards the start of the series.

Lindon is an elven realm on the Western shores of Middle-earth. It is known in part as the home of the Grey Havens, the port city from which the elves sail west towards Valinor.

We’ve seen Lindon onscreen before: At the end of Return of the King, Frodo departs from the Grey Havens to go into the West. Galadriel (Morfydd Clark): Galadriel is sure to be a familiar name to those who have read or seen The Lord of the Rings, but the Galadriel we meet in The Rings of Power is in a very different stage of her life.

Elrond (Robert Aramayo): Before he was Lord of Rivendell and father to Arwen, half-elven Elrond was the vice-regent and herald to Gil-galad. Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker): All hail Gil-galad, the High King of the elves.

Eregion is another elven realm, located just on the western edge of the Misty Mountains. It’s right near a location that plays a large part in Fellowship of the Ring: the dwarven kingdom of Khazad-dûm, also known as Moria.

No Balrog in sight yet. Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards): Introduced in The Silmarillion, Celebrimbor is a master elven craftsman and the ruler of Eregion.

Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete): A new addition to Middle-earth just for The Rings of Power, Disa is Durin’s wife and princess of Khazad-dûm.

Its most famous landmarks include the Great River Anduin and the forest of Mirkwood, which plays a large part in The Hobbit. Rhovanion is also home to the Harfoots, hobbit ancestors briefly mentioned in the prologue of Fellowship of the Ring.

Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh): Chiefest among these Harfoots is Elanor “Nori” Brandyfoot, a young Harfoot with a taste for adventure. (Sound like any hobbits you may know.

Largo Brandyfoot (Dylan Smith): Nori’s father, and patriarch of the Brandyfoots. Marigold Brandyfoot (Sara Zwangobani): Nori’s mother, and matriarch of the Brandyfoots.

The two of them get up to quite a bit of trouble together. The Stranger (Daniel Weyman): Nothing spells trouble quite like a man falling out of the sky in a fiery blaze.

We don’t know much about him beyond the fact that he meets Nori, has magic powers, and knows how to make a killer entrance. The Southlands are just what they sound like: a region in the South of Middle-earth (and also a bit to the East).

Tirharad and its inhabitants may be show-only creations, but the Southlands — and their role in Middle-earth’s history — are extremely important. Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova): A Silvan — or Woodland — elf, Arondir is a soldier tasked with surveying areas of the Southlands.

Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi): Bronwyn is Tirharad’s healer, as well as a single mother who bonds with Arondir on his visits to the village. Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin): Bronwyn’s young son, who may have a few secrets of his own.

It separates Middle-earth from the continent of Aman, which is home to Valinor. Halbrand (Charlie Vickers): Another new character, Halbrand is a shipwreck survivor who crosses paths with Galadriel.

It is an island nation that was gifted to the Men of Middle-earth in exchange for their help in the fight against the Dark Lord Morgoth. For some idea of how Númenor fits into The Lord of the Rings, know that Aragorn is one of the Dúnedain, meaning he is a descendant of the people of Númenor.

Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson): Míriel is Queen-Regent of Númenor, and daughter of the previous king. Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle): Pharazôn is Míriel’s advisor.

Kemen (Leon Wadham): Kemen is Pharazôn’s son, and a rising political figure in Númenor. Elendil (Lloyd Owen): A Númenórean sea captain, and father to Eärien and Isildur.

Eärien (Ema Horvath): Eärien is Elendil’s daughter. While Elendil and Isildur are both characters who appear in Tolkien’s works, Eärien is a new character created for The Rings of Power.

He’s creepy, he does magic, and he seems positioned to be one of the show’s antagonists. Originally, I thought he might be Sauron, but the Dark Lord is a trickier evil.

Either way, this man is going to be important, and even though we don’t know who he is, be sure to keep an eye out for him.

ET on Sept. 1.

Topics Amazon Prime Video Lord of the Rings.

The Elves played a central role in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth from the beginning.

Their departure at the end of the Third Age is central to the events of The Lord of the Rings, as they withdraw to journey across the sea to their original home. The release of The Rings of Power on Prime Video has raised a key question among fans.

What precisely can kill them is a reasonably easy question to answer. But it plays a huge role not only in their overall disposition but their actions during The War of the Ring and earlier.

RELATED: The Lord of the Rings’ One Ring Could’ve Been Destroyed Outside of Mordor. According to The Silmarillion, the Elves were created by Eru Ilúvatar, Middle-earth’s version of God.

The History of Middle-earth states that Elves reach maturity by about 50 years of age. From that moment, their bodies do not age, and they don’t grow old.

