Steve, you need footnotes. Where did you get the figures for the area of Tumladen, or the ratio of soldiers to population in Athens.

Fair comment. To be honest I just posted as soon as I had the total text finished as I was just heading out for the evening.

I did pi*D rather than pi*r^2, that’s embarrassing). I will clean it up and add sources and promised tables by tomorrow evening.

Woo Chart is now up.

To be honest my HTML is not up to actually installing footnotes. When I go home for Easter I will dig through my copies of the Similarillion and HoME and attempt to come up with some more thorough referencing.

:)Please do point out if I’ve got anything wrong or if you disagree with any of my reasoning.

I hope you didn’t take my whinging as a complaint. I just wanted to point out that as a whole, it’s amazing, even if it’s not as nerdy as it could be.

That’s okay. :DTo be honest I have always hated references and referencing.

😛 I’ve realised half-way through writing these that I have actually lost my copy of the Silmarillion (Disaster). This hasn’t helped.

Isn’t that a colour Tolkien original map, judging by the style, republished in one of the 284 presentation editions by CT. Very similar to the foldouts in my posh 1960s india paper (.

What ground did Bradman score his 364 at.

It is a lovely map. To be honest though you know more about its provenance than I do.

I can’t claim to listen to TMS, nor know where Bradman scored his 364 without googling it. I do gently follow Test Cricket, but can’t claim to any great degree of knowledge.

Amazing, glad I found this page. Subscribed.

Can you postulate your formula to work in reverse.

But you did it thinking elves are like men, they do not reproduce themselves as the same number men do, and also you must see that when in battle such as nirnaeth all eldar adults go in to battle, then when you count full-grown elf male out of an army thats not quite correct and you would be increasing the population.

Thanks for your comment. I’m not entirely sure what you mean though.

That’s not relevant to my figures though because I’m taking a snapshot worked out on a comparative basis from given figures.I disagree that all Eldar adults go into battle. Do you have text references to base that on.

No human society is entirely composed of warriors and I don’t think there is any reason to assume Tolkien considered Elven societies to be that different. Of course his stories concentrate on the warriors and heroes, and barely mention ordinary peaceful life, but I don’t think that is any reason to assume there wasn’t any.

I´m sorry i was talking about the Noldor.

I still disagree. There are clear references that after the Un-numbered tears Turin was supported by renegade Noldor who still lived in the mountains of Hithlum.

I see no reason to believe these were purely women and children who succoured Turin.I am sure in the description of ‘The Fall of Gondolin’ in the Book of Lost Tales, the only description of Gondolin’s fall we have, that there are clear references to peoples who are not soldiers, and again, I don’t believe can be interpreted purely as women and children.

There is a clear interpretation to the statement “”For there all the Noldor of Hithlum were assembled” meaning all the fighting Noldor. Not literally all Noldor or even all adult male Noldor.

That said I agree that in Hithlum, among the Sons of Feanor, and at the Fall of Gondolin the war would have involved a much higher proportion of the population, more resembling an atmosphere of Total War, than in less militarised Kingdoms like Narogothrond and Doriath, and this is reflected in my estimates.

Yes, all adult male Noldor were in that battle since there were no defense left in Hitlhum just like in the case of the Hadoreans where Turin was in the house full of women an old mens because his father(hurin) and all the men of that people were in that battle. You are saying that all the full grown men of Hithlum went to war but the male Noldor didn´t, that´s very wrong.Hahaha.

Turin was never supported by “renegade” Noldor,he was supported in Doriath by Thingol. The only one who was supported by elves in Hithlum was Tuor son of Huor and those were not Noldor,they were sinda and their leader was called Annael.

After Nírnaeth Arnoediad, some of the Sindar and Edain that survived the battle took refuge there”. Tuor was fostered by the Elves of Androth.And lets be realistc if there was a population of 150 thousand elves In gondolin and almost half of them fought in the walls and protected the gate there should be an army beyond our imagine to invade that city.

I see what is happening, i´m not saying all Noldor were fighters i´m trying to say that when Fingon comes out with his army and so Turgon those were many of their men especially in fingon´s case, so you must reduce the population Of Noldor in hithlum and Gondolin.Also the population of feanor sons were similar with those of Fingolfin, the substancial differences between the initials hosts was finrod people that was counted with Fingolfin.

Great analysis, I really hope it spreads around and becomes part of Tolkien scholarship canon.I would like to elaborate a bit on the PM for Gondolin though (which is the basic assumption underlying the calculation) and whether all of the adult men of the kingdom should be considered warriors. Unfortunately I don’t have the necessary materials on hand, so I’ll have to write from memory, please correct me whenever I’m wrong.

Economic.Considering the fact that the distances and, hence, time involved in getting from Gondolin the battlefield at Anfauglith were small, the disruption of economic activity should not have been too much of an issue. The medieval world has known quite large armies raised for very short periods of time (think medieval Spain for example), it’s sustaining them that has always been a problem.Another economic issue is the production of equipment.

For a historical medieval society to equip all of its male population in this fashion would have been impossible, as the economy simply wasn’t productive enough to sustain that kind of drain on itself (setting aside the restrictions that social relations themselves would’ve imposed on this kind of venture).

Assuming the Elves were able to conserve weapons well and slowly amass them during the years of the Siege, perhaps they would’ve been able to outfit all of their men the way their warriors were outfitted during Nirnaeth. Unless someone can come up with a clear reference from sources though, I don’t think we can reliably pinpoint this issue, so all kinds of assumptions are possible.2.

The relatively short distances and time involved make fielding 2/3 of Gondolin’s adult male population for Nirnaeth quite feasible, I don’t see any major issues here.3. Societal.Here we get to the least well-understood part – we don’t really know that much about the Elven societies, their structure or the way they operated.

If yes, was it true for Gondolin as well. Here it is assumed that Gondolin was less militarised t.

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.

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.

Rivendell (Sindarin: Imladris) is a valley in J. R.

Tolkien’s fictional world of Middle-earth, representing both a homely place of sanctuary and a magical Elvish otherworld. It is an important location in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, being the place where the quest to destroy the One Ring began.

Rivendell’s feeling of peace may have contributed to the popularity of The Lord of the Rings during the war-troubled 1960s. Scholars have noted that Rivendell was the home of Elvish song, from the hymn to Elbereth, recalling Tolkien’s Catholicism, to the complex Song of Eärendil with its multiple poetic devices.

and that it physically recalls the valley of Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland where Tolkien had gone hiking in 1911.

The name Rivendell is formed by two English elements: “riven” (split, cloven) and “dell” (valley). Imladris was also rendered “Karningul” in Westron, the “Common Tongue” of Middle-earth represented as English in the text of The Lord of the Rings.

Rivendell lay in eastern Eriador at the edge of a narrow gorge of the river Bruinen (one of the main approaches to Rivendell comes from the nearby Ford of Bruinen), well hidden in the moorlands and foothills of the Hithaeglir or Misty Mountains.

Rivendell remained as the only Elven settlement in eastern Eriador. Gil-galad gave Elrond the Ring Vilya, providing him with the power to protect Rivendell and slow the passage of time in its hidden valley: indeed, Rivendell kept its own calendar.[T 6][T 7][T 8] Rivendell survived repeated attacks in the Third Age by the armies of the Witch-king of Angmar.

Elrond fostered the children of the heirs to Arnor’s throne, the last being Aragorn. While in Rivendell, Aragorn met and fell in love with Elrond’s daughter, Arwen.

The hero Aragorn’s sword is reforged as Andúril by Rivendell’s smiths.[T 8][T 10][T 11] When the One Ring is destroyed, Elrond’s ring loses its power, and he leaves to sail for Valinor.[T 12][T 13]. The Rivendell valley is based upon the valley of Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland, where Tolkien had gone hiking.

including the glissade [of Bilbo and the Dwarves] down the slithering stones into the pine woods.. is based on my adventures in Switzerland in 1911″.[T 14].

both ride across uplands dotted with patches of green, becoming extremely tired. both then cross narrow ravines, and bogs.

In another place, Morris crosses a “narrow, bridge-like rock”, just as Bilbo faces a “narrow bridge of stone without a parapet” on entering Rivendell.

Dickerson, in the J. R.

Tolkien Encyclopedia, writes that Rivendell consistently represents a sanctuary, a place that felt like home, throughout the legendarium. The journalist Jane Ciabattari writes that a major reason for the popularity of Lord of the Rings was the desire for escape among the Vietnam War generation.

Burns writes that Rivendell and the other Elvish realm of Lothlórien parallel the Celtic Otherworld (in Irish, Tír na nÓg), being hard to find, but if one is admitted and welcomed, one crosses a river, symbolising the spiritual transition from the ordinary realm, and “the weary adventurer is transported into a haven of Elven hospitality and delight”.

To enter Rivendell is to leave, for a time, the uplands’ bleak, mountainous, northerly terrain. First comes the steep descent..

the air grows warmer. the first of the elves greet them with laughter and song, and then comes the inevitable water crossing that divides the rest of Middle-earth from the inner core of every Elven realm.

Burns notes that both “Riven” and “dell” suggest a low place into which one must descend. and that a descent is characteristic of Celtic tales of entry into the underground realm of the Tuatha Dé Danann, whose chiefs each rule a burial mound.

The philologist and Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey remarks that Tolkien, a Christian, was extremely careful with dates and timelines, but that hardly any readers notice that the Fellowship sets out from Rivendell on its quest on 25 December, the date of Christmas, and succeeds, destroying the Ring and causing the fall of Sauron, on 25 March, the date in Anglo-Saxon tradition for the Crucifixion.

The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger writes that both Frodo and Aragorn receive their renewed magic swords in Rivendell, marking them out as heroes in the epic tradition of Sigurd and Arthur, at the start of their quest.

Bilbo follows the “Road.. with eager feet”, hoping to reach the peace of Rivendell, to retire and take his ease.

He notes that Rivendell was the home of Elvish song, and cites Tolkien’s statement that the song that the Hobbits hear in Rivendell, A Elbereth Gilthoniel invoking the semi-divine Varda, was a hymn suggestive of his own devout Catholicism.

The Tolkien scholar Gergely Nagy notes that Tolkien wanted to present the complex set of writings of The Silmarillion as a seemingly-genuine collection of tales and myths within the frame of his fictional Middle-earth. he modified The Lord of the Rings to ascribe the documents to Bilbo, supposedly written in the years he spent in Rivendell, and preserved in the fictitious Red Book of Westmarch, its name alluding to the Red Book of Hergest.

