Concerned that Melkor
would harm the newly awakened elves, the Valar
called them to come to Valinor. Three elves, Ingwe, Finwe,
and Elwe,
came with the Vala Orome
to see Valinor and returned to lead their people back there. This
journey is the major cause for the different types of elves.
The elves who refused to come are called the Avari
("refusers").
Ingwe
led the blond Vanyar, the smallest group, to Valinor where they
remained faithful to the Valar.
Finwe led the second largest, the dark-haired
Noldor, to Valinor where they
remained until a large number followed Feanor to Middle-earth, but over
time sailed back to Valinor.
The last and largest group, the Teleri, were
led by Elwe aided by his brother Olwe and possibly another brother,
Elmo,
but broke up along the route. The ones who finally made it were
called the Teleri for their lateness. The ones who made it to the shore
but missed the island boat are called the Sindar. The others, Silvans,
never made it to the shore as they turned aside due to wanting to live
in beautiful spots they found along the way or did not want to cross
the obstacle of a huge mountain range. Quendi:
The Quendi, meaning "the speakers", originally
referred to all elves including the Avari in the High Elven language,
Quenya. Eru said in the Silmarillion,
Of the Beginning of Days, "But the Quendi
shall be the fairest of all earthly creatures, and they shall have and
shall conceive and bring forth more beauty than all my Children; and
they shall have the greater bliss in this world."
No Quendi possessed wings.
The word "Elves" has been used as a translation both
for "Quendi" and "Eldar".
Their fate is not of Men, for the Elves sail to
Valinor by ship, or die of grief or violence and return to Mandos of
Valinor and now no longer return to Middle-earth. They gave up their
dominion of Arda to Men. But Men, who in the Fourth Age gained
dominion of Arda, die and pass beyond Arda perhaps to Eru himself and
are not bound to the planet as are the Elves.
Elf groups were defined by how far they did or did
not travel towards Valinor when called there by the Valar. The Valar
wanted to keep them safe from Morgoth, who dwelt in Middle-earth. The
nearer to the Valar the Elves came, the greater they became.
Orcs:
The early Quendi were found by Orome, but had been
told
lies by Morgoth's servants that he would harm or kill them. A fake
horseman seemed to confirm these tales. Those Elves who
were too fearful or lacked curiosity enough to overcome their fear ran,
and were captured by Morgoth's servants. Those lesser Elves were
enslaved and degraded into Orcs. These Orcs then reproduced as did any
other beings of Arda, and their young were also Orcs. They have no
light left in them.
Thus, Elves were
culled early on for the most valiant and most curious.
Calaquendi /
Eldar / Light
Elves:
The Eldar was the name for the Three Kindreds that
tried to reach Valinor, the Undying Realm. The Three Kindreds were the Vanyar,
Noldor (Gnomes in early
versions), and Teleri.
Those who made it to Valinor were all called Calaquendi, Eldar, High Elves, Light
Elves, and Elves of the Light.
Those who did not make it to Valinor for whatever
reason were called Moriquendi.
The Vanyar were the smallest group of Calaquendi,
first to
arrive in Valinor, and did not leave unless with the Ainur in battle.
The Vanyar were blond, and that trait passed by marriage
into the Noldorin house of Finarfin. They at first lived in the city of
Valmar with
the Noldor, but continued on to the feet of Mount Taniquetil where
Manwe and Varda lived, and became the greatest of the Elves.
The Noldor were the second-largest group, second
to arrive in Valinor. They were the crafters. The Noldor were mostly
dark-haired, generally black-haired with grey eyes. The House of
Finarfin included golden-haired elves, from mixing with Vanyar.
The Elves in Middle-earth were "a race high and
beautiful, the older Children of the world, and among them the Eldar
[referring to the Noldor Eldar]
were as kings, who now are gone: the People of the Great Journey, the
People of the Stars. They were tall, fair of skin and grey-eyed, though
their locks were dark, save in the golden house of Finarfin; and their
voices had more melodies than any mortal voice now is heard." Noldorin Exiles:
The Noldor who returned to Middle-earth from Valinor
were called the Exiles. The Sindar still in Middle-earth did not trust
them, for the Exiles slew many of their Teleri kin to steal their
swanships for the return to Middle-earth, then burned the ships they
took.
The Teleri were the largest group, last to arrive
in Valinor, having left a part of their people behind. Teleri,
"Last-comers, hindmost", was the name the other elves gave them for
being last. They called themselves the Lindar,
"Singers", as that was their special gift. They loved the sea and
remained on the shore of Valinor, where they built the great swanships.