They can be killed in combat, however, as well as in accidents, such as falling from a great height. They can also starve and succumb to the elements if extreme enough, though they’re more resistant to such dangers than humans.

This is the implied fate of Arwen, the Elf who married Aragorn at the end of The Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Two Towers spells out such a fate, which Arwen accepts for the sake of her love for Aragorn, and the child they will have together.

Elven kingdoms such as Lothlórien and their stronghold in Mirkwood are depicted as closed off: difficult for evil to penetrate but largely indifferent to the suffering of outsiders. It also makes the efforts of figures such as Legolas even nobler since they are risking their immortality to battle the forces of Sauron directly.

(Gil-galad is shown briefly in Fellowship and plays a large role in The Rings of Power.). RELATED: LOTR: The Rings of Power Stars Explain the Coolest Thing About Elves.

According to The Silmarillion, they pass on to the Halls of Mandos: a kind of eternal waiting room where they either learn their final judgment or can be reincarnated after a period of purification and self-assessment. The Halls are located in Valinor, in The Undying Lands of Valinor, which they left at the beginning of The Rings of Power and returned to at the conclusion of The Return of the King.

Only the Elves can travel back and forth. Humans are forbidden, though Frodo and Bilbo Baggins are permitted to take the last boat in The Return of the King owing to their revered status as ring-bearers.

New episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power stream every Friday on Prime Video.

If you find yourself watching an episode of The Rings of Power and walking away confused, you’re not alone. Middle-earth lore can be confusing.

There’s a reason folks who study J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels are often referred to as scholars and not just fans.

But don’t panic. You don’t need to read an epic tome or watch 20 hours of Extended Editions to appreciate this new series.

The Rings of Power takes place before what you’ve seen in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but not like 10 years back like you might see in lots of other prequel stories. The Rings of Power takes place thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit, during a period of time referred to as the Second Age.

For example, the scene at the end of The Lord of the Rings where everyone gets on those boats and sails away marks the end of The Third Age. One of the cool things about The Rings of Power telling a story in the Second Age is that we’ll get to see characters we’ve only previously experienced through legend and flashback, as well as ancient characters from the movies when they were young.

One of the Harfoots, a race seen in The Rings of Power and ancestor of Hobbits. You may have noticed in all of the trailers for The Rings of Power there are no Hobbits, at least not as you’d recognize them from the movies.

Where Elves, Dwarves, and even Men of The Second Age live long lives and accomplish great deeds, the ancestors of Hobbits have lifespans much closer to an average human here in the real world. That means their evolution happens much faster than the other races of Middle-earth, and what we will see in The Rings of Power are one of the ancestors of Third Age Hobbits, known in this time as Harfoots.

Unlike the Stoors and Fallohides, which are other races that eventually come together with Harfoots to become Hobbits, the little folk we will see in Rings of Power are nomadic gatherers. They live off the land, with a more earthy and natural look to their clothing and behavior.

Unlike Third Age Hobbits, Tolkien described many Harfoots as being darker skinned and are on average smaller than the characters you already know.

Arondir’s armor from The Rings of Power, on display at San Diego Comic Con 2022. One of the coolest costumes seen in trailers for The Rings of Power so far belongs to the character Arondir, who is not mentioned in any of JRR Tolkien’s works.

the race he represents is mentioned several times across Tolkien’s works but never given the same kind of attention as many of the other races in Middle-earth.

Those who made it to Middle-earth have a deep connection to nature, which is why you see Arondir in a wooden breastplate with a tree spirit or Green Man carved into it. What survives of Silvan Elves in the Second Age become part of Lorien, the area of Middle-earth we see Galadriel as ruler of in The Lord of the Rings.

Outside of looking very cool, Arondir and other Silvan Elves we see will be unique and stand out quite a bit from the Elves of this time. The first image Amazon Prime Video shared from The Rings of Power was a still shot of Valinor with the two trees still alive.

The Elves you have seen across all of Tolkien’s movies — and soon this TV series — live in Middle-earth, but they are not from Middle-earth. The Elves as we see them migrated to Middle-earth from a place called Valinor, a massive land with multiple cities and its own separate constructs of time and life.

Elves left Valinor and came to Middle-earth because they had no choice: The two trees that allowed life to exist in Valinor were destroyed by a giant spider called Ungoliant and another being called Morgoth. Ungoliant would later give birth to the giant spider Shelob, who nearly kills Bilbo and Frodo in their respective stories.

Valinor would eventually become a place Elves wish to return to, which you see at the end of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The ships Bilbo, Frodo and other board at the end of the movie are traveling back to Valinor.