Burns writes that Rivendell, “the Last Homely House”,[T 8] offers a welcoming home, repeating the pattern set in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings of “easy-going but tidy bachelor indulgence” from Bilbo’s Bag End hobbit-hole onwards. despite Arwen, there is hardly anything “of the feminine”.

of no fewer than five ‘Homely Houses'”, of which Rivendell is the last.

Brian Rosebury comments that Jackson presents the Elves as sophisticated, where Tolkien made them close to nature. All the same, he writes, the film Rivendell’s “architecture and ornaments are dominated by natural motifs”, suggesting “integration with nature, but at one remove”, something that works well for the “Portmeirion-like idyll” of the portrayed Rivendell.

These differ from Tolkien’s own illustrations, but in a way, Rosebury suggests, that Tolkien would have liked as it matches his dislike of industrialised manufacture.

Several of them later became well-known cultural personalities in the country. The Rivendell Winery operated from 1987 to 2008 in New Yor.

The elves were going to “the hill above Woodhall” and Woodhall is nearly due west of the Ferry. The road goes South from Hobbiton where it meets The East Road.

See for instance: (excerpt).

They took the “right branch to Woodhall” around “twilight.”. They walked some, hid from the Black Rider, found the Elves, and walked some more to the Hill where the elves appeared to have a prepared place (a Grey-Haven Highway Authority Welcome Center).

EDIT: Regarding the elves in question: they are not on their way to the Grey Havens.

But some of our kinsfolk still dwell in peace in Rivendell.” They are living in the region and indications from the conversation are pretty clear that they were there even 17+ years prior when Bilbo left. At one point on the Hill in the evening, Gildor tells Frodo that he last said farewell to Bilbo on that very spot where they sat talking.

At this point in the book, the hobbits are not heading for Rivendell – they are simply heading for Frodo’s new house in Crickhollow. They are in no great rush (even though Frodo aware of the Black Riders seeking him), and so would not be greatly perturbed at heading out of their way.

“, I respond with “Why not. ” – meeting the elves is a rare enough event that Pippin and Sam had never done it before, and I’m almost sure even Frodo hadn’t either (although possibly once or twice with Bilbo).

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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.

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.

The first two episodes of Amazon Prime Video’s The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power premiered on September 1, 2022, and introduced two familiar fantasy races—Elves and Dwarves. Fans of The Lord of the Rings universe will be familiar with both Middle-earth occupants.

Meanwhile, Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy centered on a band of 13 dwarves. Lord of the Rings author J.

Tolkien depicted the Elves as one of the wisest and fairest races in Middle-earth. They are drawn to beauty and have deep curiosity and love of learning.

As The Rings of Power progresses, we are bound to see more familiar Elves. After all, in the first two episodes, we were already introduced to Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), Elrond (Robert Aramayo), and Gil-Galad (Benjamin Walker), all of whom appeared in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

This is because The Rings of Power takes place thousands of years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. Hence, Galadriel, for example, looks very different in this series, because it will take thousands of years for her to transform into who she is in the original trilogy.

So, how long can Elves and Dwarves live.

They do not physically age once they have matured, with full maturity coming between the ages of 50-100. While Elves cannot die of old age and are immune to illness, they still can be killed by injury, or even despair.

Additionally, some Elves can also die of despair, as they slowly begin to decay after centuries if they lose the will to live. Unlike Elves, Dwarves are not immortal, though they do have longer lifespans than Men.

For example, the Longbeards lived a bit longer than the average Dwarf, usually living to age 250 – 350. For the average Dwarf, though, their lifespan was about 200 – 300 years old.

(featured image: Amazon). Have a tip we should know.

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..

Editor’s Note. The following article contains spoilers for The Rings of Power Season 1 Episodes 1-2With the return of Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, there are many new locations to explore.

While elves, humans, and dwarves still roam the lands of Middle-earth, locations and the people who occupy them are vastly different from those we are familiar with. Right from the start of the series we are introduced to a handful of new characters and just as many locations to go with them.

Getting to understand where a location is placed on the map is the perfect way to get invested in the TV series. One of the main locations set in The Rings of Power is Lindon, but where exactly is Lindon located.

Lindon is located in the northwest part of Middle-earth near the Blue Mountains and serves as the bridge between Middle-earth and Valinor, the “Blessed Realms” where certain elves are permitted to live. The land is spilt into two separate land masses with the Gulf of Lune in between.

The Gulf of Lune holds the port Grey Havens. Lindon quickly became a stronghold for the elves once they settled on Middle-earth because of its location and port which makes it the perfect place to send ships to Valinor.

The ‘Rings of Power’ Character and His ‘Lord of the Rings’ Connection, Explained. You will certainly find the port of Grey Havens a bit familiar, thousands of years after The Rings of Power, this is where Frodo sets out West at the end of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

Even thousands of years later, Lindon’s location continues to be well-suited to access the Undying Lands far in the west. At the start of the series Lindon is the home to some familiar faces, including Elrond (Robert Aramayo), who we know better as the Lord of Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings.

The other familiar face and lead of the series is Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), who starts the series traveling Middle-earth hunting down evil until she eventually returns to Lindon and reunites with her old friend Elrond. Most will remember Galadriel as one of the most powerful elves in The Lord of the Rings, but here she is still young.

In Morgoth’s Ring Tolkien said: They grow slower than mortals though their minds are faster, learning speech before the first year.

Elf Children at play would resemble fair happy children of men with little need for governing. Their words, and mastery of their bodies would make them seem older than they appeared in body.

So it could explain, why we couldn’t spot any, or why they weren’t specifically mentioned in the books. Also, to us they may appear as adults, but in body they are children.

The source also mentiones: They don’t always live together, and yet a sundering during the bearing of a child or its early years is so grievous to them that they prefer to have children in good times.

Elvish childhood and adolescence lasted until the age of approximately 50 years. Elves tended to marry soon after coming of age, with a one-year engagement being standard.

Tolkien said absolutely nothing about elf puberty. Secko’s answer is best, but the other thing to consider is the immortality of the Elves: if “the most kids an elf couple ever had were seven” (as Secko’s quote suggests), you have to figure that Elves might go thousands of years between childbirths.

Someone like Elrond, who is 6,500 years old with only 3 children, would have spent 97% of his life (6,300 years) with no little Elves pattering around Rivendell. Given a population as small as that of Elvenkind in Middle Earth, and that kind of space between childbirths, it is entirely possible that there weren’t any Elf children during the time of LOTR and the Hobbit.

They just aren’t mentioned. Neither are: dwarf children.

dwarf women. orc women.

elf rope makers. etc.

There are plenty in the Silmarillion. By the Third Age the Elves were fading and presumably past the point of procreation.

But avoid …. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.

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The Elves of Mirkwood were Silvan Elves that lived in the Woodland Realm of northern Mirkwood, under the rule of Thranduil.

There were three hosts that first set out to answer the call of the Valar. Of these, the largest host was that of the Teleri.

There was a time, when they reached the river Anduin, one smaller leader of that host, Lenwë, wished to go no further, and he and his people began to live in the forests surrounding the Anduin Vale as the remaining Teleri continued their journey to Valinor. Their descendants were the Silvan elves of Lothlórien and Greenwood the Great.

During the Second Age, many Sindar survivors, who did not sail to the West, did not wish to stay with the Noldor in Lindon and be dominated by them. They travelled eastward from Lindon and eventually ended up in Greenwood the Great, where the Silvan Elves of Nandorin descent lived.

The Sindar longed to experience a more “rustic” and “natural” way of life and fully embraced and adopted their culture and language. Oropher, one of the Iathrim who spent his early life in Doriath, was taken by them as King and founded the Woodland Realm in S.A.

Originally Oropher’s realm encompassed the entirety of Greenwood, with its capital at Amon Lanc. However, during the Second Age, he and his people migrated north three times.

However his people did maintain constant intercourse with their kin west of the Anduin. Oropher was also disturbed by the reports of Sauron’s rising power and by the end of the Second Age he dwelt in the western glens of the Emyn Duir or Dark Mountains and his people lived north of the Men-i-Naugrim or Dwarf-road.

Oropher joined the Last Alliance by summoning a great army which joined with Amdír’s smaller force of Lórien Elves to create one large host of Silvan Elves. the Silvan Elves were strong and brave, but they had poor armour and weapons in comparison with the Noldor.

As a result they suffered in the Battle of Dagorlad and Oropher who was to the fore was slain.

3441, two-thirds of the Silvan army had been lost. The remnants of the army returned to Greenwood under the command of Oropher’s son, Thranduil, and he was crowned king.

With the return of Sauron around T.A. 1050 southern Greenwood became dangerous and was renamed Mirkwood.

By the middle of the Third Age, the Silvan Elves of Mirkwood were much reduced in number though Mirkwood still had a greater population of Elves than Lindon, Rivendell, or Lothlórien. To avoid the encroachment of the Necromancer from the south, they dwelt in the lands north of the Forest River, living mainly in and around the Elvenking’s Halls.

In T.A. 2941, Thranduil’s people were disturbed, three times, by a band of Dwarves while feasting in the forest.

Though they had trespassed, they were not imprisoned until after they had been questioned and refused to be forthright. Their leader, Thorin, refused to reveal the purpose of their journey from their halls far to the west in Eriador.

Thranduil was content to wait for the Dwarves’ stubborness to subside. Though prisoners in the king’s dungeons, they were not ill-treated by the Wood-elves who “were reasonably well-behaved even to their worst enemies, when they captured them.” After many days of imprisonment, they escaped with the help of their companion, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, who had avoided capture using a magic ring.

After the Dwarves’ escape Thranduil sent out messengers. the Elves heard that Smaug, provoked by the escaped dwarves, had left Erebor to attack Lake-town where he was slain by Bard the Bowman.

He set out towards the Lonely Mountain with a company of Elves with spears and bows. On the way they met messengers from Bard in Lake-town who was seeking aid for his destroyed town.

He gave them a great store of goods and skilled Elves stayed to help the people erect shelters for the winter. He and Bard joined forces and marched north in arms as Thranduil had perceived that the swift spreading news of Smaug’s death was “an ill wind.

that blows no one any good.” They were very surprised when they found out that Thorin and his company had survived Smaug’s attacks, had taken possession of the Lonely Mountain and its treasures and that Thorin Oakenshield had claimed the title King under the Mountain.