Glorfindel in the Lord of the Rings was
originally intended to be a blond Sinda lord, but once JRRT
remembered Glorfindel of Gondolin, he tried to make them the same elf.
This caused many problems, including why he returned to life in
Middle-earth when others did not, and how his Noldorized Glorfindel
could be a blond Noldo but not in a line of kings, as he should have
come through Finarfin's blood-line.
Twilight Elves: Sindar. Although lumped with
the Moriquendi, they
are between light and dark.
Moriquendi
/
Dark Elves:
Those who never came near the light of Valinor, or
whose parents never came near it, were
called "Dark Elves". It did not mean they were evil. They did not have
the benefits of living with the Valar as did the Light Elves.
The Sindar had the benefits
of association with the Maiar
(including one known marriage) and visits by Valar and so were known as
the
Twilight Elves.
Those who refused to come at all were called the
Avari. Those who came part way but turned aside at
the Misty Mountains
were called Nandor. Those Nandor who later
continued on to the eastern
forests of Beleriand were called Laiquendi. Eol
was known as the Dark Elf. He was an elven smith
living
alone, deep in the forest, trading with dwarves, and who made two black
blades from meteoric iron. His semi-forced
marriage to Aredhel
helped cause the downfall of Gondolin,
last great
stronghold of the elves.
Sindar / Edhel /
Elves of the Twilight:
The Sindar were the Teleri who tried to reach
Valinor but were left behind at the shore as they waited to search for
their missing
king, Thingol,
who had been stopped by the Maia, Melian.
Thingol had
been to Valinor before, and was therefore one of the Eldar, or Light
Elves. After Thingol and Melian married, the Sindar had the pair as two
constant lesser lights. They also had the company and teaching of Maiar
who came to them at the
shore, and may have seen the Vala, Ulmo.
Thus the Sindar were called
Grey-elves and Elves of the Twilight.
The Sindar called themselves Edhil, plural Edhel.
Edhel meant simply "Elves" in
Sindarin.
The Noldor Exiles, meeting the Edhel, called them
the Sindar, meaning "Grey-elves". This had multiple references. One was
that they were not light elves/Eldar from going to the light of
Valinor, but neither were they dark elves like the Avari who had not
tried to reach Valinor, or had not had any contact with the beings of
light (Ainur). They also referred to their Light Elf king, king of all
Elves in Middle-earth, as Thingol, meaning Grey-cloak. His
name had a double meaning, referring to the cloak he wore, and to his
silver hair. The Noldor also named them after the place they were first
seen, in Hithlim in the north, a place named after its grey mists.
Some Sindar are described with silver hair:
King Thingol's turned silver
from contact with Melian. Lord Celeborn had silver hair, grandson of
Elmo who was the youngest brother of Thingol.
Some Sindar are described with blond hair:
King Thranduil, Prince Amroth.
A young unknown elf in Lothlorien not told to be
Silvan or Sindarin, is blond.
Silvans:
Quite a few Elves who started on the journey
stopped and settled in the forests at various points on the way,
daunted by some obstacle that
others overcame or enamoured of places they found on the journey. They
did not make it to the Misty Mountains. These
were later called Silvans.
They were probably mostly Teleri, since that was the
largest group, with a sprinkling of others that blended into one group.
A blend of dark and light-haired people could have
come out with mostly
brown hair, but no mention is made of this, so it is speculation by
this author.
A number of Silvans saw the advantages they had
missed, and tried to gain them at least partially by taking Sindarin
lords to teach and protect them. Nandor and Laiquendi were sub-groups of the Silvans.
Nandor:
The Nandor were, like the Sindar, Teleri who did not
finish the journey to Valinor, but for a different reason. Nandor meant
"those who turn back". They were afraid to cross the Misty Mountains on
their Westward journey. Instead, many
settled in the area and south of it.
Laiquendi /
Green Elves:
A part of the Nandor, led by Denethor, long
afterwards crossed the Blue Mountains and settled in Ossiriand, where
they were called the Laiquendi, the "Green-elves". They preferred to
live
in the trees and fought in guerrilla fashion, rather than in armies.
Avari:
Those who refused to even begin the trip to Valinor
were called the
Avari, the "Refusers". They are shown as a branch separate from the
Teleri, to which the rest of the Moriquendi belonged.
References: Silmarillion
and its Indices Silmarillion
Table: "The Sundering of the Elves" Return of
the King Appendix F II "On Translation" Elves top Elves