From a trailer for The Rings of Power, the first shot of the kingdom of Númenor. We’ve seen the massive white city of Gondor and the far-reaching lands of the horse lords called Rohan, but there was another Kingdom of Men where Aragorn’s ancestors came from called Númenor.

Like Aragorn, many of the people from this island were gifted fighters and great leaders. The Men of Númenor aren’t quite like the men of the rest of Middle-Earth.

Most Men of this era have never been to Númenor, let alone recognize it as somehow ruling all Men of the era.

Elrond and a Dwarf walking through the underground city of Khazad-dûm in The Rings of Power. Most folks only know the kingdom of the Dwarves as a tomb and home to an angry Balrog who loses a fight with Gandalf.

Unlike the scattered, separated version of the Dwarves we see in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, we’re going to see Dwarves in their prime throughout The Rings of Power. This is before the Arkenstone and the incident with Smaug, and before the Balrog is awakened in Moria.

And, unfortunately, we will probably also see whatever leads these proud people to retreat fully into their mountain.

Before Lothlorien and Rivendell there was Lindon, ruled by High King Gil-galad. During most of the Second Age, Elrond actually works for Gil-galad as his herald because he is not yet considered a high-ranking Elf.

It’s a protected harbor and in many ways the space used for the army Gil-galad sends to fight Morgoth. For the purpose of this series, it’s likely Lindon will be considered the political seat of power for the Elves.

Celebrimbor, lord of Eregion in The Rings of Power. While Lindon is the seat of political power for the Elves, it’s not where the action will likely take place during The Rings of Power.

Eregion is located a short distance from both Khazad-dûm and what will later be known as Mordor, which means it’s close to our cool Dwarven characters and nicely located for battle scenes against Sauron’s army of orcs.

As a descendant of Feanor, creator of the Silmarils (we’ll get into those next), Celebrimbor has an unceasing desire to create something of real value for the peoples of Middle-earth. In the books, Celebrimbor and the other artists of his realm are guided by Annatar to make The Great Rings for all the kingdoms of Middle-earth.

As you probably know, that doesn’t go super well for everyone and takes a few thousand years plus a couple of Hobbits to fully deal with. The Dwarven Princess Disa, a new character for the Amazon series The Rings of Power.

But it’s actually a fairly significant thing to exclaim, especially in the context of the Second Age.

And with the opening episode’s release today (2nd September), die-hard fans would have been happy to see the first proper glimpse of the Elven home, Valinor. Despite small references here and there in the original trilogy, Valinor has remained an unknown to the average Lord of the Rings viewer.

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Valinor, or the Undying Lands, is a place far to the West of Middle-earth. It’s mainly the home to the Valar, an ancient race of beings that the men of Middle-earth thought to be gods.

When Elves were originally born, the Valar invited them to live in Valinor, believing them to be worth saving from the evil of Middle-earth. Yet when Morgoth, a big bad god, stole from the Elves and killed one of their leaders, several of them decided it was time to exile themselves from Valinor and wage war against him.

Only immortal beings are allowed to live in the Undying Lands, and although Elves can die in battle, the fact that they never age means that every single one of them has the desire to live out their eternal life in Valinor. In the earlier stages of Middle-earth, Valinor’s coast was protected by a series of magic isles that kept strangers out.

Only Elves can access it through specially designed ships. Yet, as movie fans may know, the people of Valinor do make rare Hobbit-sized exceptions.

But they also gained special permission to bring the ring-bearers, Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, as well as Gimli the Dwarf. One of the few Elves to not return was Liv Tyler’s Arwen, who chose to become mortal and stay with Aragorn.

Then by the end of the episode, she is almost taken back to her home on a ship that leaves from the Grey Havens. But her last-minute decision to jump ship and swim back to Middle-earth disrupts her return to paradise.

Who knows if she’ll ever be welcomed back into her homeland, or if she’ll have to stay in exile forever.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episodes 1 and 2 are available now on Amazon Prime Video – you can sign up now for a free 30-day Prime Video trial. If you’re looking for something else to watch in the meantime, check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Fantasy and Sci-Fi hub.

For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.

I was researching to see if anyone has made any sense of Arwen leaving Rivendelll twice during the movies. She left once in The Two Towers when Elrond talked her into it.

When did she return to Rivendell after the first departure, and where was she during the intervening time. She obviously didn’t go to Valinor, or she couldn’t have returned.

Are you sure she didn’t leave in TTT, and then in ROTK is when she turned back>. No, Arwen didn’t leave Rivendell twice in the movie.

She leaves in The Two Towers, then she comes back to Rivendell in The Return of the King, when she has her vision.