When Thorin refused to give away parts of the treasure, Thranduil and Bard besieged the mountain and Thorin sent for aid from his cousin Dáin II Ironfoot from the Iron Hills. After a few days Dáin’s host approached and fight seemed unavoidable.

The next morning Bard and Thranduil entered into negotiations with an angered Thorin, who agreed to pay 1/14 share of the treasure in exchange for the stone. The next day Dáin arrived with his forces and although Thranduil was reluctant to start a war over gold, the dwarves proceeded to attack.

At the last moment, when the battle was almost joined between the two sides Gandalf intervened and revealed that while they were bickering amongst themselves, the Orcs of the Misty Mountains and Grey Mountains under Bolg were using the opportunity to march against them.

So the Battle of Five Armies began.

Many Wood-elves were slain, and things looked grim when the Eagles arrived on the battlefield. They turned the tide and the battle was won.

On March 21, T.A. 3018 Aragorn and Gandalf delivered Gollum as a prisoner to Thranduil.

When one night in June of 3018, Gollum refused to come down, the Elves were attacked by Orcs and Gollum could escape in the confusion. Thranduil sent his son Legolas to Rivendell to inform Elrond, and in the Council of Elrond Legolas was selected as one of the nine members of the Company of the Ring.

After the Breaking of the Fellowship Legolas continued to accompany Aragorn, fighting in the Battle of the Hornburg, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the Battle of the Morannon. Legolas also developed a close friendship with the dwarf Gimli, son of one of Thorin’s companions: Glóin.

On March 15, T.A. 3019, an army of Sauron from Dol Guldur, tasked with destroying the Woodland Realm, attacked Mirkwood.

But in the end Thranduil defeated the invaders.

They divided it up, so that Thranduil received the northern part as far as the Mountains, and Celeborn took the southern part below the Narrows, naming it East Lórien. The wide forest in-between was given to the Beornings and the Woodmen.

After the destruction of Dol Guldur and the cleansing of Mirkwood, Thranduil and the Wood-Elves remained untroubled for many years.

20, Legolas brought south Elves out of Greenwood, and they dwelt in Ithilien, and it became once again the fairest country in all the westlands. They stayed in Ithilien for “a hundred years of Men.” Legolas and the Wood-Elves later worked together with Gimli and the Dwarves to rebuild and improve Minas Tirith, capital city of Gondor, the realm of their mutual friend King Aragorn Elessar.

Elves have been a popular subject in fiction for centuries, ranging from William Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to the classic fantasy novels of J.R.R. Tolkien 300 years later.

Like fairies, elves were said to be diminutive shape-shifters. (Shakespeare’s elves were tiny, winged creatures that lived in, and playfully flitted around, flowers.) English male elves were described as looking like little old men, though elf maidens were invariably young and beautiful.

Elves, fairies, and leprechauns are all closely related in folklore, though elves specifically seem to have sprung from early Norse mythology. By the 1500s, people began incorporating elf folklore into stories and legends about fairies, and by 1800, fairies and elves were widely considered to be simply different names for the same magical creatures.

For example, when the hair on a person or horse became tangled and knotted, such “elf locks” were blamed on elves, and a baby born with a birthmark or deformity was called “elf marked.”. Indeed, our forefathers trifled with elves at their peril.

They may steal babies, cattle, milk, and bread or enchant and hold young men in their spell for years at a time. An example of this is the well-known story of Rip Van Winkle.”.

That depiction, however, is relatively recent. Santa Claus himself is described as “a right jolly old elf” in the classic poem “A Visit From St.

In 1856, Louisa May Alcott, who later wrote “Little Women,” finished, but never published, a book titled “Christmas Elves,” according to Penne L. Restad in the book “Christmas in America: A History” (Oxford University Press, 1996).

In 1857, Harper’s Weekly published a poem titled “The Wonders of Santa Claus,” which included the lines: “In his house upon the top of a hill, And almost out of sight, He keeps a great many elves at work, All working with all their might, To make a million of pretty things, Cakes, sugar-plums, and toys, To fill the stockings, hung up you know By the little girls and boys.”.

A caption read, “Here we have an idea of the preparations that are made to supply the young folks with toys at Christmas time,” according to Restad. Meanwhile, an editorial in that same issue addressed the realities of toymaking: they were not made by magical elves but by poor foreigners: “Whole villages engage in the work, and the contractors every week in the year go round and gather together the six days’ work and pay for it.”.

“Santa reigned without opposition over a vast empire, truly a captain of industry,” Restad wrote, with the usually nameless elves standing in for largely anonymous immigrant workers.

It’s only recently that elves have been confined to plays, books, and fairy tales. In centuries past, belief in the existence of fairies and elves was common among both adults and children.

In Iceland, for example, about half of the residents believe in elf-like beings known as the “huldufolk” (hidden people), or at least don’t rule out their existence.

Ashliman in the book “Folk and Fairy Tales: A Handbook” (Greenwood Publishing, 2004), Eve was embarrassed that her children were dirty when God came to visit, so she hid them away and lied about their existence. God knew of her deceitfulness and proclaimed “What man hides from God, God will hide from man.” These children then became the “hidden folk” of Iceland who often make their homes in large rocks.

When the projects aren’t first stopped by residents trying to protect the elves, they seem to be thwarted by the elves themselves.

The construction was set to bring the road right through Álfhóll, which would have essentially destroyed the elves’ home. At first, construction was delayed due to money problems, but when the work finally began a decade later, the workers encountered all sorts of problems from broken machinery to lost tools.

Later in the 1980s, the same road was set to be raised and paved. When the workers reached Álfhóll and were about to demolish it, the rock drill broke into pieces.

At this point, the workers were spooked and refused to go near the hill. Álfhóll is now protected as a cultural heritage.

Interestingly, however, accidental damage to elf residences seem to come to light almost immediately. Over time and across different cultures, a certain type of elf emerged, one with a somewhat different nature and form than the mischievous and diminutive sprites of yore.

Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, are slender, human-sized, and beautiful, with fine — almost angelic — features. Tolkien’s characters were drawn largely from his research into Scandinavian folklore, and therefore it’s not surprising that his elves might be tall and blond.

They have also become a staple of modern fantasy fiction. Gary Gygax, co-creator of the seminal role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, was not only influenced by Tolkien’s elves but also instrumental in popularizing them, even including elves as one of the character races (along with humans) that gamers could play.

As with fairies, elves were said to secretly steal healthy human babies and replace them with their own kind. These changelings appeared at first glance to be human babies, but if they became seriously sick or temperamental, parents would sometimes suspect that their own child had been abducted by elves.

Each generation seems to have their own use for elves in their stories. Just as leprechauns have historically been associated with one type of work (shoemaking), it is perhaps not surprising that many common (and commercial) images of elves depict them as industrious workers — like Santa’s elves or even the Keebler cookie-baking elves.

Additional reporting by Traci Pedersen, Live Science contributor, and Tim Sharp, Reference editor.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the story most of us know. There will be some familiar faces.

Or mostly new. One of the most important figures of the Second Age was Gil-galad, High King of the Elves of the West.

He’s in the opening sequence where the Last Alliance of Elves and Men battle against Sauron, dying in the fight. So we know how Gil-galad’s story ends.

Nerdist talked to actor Benjamin Walker about bringing this iconic character to life. “He’s got this kind of elvish spidey sense of the impending rebirth of evil,” Walker said of his character.

So when we find him at the beginning of season one, he’s in a time of peace. But for Gil-galad that means something entirely different.

And I think he’s playing the long chess game of the preservation of Middle-earth. Also, we have to remember that these elves chose to stay.

“It’s almost like he can smell it in the air. And not only that.

And he knows it’s there. And so, it begs the question what am I going to do about it.

Walker unloaded a lot of mythology there. It’s true that, at the end of the First Age, many elves chose to leave Middle-earth for Valinor, which is a kind of paradise only the elves can access.

Sauron and his master Morgoth were defeated at the end of the First Age, but Sauron escaped, and in the Second Age works to make himself a new dark lord. It will take brave souls like Gil-galad to stand against him.

“We’re going to get to see him as a warrior. But he’s a politician in the sense that we wish we had, in that he attempts to bring out the best in all of us, so that when we do need to come together, we can.”.

Do you go on the PA system and say, ‘There’s an asteroid coming to the earth, everyone freak out. ’ No.

You allow everyone the possibility to protect themselves and start the project of splitting the asteroid in half before everyone even knows it’s coming. That’s what he’s trying to do.

And that’s what I like about him.”. It’s interesting that Walker gives the example of an asteroid, because in the trailer for The Rings of Power we do see Gil-galad observing some heavenly body falling to Earth.

Gil-galad is a king, which means he has lieutenants and subjects. One of them is Elrond, who during this time period is only a couple thousand years old, practically a baby in elf years.

“Gil-galad is going to encourage him to take the first steps and the journey towards his ultimate destiny,” Walker said of Elrond. “But he does it in the way a loving parent would, which is to allow them to make their own mistakes or to encourage them to do things and convince them that it was their idea in the first place.”.

“He has to let his own world have a life of its own. He has to let go, like a parent does,” Walker continued.

And that they will know what that thing is. And I think that’s why these characters that Tolkien has created continue to evolve.

He’s constantly evolving.”. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres on Amazon Prime Video on September 2.

Who will die in Stranger Things 4 Volume 2.

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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.

One of the most fascinating things about the Lord of the Rings franchise and the currently airing The Lord Of The Rings: Rings Of Power series is the sheer number of different creatures that are seen wandering around the world, each with its own distinct biology and culture. These differences influence the stories they are involved in.

The dwarves and elves found in throughout the Lord of the Rings franchise are some of the most iconic fantasy creatures ever conceived. They differ from other depictions of these same creatures and have left a massive mark on fantasy.

Tolkien’s, the writer of the original novels, creations, even if they don’t realize it.

How long do elves and dwarves live.

The main thing most people know about the elf lifecycle is that elves are functionally immortal.

They are immune to nearly all known diseases and can survive wounds that would instantly end other creatures. However, it should be noted that elves are not invulnerable.

