Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Is there more than a single type of Elf in the saga, or are they a single species? While the answers provided in this negative elf question were informative, they did not answer my question.
There are three more kinds of Elves described in The Hobbit , in addition to the Wood-elves emphasis mine :. The feasting people were Wood-elves, of course. These are not wicked folk. If they have a fault it is distrust of strangers. Though their magic was strong, even in those days they were wary.
They differed from the High Elves of the West, and were more dangerous and less wise. For most of them together with their scattered relations in the hills and mountains were descended from the ancient tribes that never went to Faerie in the West. There the Light-elves and the Deep-elves and the Sea-elves went and lived for ages, and grew fairer and wiser and more learned, and invented their magic and their cunning craft, in the making of beautiful and marvellous things, before some came back into the Wide World.
Although there are many subdivisions among the Elves, they're based on history and geography rather than biology. But those are only the Elves who went to Aman; there are many more groups who didn't, of which the Wood-elves are one tribe:. The Avari Dark-elves 2 The first sundering of the Elves occurred after they were invited to Aman; the ones who were unwilling to leave Middle-earth became known as the avari , meaning "unwilling" emphasis mine :.
Then befell the first sundering of the Elves. But many refused the summons, preferring the starlight and the wide spaces of Middle-earth to the rumour of the Trees; and these are the Avari, the Unwilling , and they were sundered in that time from the Eldar, and met never again until many ages were past.
The Nandor Of those Elves who chose to go to Aman who, collectively, are called the Eldar , some of them stopped at the Misty Mountains in YT and went no further; these are the Nandor emphasis mine :. This river, it is said, was even the river which was after called Anduin the Great, and was ever the frontier of the west-lands of Middle-earth.
He forsook the westward march, and led away a numerous people, southwards down the great river, and they passed out of the knowledge of their kin until long years were past. Those were the Nandor ; and they became a people apart, unlike their kin, save that they loved water, and dwelt most beside falls and running streams.
Greater knowledge they had of living things, tree and herb, bird and beast, than all other Elves. But we don't usually talk about the Nandor; usually we talk about one of the two groups they later divided into:.
These names were however later replaced among the Sindar by the 'Green-elves', at least as far as the inhabitants of Ossiriand were concerned, for they withdrew themselves and took as little part in the strife with Morgoth as they could. This name, [singular] Laegel , [plural] Laegil , class-plural Laegrim or Laegel d rim , was given both because of the greeness of the land of Lindon, and because the Laegrim clothed themselves in green as an aid to secrecy.
This term the Noldor translated into Quenya Laiquendi ; but it was not much used. The Silvan Elves Tawarwaith were in origin Teleri, and so remoter kin of the Sindar, though even longer separated from them than the Teleri of Valinor. They were descended from those of the Teleri who, on the Great Journey, were daunted by the Misty Mountains and lingered in the Vale of Anduin, and so never reached Beleriand or the Sea.
They were thus closer akin to the Nandor otherwise called the Green-elves of Ossiriand, who eventually crossed the mountains and came at last into Beleriand. The name meant 'the Grey', or 'the Grey-elves'. Although these splits occurred a rather long time ago, in human terms, with Elvish reproduction there hasn't been enough time for significant evolution; the longest chain of ancestry I can find is Arwen's, which connects us to YT in only six generations 3 , not enough time to speciate.
They are all a single "species", in the sense that they were all created at the same time and are the same kind of being. Over time, they've split off into various communities, depending on where they lived, who they chose to rule over them, etc. The entire family tree of the Elves is rather complex:.
The three "clans" of Elves that eventually came to Middle-earth were the Vanyar, the Noldor, and the Teleri, though the Vanyar had largely left long before the time of the novels. The Elves of Rivendell Elrond and his clan were of Noldor descent, while the ones in Lothlorien the "wood elves" were primarily Telerin.
The only trace of the Vanyar we see as far as I can recall is that Galadriel was descended from one of the leaders of the Vanyar. Since they tended to live in isolation, the different "clans" of Elves developed their own behaviors and tendencies.
For example, the "wood elves" of Mirkwood like Legolas and his father were descended from the same ancestors as the elves of Lothlorien, but they behaves very differently. Maybe "breed" comes near the mark. Many agreed, and became Eldar, the High Elves; the others who refused were called Avari, unwilling.
Still, most of the Elves on this list were heroic, and not just in the traditional sense. These Elves exhibited power in a myriad of ways. Yes, some took on big-bads and defeated Balrogs, but others made costly, personal sacrifices or tore down millennia-old barriers — all of which are acts that require great power. So, this list will be ranking the Elves based on all types of power, not just physical and magical.
The acronym was created when, upon rewatching The Fellowship of the Ring , a fan noticed that after Frodo makes the heroic and selfless choice of offering to take the Ring to Mordor Figwit is last on this list because he has relatively no power.
For example, when he tries to urge Arwen to press forward towards the Grey Havens, Arwen barely acknowledges his presence and rides past him. In order to give her a more significant role in the narrative, the writing team decided to have her help Frodo escape the Ringwraiths. It would have been easy for her to choose to sail to Valinor with the rest of the Elves and bury her love for Aragorn.
It was braver to stay behind while most of her people left Middle-earth. Yes, she chooses to stay behind for love, but taking that kind of risk shows tremendous courage. Why is Thranduil so low on this list? After all, he is King of Mirkwood, he rides a majestic elk into battle, and he has perfectly frosted eyebrows.
While these are all admirable qualities, Thranduil is presented as a flawed father and ruler in The Hobbit. Under his rule, Mirkwood practices isolationism. While it would be easy to dismiss Thranduil and call him a selfish individual, he suffered many losses that may have contributed to his increasingly isolationist ways. Along with his father and many of his people, Thranduil fought against Sauron during the War of the Last Alliance.
He lost his father and a third of his people during that war, which understandably, fed his fear of conflict. Celebrimbor was an Elf who gained great renown as an expert craftsman and jewel-smith. See this post for an explanation of the characteristics of and differences between the various groups. There are various different kinds of elves.
Many of the groups do have cultural differences, but some are separated only by history, while others have been fundamentally different from the beginning. When the elves first woke up they were already separated into three different tribes: the Vanyar, the Noldor, and the Teleri.
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