by Kyle Raney
Pillars of Argonath
Now, though we have been around for awhile, the world is yet young. The world we have thus inhabited is named "Middle Earth." I and the rest of the Elves have grown to love Middle-Earth, but just recently something very interesting appeared and gave us reason to consider leaving our homes. There was a hunter whose name was Orome, and he was powerful and wise beyond anything an elf had ever seen. He told us of a great evil brewing in Middle-Earth, and then offered to give us passage to a great land, safe from the evils of Middle-Earth, a land he called Valinor.
There were three ambassadors chosen from all the elves to travel with Orome and evaluate this new land of Valinor. The three - Ingwe, Finwe, and Elwe - were filled with awe and wonder when they saw Valinor, and after their return urged the rest of the elves to make ready a great westward journey. It was to be a long journey across a great expanse of land a farther still across the sea Belegaer.
The first to leave Middle-Earth and travel to Valinor were the followers of Ingwe. This was the smallest group of the three. Next came Finwe's followers and lastly those who followed Elwe and his brother Olwe. Orome named the three groups of elves that came with him the Eldar, or "Elves of the Great Journey." Those that stayed behind in Middle-Earth, and still reside there to this day, were named Avari, or "Unwilling." A name was given to the three groups of Eldar. To the followers of Ingwe, "Vanyar" meaning "Light Elves." Coincidentally, Summer, who brought warmth and drove winter away, was the great-great-Grandmother of Ingwe. To the followers of Finwe, "Noldor" which means "Deep Elves". To Elwe's and Finwe's group was given the name "Teleri" meaning "The Third Clan." I am a member of the Noldor clan, but here follows an interesting story of the Teleri.
The Teleri contained the largest host of Elves, and many were doubtful and some even unwilling to make the final leg of the journey to Valinor. This being the case, many deserted the group along the journey across the expanse of Middle-Earth. One elf named Lenwe took a group with him down the River Anduin to live in the forest. These elves became known as the Nandor, and from this clan sprang the cities of Lorien and the hosts of the Elves of Mirkwood. The most famous of the Elves of Mirkwood is Legolas, and his children still live in the woods of the world today.
Still more of the Teleri wished to remain in Middle-Earth when the sea of Belegaer was reached. Some claimed they wished to remain to search for their leader Elwe, who had been lost along the journey. In any event, these elves became known as the Falathrim, and are the sea elves that many sailors say they have encountered on their journeys.
For those of the Eldar that wished to come to Valinor, Orome made a great land mass in the ocean which carried us all to Valinor. Once arrived we were speechless. We learned that Orome was a member of the Valar, or lords of Arda. We learned that Arda was the universe in which Middle-Earth and Valinor dwealt. They were the wisest of all beings and taught us very much. The Vanyar became the wisest and highest of all Elves, and the Noldor became the masters of craft and lore. The land of Valinor is such a wondrous and beautiful place that it has become blessed dwelling of the Elves, in which no man may ever journey. This is the reason that there are so few elves left in places in which men may come in contact with them.
After hearing about the exodus of elves, one may fear that contact between men and elves was extinguished. But do not fear, for there came a time when a host of the Noldor left Valinor and returned to Middle-Earth to aid men in a struggle against evil. I, Elthindur, was one of these elves. But that is another story for another time, which perhaps I may relay later...
Author's Note: This is J.R.R. Tolkien's version of how the elves left Middle-Earth originally. The Elves were born in Middle-Earth and then transported as I detailed to the realm of the Valar called Valinor. But in order to go along with my frametale I decided to have the elves already on earth. Arda is actually what we would call Earth, and Ea is what we would call our solar system. In Tolkien's version, Valinor and Middle-Earth are simply continents of Arda. But I decided to make Middle-Earth the "Earth" and Valinor a kind of other worldly realm. I included this story because the history of Tolkien's Elves is extremely fascinating to me. I find it remarkable that after publishing the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Tolkien's son, Christopher, decided to publish the entire history of his father'sfantasy world. The websight I used to find all of this information gets much of its knowledge from his book The Silmarillion, which is actually put together by his son Christopher. In the book, it details from beginning to end the history and happenings of Tolkien's fantasy world.
Bibliography:
The Encyclopedia of Arda website
weblink: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm?http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/e/elves.html