According to legend, the creator, Ilúvatar, had intended for the soul and body of an elf to remain united for the world’s entire life, which means that elves wouldn’t die at all and would be nearly invulnerable. But in the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth section of Morgoth’s Ring, it is noted that this plan was interrupted by Melkor and corrupted by his evil actions so that elves could be slain.

However, being slain isn’t necessarily the end of an elf. In theory, elves can reincarnate.

This place is where the souls of elves and men were sent to await entry into their afterlife — the equivalent of purgatory in many religions. Thus it gained the name the Halls Of Waiting.

“‘Farewell, good thief,’ he said. ‘I go now to the Halls of Waiting to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed.’”.

This body was identical to the one that had died previously, minus any fatal wounds. However, if the elf had committed evil acts, the Valar might delay the creation of the new body, put terms on the resurrection, or deny it outright.

The other standard ending for elves is growing weary of the world. Over time, elves would become burdened by the world’s sorrows and get tired of the stresses of life.

So, in theory, elves could be immortal, but most opt not to be.

As laid out in the 12th volume of the History Of Middle-earth book, The Peoples of Middle-earth’s dwarf lifecycles vary depending on their “breed.”. Interestingly, the dwarf lifespan changed over time.

According to the “Durin’s Folk” section of The Peoples of Middle-earth, by the time the Third Age had rolled around, dwarves lived for an average of 250 years. However, there were exceptions to this, as Dwalin lived for 340 years despite living well into the Fourth Age.

Because of this, there is no firm guide for how long the dwarves seen in Rings of Power will live. However, as the show is set during the Second Age, we can presume they’ll live longer than 250 years, but likely under 340 years.

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.

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.

Although elves existed in mythology around the world long before J.R.R. Tolkien published his epic The Lord of the Rings in 1954, his elves have specific attributes of their own.

They are one of the oldest races in Middle-earth, gifted with the power of speech. Not all living beings talk, of course, especially in Tolkien.

One of the major distinctions that set elves apart from the other races of Middle-earth is their lifespan. Elves are immortal.

However, their immortal lives are somewhat complex. Lord of the Rings Inspired One the Greatest Rock Bands in History.

Enough can be gleaned from his extended works like The Silmarillion — a collection of myths and fables tangentially related to the main events of The Lord of the Rings. It’s loosely established that elves have three periods of development: childhood and adolescence, adulthood, and old age.

But Amazon’s Rings of Power does open with the future elf queen Galadriel as a child. At a year old, elves are already speaking and walking.

Still, it’s not until the age of 100 that they are considered a full-fledged adult. This is where they enter the endless stage of life, that is, their adulthood.

This would explain why the jaded Elrond is seen at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, in The Second Age, battling Sauron and his army, and then later when the One Ring is rediscovered and brought to Rivendell by Frodo. The final cycle of an elf’s life is not specified by a particular age, but it’s usually at this stage when some elves begin to grow weary of their everlasting existence.

In The Lord of the Rings, Cirdan is the only elf recorded to have accomplished this feat. An elf who lived for over 10,000 years.

RELATED: Lord of the Rings: How Old Each Member of the Fellowship Actually Is. Although elves are technically immune to the illnesses of men and other races of Middle-earth, they can die.

In the behind-the-scenes features on the DVD set, Orlando Bloom talks about how he tried to convey Legolas’ unfamiliarity with dying upon the deaths of Gandalf and Boromir. Unless he’s been exposed to dangerous situations, a “young” elf like Legolas would not have had much opportunity among his own people to experience it naturally.

By the time the War of the Ring is raging, Arwen — daughter of Elrond — begins to fade from life. Her fate becomes inextricably tied to the One Ring.

Despite the victory of the people of Middle-earth over Sauron in the Third Age, Arwen does choose a mortal life to be with her beloved Aragorn. He goes on to live a long life, dying at the age of 210.

If they do not die of weariness or by mortal hands, elves might pass onto Valinor — also known as the Undying Lands. Its origins are steeped in Tolkien’s extended lore.

Although elves are not the original inhabitants of this land (the name literally means “Land of the Valor”), it has become a place of respite for them when they’ve grown tired of life in Middle-earth. The Valor — eternal beings in a similar vein as Istari — inhabited Valor long before the awakening of the elves.

Exceptions to this would be Bilbo, Frodo, and eventually Samwise Gamgee. All three hobbits who, at some point, bore the One Ring.

The final scene in The Return of the King also includes Gandalf in the party leaving for the Undying Lands at the Gray Havens. As an immortal Istari and not even a being of Middle-earth, Gandalf is technically one of many noble spirits known as Maiar, who requires no exceptions to pass into Valinor.

Living for such a long period of time allows them the liberty to grow wise and become incredibly skilled craftsmen. But it also leaves them with difficult situations that mortal beings would not need to consider in their own lifetimes.

This might be why they’re typically stoic in their deportment. Tolkien created such rich and deep lore for his own version of these mythical creatures that the titular Lord of the Rings trilogy barely even begins to touch upon their origins.

Tolkien’s writings can be about as complex to decipher as they are to adapt for the screen. The depth of the lives of his elves lives up to his prowess in fantasy literature.

Elrond was the half-elven son of Eärendil and Elwing, the father of Arwen, and the Lord of Rivendell who consistently fought against Sauron throughout the Second and Third Ages. He was the twin brother of Elros, who later became the first king of Númenor.

Having been born in Beleriand towards the end of the First Age, Elrond ever opposed Sauron and strove against him throughout the Second Age, helping to bring about Sauron’s defeat in the War of the Last Alliance as Gil-galad’s herald.

Aragorn went on to marry Elrond’s daughter Arwen. After the destruction of the One Ring, Elrond sailed west with Gandalf, Bilbo, Frodo, and Galadriel.

Elrond is one of the most prominent, significant and recognisable characters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium, appearing in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

Elros and Elrond were born in the Havens of Sirion during the darkest days of the First Age, when the forces of Morgoth controlled most of Beleriand. When the twins were just six years old, the Sons of Fëanor, bound by their Oath, assaulted the Havens in the Third Kinslaying, since they desired the Silmaril on the Nauglamír held by Elwing.

Maedhros and Maglor, the only Sons of Fëanor to survive the assault upon the Havens, took Elros and Elrond as captives and abandoned them in a cave with a fall of water over the entrance instead of killing them. But Maglor took pity upon Elrond and Elros and rescued them, and a mutual love grew between Maglor and the young twins afterwards.

Following the War of Wrath, because of his Half-elven heritage, the Valar gave Elrond and his brother a choice to be counted among the kindred of Elves or Men. Elrond chose to belong to the Firstborn, while Elros chose to become mortal.

whereas Elrond remained among the Elves and carried on the lineage of King Elwë. Elrond subsequently remained in Lindon with Gil-galad, where he became known as a healer and lore-master.

A fair being calling himself Annatar, emissary of the Valar, came seeking entrance to Lindon during the Second Age. Elrond and Gil-galad sensed that he was not what he seemed, and denied him.

In S.A. 1695, Gil-galad sent Elrond to aid Eregion.

While Sauron sent most of his army west to attack Lindon, he left a strong detachment behind to contain Elrond. In two years, Eregion was laid waste and Elrond, along with the surviving Noldor, ran the risk of being overun, when Durin’s folk of Khazad-dûm attacked Sauron’s rear guard, turning Sauron’s attention to these new foes.

There, he established the stronghold of Imladris.

By S.A. 1700, Imladris, despite being besieged, was the only part of Eriador not under Sauron’s control.

After Sauron’s defeat, a Council was held at that time, establishing that Imladris should be maintained as an Elvish stronghold, and appointing Elrond as Gil-galad’s vice-regent in Eriador, passing the Ring Vilya to him.

He was present during the last battle of that war, witnessing the deaths of Gil-galad and Elendil. When Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand at the conclusion of the battle, he and Círdan advised Isildur to destroy the Ring, but Isildur refused their counsel.

It has been argued that, following Gil-galad’s death, Elrond had the right to become High King of the Noldor, but he never claimed the title. Indeed, after the Second Age ended, there were very few Noldor left in Middle-earth for there to be a king over.[source.

Following Isildur’s death, Elrond received the shards of Narsil, which he preserved for many years. He began his long tradition of fostering the heirs of Isildur by helping to raise Isildur’s son Valandil, who had been left in Rivendell during the War of the Last Alliance.

In T.A. 109, Elrond married Celebrían, the daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn.

During the late reign of Arveleg I, Rivendell was besieged by Angmar. After an incursion by Angmar into Eriador in T.A.

Centuries later, when the Northern Kingdom fell, Elrond took the other heirlooms of Arnor (the Sceptre of Annúminas and the Ring of Barahir) into his keeping, holding them for the one who would eventually be able to reclaim the throne of Arnor.

As they decided, Gandalf invaded Dol Guldur. The Necromancer withdrew and the Watchful Peace began.

2463, the Wise formed the White Council with the Wizard Saruman as its head.

Their sons rescued her, but Elrond was unable to heal her mentally, and she decided to leave for the West in 2510.

2851, the White Council met to decide whether to act on Gandalf’s discovery of the identity of the Necromancer as Sauron, but Saruman dissuaded the others from acting upon Gandalf’s revelation.

2933, Elrond took Aragorn as his foster-son in Rivendell, and had Arwen live in Lothlórien with her grandmother.

When Aragorn became an adult, Elrond gave him the Ring of Barahir and the shards of Narsil, foreseeing that Aragorn might be the one to claim the thrones of Gondor and Arnor. When Aragorn fell in love with Arwen, Elrond revealed to him that Arwen shared the choice of the Half-elven, and that one or the other of them would ultimately be parted from her forever.

In T.A. 2941, Elrond welcomed Thorin and Company into his home, the Last Homely House before the wild.

He read the runes and revealed that Thorin’s sword was called Orcrist, the “Goblin-cleaver”, and that Gandalf’s sword was named Glamdring, the “Foe-hammer”. He told them that they were Elven swords from the ancient city of Gondolin, destroyed long ago.

From the moon of that midsummer’s eve he could read the words: ‘five feet high the door and three may walk abreast’ and ‘stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks and the setting sun with the last light of Durin’s Day will shine upon the keyhole’. This information proved vital for Bilbo and the Dwarves to enter the Lonely Mountain through its secret entrance.

During that same year, the White Council assailed Dol Guldur and rid Mirkwood of the Necromancer’s presence. Upon Bilbo and Gandalf’s return to Rivendell, Elrond and the grey wizard discussed this and the events of the Lonely Mountain.

