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The Wild, Wild, Wood-elf West - Page 2

© Michael Martinez

The three groups, or clans, originally called themselves "Minyar" (firsts), "Tatyar" (seconds), and "Nelyar" (thirds). But the Nelyar were great singers, so they also called themselves Lindar (singers). The Minyar all decided to follow their chieftain Ingwe to Valinor, and they became the Vanyar (so named by the Noldor, who referred to the color and beauty of the Minyar/Vanyar's hair). The Tatyar who followed Finwe became known as the Noldor (the Wise, or perhaps better, the Learned Ones). And the Nelyar who undertook the Great Journey became the Teleri, because they were the hindmost group (and the name means "those at the end of the line"). Half the Tatyar became Eldar and half remained as Avari, but most of the Nelyar chose to become Eldar. Barely more than a third of the Nelyar remained in Cuivienen, and they were approximately equal in number to the Tatyar. What happened to the Eldar is well-documented history. Most of them made it to Aman, but a few of the Teleri abandoned the Great Journey when they reached the Anduin river and became the Nandor, "those who turn aside". Some more of the Teleri were left behind in Beleriand, and they became the Sindar. Fewer than half the Teleri actually made it to Aman to become the Falmari. Confused? It gets worse. The Sindar were divided into two groups. Call them Thingol's people and Cirdan's people. Cirdan's people lived along the coasts, and they spread northward into Nevrast. Thingol's people lived in the woods -- yup, they were Wood-elves, but not the Wood-elves. Some of these Elves wandered into the north and spread west toward the coastlands where Cirdan's people lived. The Nandor spread southward along the Anduin, and many of them appear to have crossed the river at the Undeeps (that place where Anduin twists and winds on the northeast corner of Rohan). From there some of them turned north and settled in the forest that later became Lothlorien. Other Nandor spread through the pass of Calenardhon (later known as Rohan) and entered Eriador. And some of the Nandor spread south along the western shore of Anduin (and possibly on the eastern shore). Some of them eventually made it to the sea, apparently. How many of the Teleri became Nandor? We don't know. Tolkien actually wrote down some numbers for the various Elven groups, to show their proportions. Based on the original 144 Elves, 14 became Minyar (Vanyar), 56 became Tatyar, and 74 became Nelyar. Now, some generations passed between the awakening of the Elves and the Separation. We don't know how many generations there were, nor how many Elves vanished in the intervening years. But the proportions remained approximately the same. So Tolkien shows that 28 of 56 Tatyar became Noldor, 46 of 74 Nelyar became Teleri, and of those 20 made it to Aman and 26 became Sindar and Nandor.

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