The White Council last met in T.A. 2953, when Gandalf expressed his concerns that the One Ring was Bilbo’s ring found in the Goblin-town.

When Frodo first left the Shire with the One Ring, it was always his intention to go to Rivendell to seek the advice of Elrond. Indeed, in his letter left at Bree, Gandalf counselled him to do so.

Elrond presided at the Council of Elrond. During that meeting, he narrated what he knew of the history of Isildur and the Ring.

Elrond also appeared to have selected the members of the Fellowship other than Frodo and Sam, despite accepting Merry and Pippin only reluctantly.

Through Elrohir, Elrond advised Aragorn to take the Paths of the Dead. During the Last Debate, Elrohir supported Aragorn’s decision to attack Mordor as a diversion to allow Frodo time to reach Mount Doom.

When it comes to The Lord of the Rings, it was often the case that the elves were the greatest of all of the non-god beings that exist in Middle-Earth because of all of the different things that they were able to contribute throughout the history of the world. Of course, this is also due to the fact that, unlike dwarves and men, elves are able to live for a very long time.

Elves are immortal in the sense that they will never die due to old age. That means that they will continue to live for as long as they possibly can.

Other than that, Elves will continue to live. The fact that the elves of LOTR are immortal is the reason why some of the most prominent elves we’ve seen have been around for thousands of years already.

Now, let’s look at how long elves live. When it comes to the world created by JRR Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings, there are plenty of different creatures that were created by Eru Ilúvatar, the creator god of this fictional world.

In that regard, the beings that Eru created that have specific physical forms include elves, men, and dwarves. While men ended up becoming the dominant beings during the Third Age onward, the creations of Eru Ilúvatar considered to be the finest are the elves.

This also explains why the strongest and most powerful characters throughout the history of LOTR include the elves. Of course, we’ve seen a lot of different elves in The Lord of the Rings trilogy movies by Peter Jackson.

Meanwhile, in The Hobbit, King Thranduil tells the dwarves that a hundred years is a mere blink of an eye for the elves. So, how long do elves get to live in The Lord of the Rings.

Elves in The Lord of the Rings are immortal beings. That means that, no matter how long they live, they will never die of old age.

The only way for an elf to die is through injuries or illnesses. In that regard, elves are often considered the best creations of Eru Ilúvatar because of the fact that they can live very long lives without aging or dying.

And this is also why elves are allowed to live in the Undying Lands, as they are basically incapable of dying, just like the Valar and the Maiar that inhabit Valinor. Now that we know that elves are immortal and are capable of living for as long as they possibly can as long as they do not die due to injuries or illnesses, let’s look at the oldest elves in the history of JRR Tolkien’s writings.

Although Legolas hasn’t been around for a very long time, his father has seen it all throughout his entire lifetime, as there is a possibility that he has been around for at least 4,000 years. We don’t know for certain when Thranduil was born because he wasn’t featured much during the events of the First and Second Ages.

That means that he might be older than 6,500 years. Celeborn was the Lord of Lothlórien as he ruled that elven realm together with his wife, Galadriel.

However, he was also around the First Age when the elves went to war against Morgoth and his forces. By the time of The Lord of the Rings, Celeborn was at least 6,500 years old because he was already around during the First Age.

The Third Age, of course, lasted more than 3,000 years. Considering that we don’t know when exactly he was born during the First Age, he would be at least 6,500 years old by virtue of the fact that he lived through the events of the Second and Third Ages, which are nearly 6,500 years when combined.

Of course, Galadriel is quite old because she was born and raised in Valinor before she came with the Noldor to Middle-Earth to wage war against Morgoth. As such, she was there through all of the three ages of Middle-Earth before she returned to Valinor after Sauron’s defeat.

As such, Galadriel is not only incredibly old and wise but is also one of the most experienced characters in the entire storyline.

She would have lived indefinitely in Valinor, and that’s why she probably went on to become the second-oldest living elf in history if we only knew how long she spent in the Undying Lands after the defeat of Sauron. Objectively speaking, Fëanor was the worst of all of the elves because he was the one who did most of the horrible acts that the Noldor did, and that’s why they were banned from ever returning to the Undying Lands.

And his skills were quite apparent when he created the Silmarils, which were the gems that sparked an entire war between the elves and Morgoth during the First Age. As a Noldor that lived in Valinor, Fëanor spent thousands of years in the Undying Lands before he went to Middle-Earth to chase after Morgoth, who stole the Silmarils because he coveted their beauty.

Nevertheless, he actually lived for about 10,000 years before he saw his death at the blade of Gothmog, the mightiest of all of the Balrog. Cirdan the Shipwright wasn’t featured a lot in the writings of JRR Tolkien or even in the movies (where he was noticeably absent), but he is actually the oldest elf to have ever lived in the history of the world.

By the time of the Second Age, he was already the oldest elf in the history of the world. Out of all of the elves, Cirdan was the one who got to live through certain parts of all of the ages because he left during the Fourth Age.

As such, he is right around 10,000 years old. Of course, because he continued to live a long life in Valinor, he is obviously more than 10,000 years old, considering that he never died upon leaving Middle-Earth.

Tolkien’s Middle-earth was part of his created world of Arda. It was a flat world surrounded by ocean.

Aman and Middle-earth were separated from each other by the Great Sea Belegaer, analogous to the Atlantic Ocean. The western continent, Aman, was the home of the Valar, and the Elves called the Eldar.

Initially, the western part of Middle-earth was the subcontinent Beleriand. it was engulfed by the ocean at the end of the First Age.

After the destruction of Númenor at the end of the Second Age, Arda was remade as a round world, and the Undying Lands were removed from Arda so that Men could not reach them. The Elves could go there only by the Straight Road and in ships capable of passing out of the sphere of the earth.

The events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place in the north-west of the continent of Middle-earth. Both quests begin in The Shire, travel east through the wilds of Eriador to Rivendell and then across the Misty Mountains, involve further travels in the lands of Rhovanion or Wilderland to the east of those mountains, and return home to The Shire.

It and Eriador were separated from much of the south of Middle-earth by the Great Gulf. Beleriand was largely destroyed in the cataclysm of the War of Wrath, leaving only a remnant coastal plain, Lindon, just to the west of the Ered Luin (also called Ered Lindon or Blue Mountains).

the northern part was Forlindon, the southern Harlindon.

In the Second Age, the northern kingdom of Arnor founded by Elendil occupied much of the region. After its collapse, much of Eriador became wild.

To the northwest lay Lake Evendim, once called Nenuial by the Elves. A remnant of the ancient forest of Eriador survived throughout the Third Age just to the east of the Shire as the Old Forest, the domain of Tom Bombadil.

Further east from there is the hill of Weathertop, the hill with the ancient fortress of Amon Sul, and then Rivendell, the home of Elrond. South from there is the ancient land of Hollin, once the elvish land of Eregion where the Rings of Power were forged.

The Misty Mountains were thrown up by the Dark Lord Melkor in the First Age to impede Oromë, one of the Valar who often rode across Middle-earth hunting. The Dwarf-realm of Moria was built in the First Age beneath the midpoint of the mountain range.

East of the Misty Mountains, Anduin or the Great River flows southwards, with the forest of Mirkwood to its east. On its west bank opposite the southern end of Mirkwood is the elvish land of Lothlorien.

In a valley at the southern end of the Misty Mountains is Isengard, home to the wizard Saruman.

The River Anduin passes the hills of Emyn Muil and the enormous rock statues of the Argonath, flows through the dangerous rapids of Sarn Gebir, and over the Falls of Rauros into Gondor. Gondor’s border with Rohan is the Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains, which run east-west from the sea to a point near the Anduin.

Across the river to the East is the land of Mordor. It is bordered to the north by the Ered Lithui, the Ash Mountains.

Between those two ranges, at Mordor’s northwest tip, are the Black Gates of the Morannon. In the angle between the two ranges is the volcanic Plateau of Gorgoroth, with the tall volcano of Orodruin or Mount Doom, where the Dark Lord Sauron forged the One Ring, at its centre.

To the south of Gondor and Mordor lie Harad and Khand. To the East of Rhovanion and to the North of Mordor lies the Sea of Rhûn, home to the Easterlings.

between those and Mirkwood is Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, once home to Smaug the dragon, and afterwards to Thorin’s dwarves. The large lands to the east of Rhûn and to the south and east of Harad are not described in the stories, which take place in the North-western part of Middle-earth.

At the end of the Third Age, much of the northwest of Middle-earth is wild, with traces here and there of ruined cities and fortresses from earlier civilisations among the mountains, rivers, forests, hills, plains and marshes. The major nations that appear in The Lord of the Rings are Rohan and Gondor on the side of the Free Peoples, and Mordor and its ally Harad on the side of the Dark Lord.

The Easterlings from the region of Rhûn, barely described, contribute a substantial army to Mordor’s side. Forgotten by most of the rest of the world is the Shire, a small region in the northwest of Middle-earth inhabited by hobbits amidst the abandoned lands of Eriador.

Tolkien Encyclopedia – constructed a “fully expressed moral geography”, from the hobbits’ home in the Northwest, evil in the East, and “imperial sophistication and decadence” in the South. Magoun explains that Gondor is both virtuous, being West, and has problems, being South.

Other scholars such as Walter Scheps and Isabel G. MacCaffrey have noted Middle-earth’s “spatial cum moral dimensions”, though not identically with Magoun’s interpretation.

That places the Shire and the elves’ Grey Havens in the Northwest as certainly good, and Mordor in the Southeast as certainly Evil. Gondor in the Southwest is in their view morally ambivalent, matching the characters of both Boromir and Denethor.

Many features of Middle-earth can be traced to literary sources or real-world places. Many relate to Old English poetry, especially Beowulf, on which Tolkien was an expert.

The Battle of the Pelennor Fields has parallels with the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields The Misty Mountains derive from the Poetic Edda, where the protagonist in the Skírnismál notes that his quest will involve misty mountains peopled with orcs and giants, while the mountains’ character was partly inspired by Tolkien’s travels in the Swiss Alps in 1911.

Númenor echoes the mythical Atlantis described by Plato.

Writing in Mythlore, Jefferson P. Swycaffer suggested that the political and strategic situations of Gondor and Mordor in the Siege of Gondor were “analogous to Constantinople facing the boxshape of Asia Minor”.

that the Rohirrim and their grasslands are comparable to “Hungary of the Magyars, who were weak allies of Byzantine Constantinople”. and that the Corsairs of Umbar resembled the Barbary pirates who served Mehmed the Conqueror.

The linguist David Salo writes that Gondor recalls “a kind of decaying Byzantium”. its piratical enemy Umbar like the seagoing Carthage.

and the Easterlings “suggesting Sarmatians, Huns and Avars”.

Speaking of those elven-smiths who reforged Narsil, it is nice to assume they might have been the last remnant of the noldorin Gwaith-i-Mirdain brotherhood from Eregion, it would be kind of poetic to have the smiths (or at least part of the group of those smiths of old) that witnessed if not even participated in the creation of Rings of Power or other wonders of Eregion to reforge the blade that was broken to fight the Dark Lord, in form of atonement for the sins of the past, though that probably is less likely, there’s no way any actual maker of the Rings (of Seven or Nine certainly but maybe of the lesser rings.

Those smiths could easily be also one of those Elven-wise, their power and wisdom would be significant. And about Sindar smiths, Tolkien in various texts mentioned Teleri’s skill as silversmiths (of course in some of those reference, it was also in context of those Teleri of Aman the Falmari, but isn’t it reasonable that the same could be said of remaining Teleri in Middle-earth, the Falathrim folk especially and Sindar as well.

The lesser elf lords or elven nobility in general could be kind of like the early version of 12 houses of Gondolin, the elf-lords of those could have been special, Glorfindel being primary example. There could have been many such houses of families of Elves that were simply not mentioned (though it’s interesting to ask what makes an elven noble, is it some significance or power and influence the family holds or something else.

You might get a kick out of this entry for “noble” from the Online Etymology Dictionary. noble (adj.) c.

worthy of honor or respect,” from Old French noble “of noble bearing or birth,” from Latin nobilis “well-known, famous, renowned. excellent, superior, splendid.

Meaning “distinguished by rank, title, or birth” is first recorded late 13c. Sense of “having lofty character, having high moral qualities” is from c.

A noble gas (1902) is so called for its inactivity or intertness. a use of the word that had been applied in Middle English to precious stones, metals, etc., of similar quality (late 14c.), from the sense of “having admirable properties” (c.

Hmm ‘gnobilis’ literary knowable, hmm some famous craftsmen or especially skilled scholars could technically become nobles in this meaning :), those who simply distinguished themselves among thousands of other Elves, rather wide criteria hehe :). But we see that such houses, families and kindreds seem to have arose during unrest of the Noldor in Aman:

and these only they wore abroad…” So this could be the beginning of ‘elven nobility’, and naturally there was already royal house, princes of the Noldor. It’s puzzling to think about who actually lives in Rivendell (aside from named characters like Elrond, Arwen, Erestor and Glorfindel).

When they got there, they commented on the mysterious elves that once lived there. Legolas said, “The Elves of this land were of a race strange to us of the silvan folk.”.

Heck, the elves who used to live in Eregion could have told Gandalf the password to enter Moria, since it wasn’t a secret while that realm lasted. (When Gandalf left Rivendell, it wasn’t his intention to pass through Moria, but it was clearly one of his contingency plans.) Maybe we’re meant to understand that the elves of Eregion fled to Rivendell, but then, much later, they all passed on to the Grey Havens and over the sea.

And since there were still Noldor in Eriador at the end of the Third Age, it seems odd to suppose that not one of those Noldor would have been from Eregion. One could well ask, “What was the population of Rivendell, as the larger the population, the harder it would be to keep it hidden.

Over the ages refugees might come and eventually move on to leave room for new arrivals. In the case of mortals like Aragorn or Bilbo, nature would take its course.

So, maybe none of Hollin’s Noldor remained in Imladris by the end of the Third Age. Though Elrond lead them to Rivendell, they were not his people, he was not their natural leader.

“You’ve gathered plenty of others here, you don’t need us any more.” Or maybe Gandalf just screwed up and didn’t think to ask for a password when he had the chance. (Ok, this was the same Gandalf who engineered the liberation of the Lonely Mountain.

But there were times when Rivendell did field armies. Clearly, that would have been a necessity in the days of Angmar.

As to Legolas’ comment. I’ve always taken it to mean, “We rustic Silvan folk could never grok them fully.” They were strange in motivation and interest, rather than acquaintance.

Well considering that passing through Moria wasn’t initially in plans (Gandalf wanted to go over the mountains remember), he might actually did not think about that possibility, besides for all we know any remaining Noldor of Eregion living in Imladris would be sitting in some separate house or dwelling in the valley, not necessarily living in Elrond’s ‘mansion’, maybe he simply didn’t meet and talk with any of those original Eregion inhabitants, or those who did live simply didn’t knew password, not every Elf ever living in Eregion was necessarily supposed to be inside Moria, there would be thousands of Elves that lived and worked in their cities meeting Dwarves only when they came to them for example.

The door would be closed I guess mostly for the night. Or in specially dangerous times, though I guess before Sauron came with with his unfriendly take-over plans there were not many such times.

Also as Gandalf says himself he clearly knew that there was a password but that since it was in more friendly time he would guess it basing from the knowledge he had or hoped to discover it from the door itself as was proven in the end.

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One of the best things about any fantasy fiction is the diverse populations in the universe, especially in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

Fans everywhere got to see their favorite characters given visual form, whether they were Hobbits, Men, Elves or Dwarves. Tolkien’s universe is so compelling because it uses different types of creatures and beings to tell a powerful story.

Here’s a handy guide that breaks down the major players from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. RELATED: Arwen Wed Aragorn – But LOTR’s Weirdest Marriage Was Between an Elf and a God.

Their blessing is called the Gift of Men, which is mortality — the thing that gives their lives meaning is the finish line at the end of it. Though all Men are distantly related, there are many different groups of Men who share similar characteristics, especially as time and space distanced them from one another.

They are characterized by their long lifespan (100 years on average) and resistance to evil. Aragorn, one of the main players in The Lord of the Rings, is of the Dúnedain.

Commonly known as Eldar, they are known to be the wisest and most beautiful creatures in Middle-earth. They’re immune to illness, and unless they are otherwise killed or fall into deep despair, Elves live forever.

Some of the Elves in The Lord of the Rings, like Elrond and Galadriel, are thousands of years old. Elves notably also have far better senses than Men overall and are exceedingly light of foot.

RELATED: Galadriel Was LOTR’s Most Powerful Elf – But Her Cousin Made Sauron Look Silly. Unlike Elves or Men, Dwarves were created not by Ilúvatar but by Aulë, an Ainu who was responsible for shaping aspects of Ilúvatar’s world.

He created the first ones under a mountain in Middle-earth before any other race was created, even the Elves. But the Elves were to be the first ones on Middle-earth, so the first seven Dwarves were kept in stasis until it was their time to come forth.

They are also master architects, creating elaborate palaces within and underneath massive mountains. They are short and stout in stature but make up for it with hearty endurance and never-ending energy.

Their origins are a bit murky, but they are said to have initially come from the northern regions of Middle-earth below the Vales of Anduin. Most of the Hobbits moved to where the Shire eventually was created, and the ones that remained in the Vales became known as Stoors, which is the type of Hobbit that Sméagol was.

Hobbits aren’t known for their adventuring — they prefer a quiet life filled with good food, drink and smoke. But, as Bilbo and Frodo Baggins show, they can easily surprise everyone.

Orcs were created by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. He created them as foot soldiers in his quest to dominate Middle-earth.

Orcs were known to be malicious, cruel and completely unrelatable. They are the ultimate villains and the perfect servants for any Dark Lord, whether it be Morgoth or Sauron.

They create nothing of beauty but can perfect weapons and tools of torture and cruelty. Their evil ran so deep that their murderous natures would even turn on each other — as long as they got to kill something.

The Ents were always sentient creatures but first learned to speak after the Elves started to converse with them. They were in charge of protecting certain forests from Orcs and other dangers and are some of the oldest beings in Middle-earth.

Ents are quite strong, as Merry and Pippin can attest. At one time, there were female Entwives, but they were lost some time ago, and though the Ents still look for them, they are nowhere to be found.

Trolls are unintelligent, humanoid creatures that were made by Morgoth sometime before the First Age. They were created to carry out his nefarious deeds, and they lacked intelligence so that they could better listen to his command and follow his every whim, even at the creature’s own expense.

They are very strong and made mostly of muscle, but they are incredibly stupid and tend to rely on pure shows of force as their primary weapon. They have terrible manners and are brutish at best.

Though they are not featured in The Lord of the Rings movies, the Barrow-wights make an appearance in Tolkien’s books. They are beings of darkness that can shapeshift and reside not far from the Shire at the Barrow-downs, the burial mounds for the first Men in the First Age.

Barrow-wights appear almost like ghosts, with penetrating, cold eyes and skeletal hands. Their voices are horrible and grating but somehow hypnotic.

They are dreaded around Middle-earth, and though they don’t appear in the film adaptations, they’re featured both in the original books and in the video game adaptations.

A Swedish painting of a group of Elf women dancing. You might be surprised to hear this but during the Viking age believe in elves was strong around the Scandinavian countries.

Back in those times, elf belief was greatly controlled by fear, fear of what they might do and how they might react. Nowadays you will see a change in this.

People are not 100% willing to deny the existence of elves nor will they dismiss elves as the cause of misfortunes or accidents and sometimes even positive events.

Nevertheless, many Icelanders do believe that certain things can only be controlled by the elves and will possibly change a course just to be sure. Icelanders have a great deal of respect for the elves and will take extreme measures to keep them content.

First, I would like to clarify something. Gnomes, Christmas elves and Icelandic elves are under no circumstances the same.

They are tall, slender, fair and often have white hair. But “how can you tell them apart from actual humans.

Well, this can be tricky. If you look back in records you will find that there were often some small details about their appearance that could give it away.

Elves are often considered to be intensely beautiful which is how elf-women would often in folklore tales trick men into their homes or to do a task for them and why people were less afraid of them. They are also described to be dressed in expensive and clean attire, often in light blue colors.

In conclusion: If you have to picture someone you know think Legolas in the Lord of the Rings. Now this is a simple one.

The rock might not seem big from the outside but once you have entered a glistening and well-decorated palace awaits you. Elves are also said to have large parties, where there is plenty of food and drinks often resembling the feasts of the royals.

But growing up in Iceland I remember being told that children are much likelier to see them rather than an adult. Children in Iceland often tell you about the games they play with their elf friends and for many, it is the same one for a long time.

We will never fully know. Maybe it’s like Santa, you will never see an elf unless you believe in the existence of elves.

At the beginning of time, God made the man, Adam and woman. The woman was very unsettled and difficult and Adam couldn’t talk any sense into her.

Therefore God decided to create a man especially for her. Him he named Álfur (English Elf) and her he named Alvör.

In the 1970s Icelandic road workers were trying to finish off the Ring Road in a remote setting in Iceland. They had almost finished the assignment but to stay in accordance with the plans from the road and coastal administration they needed to remove a large rock which stood in the way.

First, the machinery starts breaking down, without any reason to be found explaining it. Then things started to disappear and eventually, one of the workers broke their leg in a freak accident.

The workers started to think, could this have to do with the rock itself. Are we possibly trying to remove an elf rock.

It is important to note that this is not the first time that the people of Iceland have plans to have something moved to a new location but run into elf-trouble in the process. Furthermore that the best resolution has proven to be leaving these rocks alone and going around it.

They changed the plan a bit and went around the rock and maybe not surprisingly didn’t run into any dilemmas after that. Jónsmessa is a Norse festival more commonly known as Midsummer which takes place in Iceland during the Midnight Sun.

According to Icelandic folklore for this one night, cows can speak, seals become human and health will we brought upon anyone who takes of all his clothes and rolls naked in the grass dew. But that’s not all.

Assuming that you will find a crossroad with four roads all leading to a different church and sit there all night without moving.

Often described as the most graceful, beautiful, and eldest of all the species on Torar, the elves are much more diverse than the stereotypes paint them. Yet no matter how many short, or overweight, or clumsy, or loud-mouthed alcoholic elves there are, these ideas of them all being a human-defined vision of elegance and mystery persist.

Unlike the avarta, who haven hidden underground for eons, elves have been an active part of the world since their birth. This combination places them in the unique position of being Torar’s most effective historians.

There are four sub-species of elf: Olvaredhel⁣, Moriedhel⁣, Ramaredhel⁣, and Khelekedhel⁣. Genetics and Reproduction Elves reproduce sexually and experience a twelve month gestational period.

Once an elf reaches sexual maturity between the ages of 70 and 80, they begin to experience írpuhlë, a type of ‘heat’ that overtakes them for between a week and a month every 10 years in a cycle, during which the elf’s libido is greatly enhanced. Elves generally stop experiencing írpuhlë by the time they reach 300 years old, though continue to be able to reproduce for many centuries.

Elf life expectancy is between 800 and 1000 years. Ecology and Habitats Each subspecies of elf has developed and evolved uniquely to its own habitat, which are as diverse as the elves themselves.

Snow elves predictably live in colder climates. Sky elves live in varied environments, but they all have in common difficulty in traversing them for ground-based species.

Wild elves live in flora-rich environments, whether that be jungles, forests, swamps, or some other biome with lots of plant life.

It is extremely rare for more than a single offspring to be produced per pregnancy, though when this occurs the siblings are always identical twins or triplets, even if of different genders. Once an elf reaches sexual maturity between the ages of 70 and 80, they begin to experience írpuhlë, a type of ‘heat’ that overtakes them for between a week and a month every 10 years in a cycle, during which the elf’s libido is greatly enhanced.

Elves reproduce sexually and experience a twelve month gestational period. It is extremely rare for more than a single offspring to be produced per pregnancy, though when this occurs the siblings are always identical twins or triplets, even if of different genders.

Elves generally stop experiencing írpuhlë by the time they reach 300 years old, though continue to be able to reproduce for many centuries. Growth Rate & Stages Elves mature at the same rate as humans, but are generally considered young until they reach 80 years old.

Elves mature at the same rate as humans, but are generally considered young until they reach 80 years old. Elf life expectancy is between 800 and 1000 years.

Dark elves generally live in hot, arid environments like badlands and deserts. Snow elves predictably live in colder climates.

archipelagos and mountain ranges are common examples of sky elf habitats. Wild elves live in flora-rich environments, whether that be jungles, forests, swamps, or some other biome with lots of plant life.

Each subspecies of elf has developed and evolved uniquely to its own habitat, which are as diverse as the elves themselves. Dark elves generally live in hot, arid environments like badlands and deserts.

Sky elves live in varied environments, but they all have in common difficulty in traversing them for ground-based species. archipelagos and mountain ranges are common examples of sky elf habitats.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities Elves are all adept at seeing in dim and dark conditions. They can see in dim light within 60 feet of them as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities Elves are all adept at seeing in dim and dark conditions. They can see in dim light within 60 feet of them as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.

Elves are all adept at seeing in dim and dark conditions. They can see in dim light within 60 feet of them as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.

Naming Traditions Elven children are given names at birth, but then are discarded.. or at best kept as nicknames..

Elven names tend to be poetically descriptive and reflective of the culture of the subspecies each elf belongs to. For example, a dark elven name in their moriedhel dialect might be Alsaqamarm which translates roughly into ‘frost in the moonlight’.

(DM’s note: in real-world languages, dark elven names should be in Arabic, snow elven names should be in Mongolian, sky elven names should be in Latin, and wild elven names should be in Gaelic.) Beauty Ideals Elves live so long that each one develops their own unique sense of what is beautiful. Oftentimes though older elves find beauty in exoticism, as they have been exposed to more commonplace beauty for centuries.

Courtship Ideals Elven courtship rituals vary by subspecies, but in general they all favor ‘the hunt’, where one party pursues the affection of the other who leads the hunter along a merry chase. This can last months or years, drop off completely for a time, and then pick back up right where they left it years later.

Over time during the Fragment of Ice the ancient Naledi evolved into the four subspecies found during the Fragment of Magic through various means. Since those ancient times, elves have been adjacent to being isolationist.

This grew into dense, mighty elven kingdoms across the globe. At one time elvish settlements were prevalent across the lands of Torar.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions Culturally and morally elves are ambivalent toward relations with other species, despite their isolationist political stance. It is common in fact for elves to have dalliances with other species, though much more rare for a long term relationship to form.

Naming Traditions Elven children are given names at birth, but then are discarded.. or at best kept as nicknames..

Elven names tend to be poetically descriptive and reflective of the culture of the subspecies each elf belongs to. For example, a dark elven name in their moriedhel dialect might be Alsaqamarm which translates roughly into ‘frost in the moonlight’.

FallenKingdomReads’ article Exploring the Elven Languages of Middle-Earth. J.R.R.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Tolkien’s fictional universe is the intricate and diverse elven languages spoken by the various elven races. In this article, we will explore the elven languages of Middle-Earth and their significance in Tolkien’s work.

There are several elven languages spoken in Middle-Earth, each with their own grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The most prominent elven language in Middle-Earth is Sindarin, which is spoken by the Grey Elves, or Sindar.

Sindarin has a complex grammar system, with different verb forms for different tenses and moods. It also features a rich vocabulary, with words for everything from animals and plants to emotions and abstract concepts.

Quenya is considered a more formal language than Sindarin and is often used in formal ceremonies or magical spells. It features a complex phonetic system and a large vocabulary, with many words derived from ancient Elvish roots.

Each of these languages has its own unique features and characteristics. Tolkien’s fascination with languages is well known, and his creation of the elven languages is a testament to his linguistic expertise.

The elven languages are integral to the stories and mythology of Middle-Earth, providing a sense of depth and realism to the world Tolkien created. They are also used to express the elves’ wisdom, beauty, and immortality, and to convey their close relationship with the natural world.

The use of elven languages in Tolkien’s works has also had a significant impact on popular culture. Many fans of the books and movies have been inspired to learn Sindarin or Quenya, and there are now online communities dedicated to studying and speaking these languages.

These languages add depth and realism to the world of Middle-Earth, and provide a fascinating insight into the culture and mythology of the elves. Whether you are a fan of Tolkien’s works or simply fascinated by the beauty and complexity of language, the elven languages of Middle-Earth are a rich and rewarding subject to explore.

Tis the season to spot elves. But what exactly are we looking for.

Expert naturalist John Wright gives his absolutely factual and not-at-all invented species guide to elves. Find out about their habitat, diet, language, population size and role in popular folklore.

Elves are hominims, probably a population that split away from Homo sapiens about 500,000 years ago. Perhaps because elves are so elusive and rarely observed for long, early descriptions of elves vary considerably.

Nevertheless, a characterisation of them has developed over time. They are small (zwerg, the German name for dwarf, began life as a synonym for alf, the Norse word for elf), stealthy, magical, beautiful and ambivalent in their relationships with humans (the word ‘elf’ means ‘evil spirit’ in Low German).

The habitat of the elf is woodland and the wilder corners of the countryside. Find them in those secret places, such as dark woods, near large crevices in rocks and alongside streams with overhanging trees – anywhere far from or hidden from humans.

They are known to live in hollow trees, often digging downwards to form comfortable quarters, or in disused badger setts. Both Wistman’s Wood and the New Forest are famous for their mosses (visually, Wistman’s Wood is entirely moss.

In summer, they will hide and sleep under a blanket of moss. However, perhaps elves are becoming braver in their habits, almost recklessly so, with credible reports of the ‘urban elf’, perhaps migrating via overgrown railway embankments.

They are particularly fond of the bright red fly agaric – to identify this elf delicacy, check out our guide to UK mushrooms. The essence of elf-watching is to keep still for as long as possible and place yourself downwind.

Elves first feature in medieval Germanic mythology, as supernatural humanoid beings with an ambivalent attitude to humans. Sometimes helpful, they are also known for stealing milk, tools and, on occasion, children.

This idea may have originated from the frequent discovery of small Stone Age arrowheads – people thought that belonged to elves. In Iceland, where about half the population still believe in the existence of the ‘huldufolk’ (hidden people), cultural sites such as Alfholl (Elf Hill) are protected from development, to avoid the displeasure of the little folk.

That they were known much earlier is testified in names. Old English Ælfwine (elf-friend), Ælfrēd (elf-advised) and ‘Elgar’ (originally Ælfgar, ‘elf-spear’) make the point well.

Elvendon in Oxfordshire (the hill of the elves), the Alden Valley (valley of the elves) and Eldon Hill all testify to the existence of elves and, indeed, their preferred habitat types. Elves have always captured popular imagination and regularly appear in art and literature.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595), William Shakespeare describes the “elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves” as fairy-like creatures, winged and dainty, no taller than a cowslip, able to curl up in acorn cups to hide. The powerful elves of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954), however, are depicted as over six-feet tall, beautiful, telepathic and near-immortal.

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld elves (1992) are nasty creatures, incapable of emotion and prone to hurting humans, while the elves in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series (from 1997) are a down-trodden, domesticated lot, enslaved by wizarding families to undertake the housework. Freedom is granted only by a gift of clothes (and some even resent the gesture).

Labouring in the North Pole workshop and delivering presents on Christmas Eve, these industrious workers are usually garbed in green and red, sporting a jaunty hat. This is hardly ideal camouflage against the snow, so they should be easier to spot.

The one thing they seemingly have in common is pointy ears. So if in doubt, look to the lugs.

Reports of overheard conversations between elves are frequent in the historical record, and a recent incident in Iceland suggests that they are able to converse with humans. It was, it seems, the urgent matter of a road that was due to be built over elfin territory that prompted this atypical behaviour.

The population of elves in Britain has inevitably proved impossible to measure, with the general estimate being around 5,000 – approximately that of the pine marten and better than that of the Scottish wild cat, with only 400 or so. A genetic bottleneck (a lack of genetic diversity, caused by a previous rapid reduction in population) has been blamed for the poor reproductive success of elves.

Prospects for the elf may be improving, though. Efforts in Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe to rewild and plant more woodland will certainly help the beleaguered creature.

Just keep looking in those wild, wild places.. Title illustration by Lynn Hatzius.

Elves are one of the most intriguing aspects of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings novels, bringing an aura of mysticism and enchantment to Middle-earth which, during the period Tolkien focuses on, is engulfed in war and division.

RELATED: Lord Of The Rings 10 Characters From The Books The Movies Leaves Out. In Peter Jackson’s films, elves are depicted as aloof isolationists who are unconcerned with the state of Middle-earth, and while lovely to look at, are cold and calculating overlords.

In Peter Jackson’s films, most of the elves of Middle-earth are reserved and detached. Only Galadriel approaches the level of “compassion and kindness” that Tolkien discusses when referring to the elves, and even she has her moments of darkness.

True, his character suffered many tragedies, and his cynicism with the race of men has become palpable, but that’s what made his enduring kindness in Tolkien’s books all the more admirable.

and doesn’t stay to assist in the fight. In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson makes it seem as though the elves didn’t care to help men, dwarves, and halflings in the defense of Middle-earth because they despise them, when in actuality the elves have their own battles to fight against Sauron.

Armies from Dol Guldur swept over Lothlórien and Mirkwood, and the elves there had to rally their forces against them, as well as tear down the fortress at Amon-Lanc. They often were too busy with their own defenses to spare any men to help the others.

Legolas never seems to run out of arrows, because whenever her fires a shot another magically appears. This isn’t explained in the Lord of the Rings films, but fans of Tolkien’s novels liken it to “elven technology.” When Legolas shoots an arrow, it’s as though another arrow is teleported from Valinor, making his quiver appear bottomless.

Still, there are numerous occasions, such as the opening of the battle with Sauron, or during the Battle of Helm’s Deep, when elves are shown to lack any precision in battle — they swing their glaives only to completely miss their targets. The scenes should be edited better so that the elves don’t come off as clumsy, which directly contradicts their graceful and efficient comportment.

RELATED: 10 Elves From Lord Of The Rings That Are Cooler Than Legolas. His feat is never mentioned in the film, but Tolkien’s books explain that he’s able to accomplish the task because Elves are light of foot.

A large theme of Tolkien’s books was that the race of elves were leaving Middle-earth to the races of men, dwarves, halflings and others to bear their own burdens. Unlike in ages past, when elves had kept the forces of darkness at bay, they were not going to be the wise protectors anymore.

In the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, elves are notable for holding grudges. Lord Elrond and King Thranduil both hold grudges against the race of men and dwarves — who built Woodland Realm’s great halls.

In Tolkien’s works, elves are meant to place the well-being of others before themselves. They are meant to be kind, compassionate, and not to hold grudges against others because that is a sign of avarice and greed, which are traits found in men and dwarves.

While they’re known for their craftsmanship, hospitality, and beauty, their inherent ethereal nature shouldn’t make them better than dwarves, men, or halflings. While it’s true that elves were the Firstborn and created by Ilúvatar, and that may contribute to viewing the dwarves as lesser beings because they weren’t directly created by him, they would never tell a dwarf that to their face.

If they weren’t slain in battle or brought down by some disease, they would wait until it was their time to sail into the Undying Lands. With that in mind, why is it that Middle-earth isn’t overpopulated with elves.

Elves should constitute the largest cultural group, even with the prominent life span of dwarves and Númenóreans. Given that most elves take on a partner and mate for life, elven couples should have been able to sire dozens of generations of offspring.

Owing to their longevity, the Elves had a very different Life cycle than Men. Most of the following information strictly refers only to the Eldar—but much could probably be applied to the Avari as well.

Elves are born about one year after their begetting.

:209-10 In their twenties, they might still appear physically seven years old, though the Elf-child would have mature language and skill, :228 whereas Men at the same age are already physically mature. :210.

:210. Elves marry for love, or at least with free will from both parties, typically early in life.

:229 By their very nature, they are “seldom swayed by the desires of the body” or influenced by lust. :211 They marry only once for it was ruled by Manwë that, “‘since the Elves are by nature permanent in life within Arda, so also is their unmarred marriage.'” :225 Finwë, the King of the Noldor, was an exception.

This was pronounced by Námo as the ‘Statute of Finwë and Míriel’. :226.

The betrothal is subject to parental approval from both houses unless the parties are of age and intend to marry soon. At which point, the betrothal is announced at a meeting of the two houses, during which the couple exchange silver rings.

A betrothal is revocable by a public return of the rings, which will then be molten, but revocation was rarely needed because “the Eldar do not err lightly” in the choice of their partner. :211 After their formal betrothal, the couple appoints a time for the wedding when at least a year has passed.

Marriage is celebrated at a feast of the two houses. The spouses return their betrothal rings, which they keep, and receive “slender rings of gold” which are worn upon “the index of the right hand.” :211 In Noldor tradition, the bride’s mother gives the groom a jewel to be worn and the bridegroom’s father gives a similar gift to the bride.

While it was considered “ungracious and contemptuous of kin”, in days of peace, “to forgo the ceremonies,” it was completely lawful for a couple to be married without them. :212 The indissoluble union was completed solely by the “act of bodily union” which achieved marriage.

The Elves view the sexual act as extremely special for “the union of love is indeed to them great delight and joy.” :213 Extra-marital sex would be against their nature because they can “read at once in the eyes and voice of another whether they be wed or unwed”. they would release their own spirit to Mandos before succumbing to rape, and premarital sex would create marriage which makes the term itself a misnomer.

:Note 5 :169. Spouses can sometimes live separately for extended periods of time.

:213 However, a sundering during pregnancy or during the early years of parenthood, such as by war, would be so grievous to the couple, and hurtful to the child, that they prefer to have children in peaceful times. :221.

Fëanor and Nerdanel, who had seven sons, were a notable exception. :Note 4 Whenever the Eldar married, whether in youth or in later life, their children were produced within a relatively short time after their wedding.

:212 After their time of children, the desire to procreate soon ceases. They turn their powers of body and mind to other tasks and arts.

:213. There are examples that appear to contradict this ideal.

As a result, Aredhel left Eöl without his knowing, and took their son, Maeglin, with her back to Gondolin. The end result was that Eöl sought revenge upon his own family, and while seeking to slay his rebellious son, slew his wife accidentally.

Nerdanel did not wish to be parted from all her children nor did she wish to follow her husband against the Valar’s wishes. Fëanor’s harsh response was that, if she would not follow him, she was an untrue wife for deserting both her husband and her children.

Celegorm’s pursuit of Lúthien and Maeglin’s attraction to Idril are cases of elves who sought disinterested partners. The desire for these unwilling wives was mixed with a desire for power.

:211 Indis loved Finwë with secret admiration but remained contently unwed because he was married. :238 Turgon, Idril’s father, denied Maeglin’s suit for Idril’s hand because he believed that Maeglin sought power more than the love of his daughter.

However, Huan and Beren defended Lúthien, against the attempted bride-stealing by Celegorm and the later attack by Curufin.

Males and females have equal skill in all things, not concerned with the bringing forth of children. however, the females often specialize in the arts of healing while the men go to war.

Women who hunted would not specialize in healing, and men who healed would refrain from hunting and only fight when absolutely necessary, for “the virtue.

in this matter [of healing] was due.

to their abstaining from hunting or war.” :213-4. Eventually, if they did not die in battle or from some other cause, Elves, such as Noldor and Teleri, of Middle-earth grew weary and desired to go to Valinor, where the Valar sheltered their kind.

Those who wished to leave for the Undying Lands went by ships provided at the Grey Havens, where Círdan the Shipwright dwelt with his folk. Those, of any Elven people, who did not perish through bodily death or depart from Middle-earth across the sea would eventually fade.

In this state, “they were open to the direct instruction and command of the Valar” and as soon as they were disembodied in this way they would be summoned to the ‘Halls of Waiting’ in Aman. :219.

Elves had no beards, at least until their “third cycle of life”, like Círdan. Mahtan was an exception, and had a beard in his early “second cycle”.

While the three cycles are not specifically defined, the first cycle is likely childhood and adolescence, which ended at the 100th year, the second is adulthood which could continue for Ages, and the third is for extremely old Elves. Círdan was the most ancient known Elf in Middle-earth.

When Lúthien wilfully released her spirit to follow Beren, her father saw her die, and “a winter, as it were the hoar age of mortal Men, fell upon Thingol.”. Apparently, beards, though rare, were the only sign of further natural physical ageing beyond maturity.

Elves did not physically age after they reached maturity, but they did age in a different sense than Men. They became ever more weary of the world and burdened by its sorrows.

this may be due to all the sorrows he had seen and lived through since the First Age. He had been one of the Teleri on the Great Journey who tarried on the shores of Middle-ear.