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Elves By the Numbers - Page 4

© Michael Martinez

Finwe was clearly of a generation older than Miriel's, since she was born in Valinor. But since Miriel was Finwe's first wife, she and he could not be Tatie and Tata, the second couple of Elves to awaken. So, we have pretty much confirmed that none of the three Eldarin kings were First Elves. Beyond that, we have little to work with. Ingwe and Finwe might very well be second generation Elves. Neither need be far removed from his ancestors for any dramatic purpose, and there is certainly no logical reason to suggest they were very young when they went to Valinor. In fact, they must have been considered mature enough to live on their own when Orome selected them to be ambassadors to the Valar. Elwe and Olwe, on the other hand, have their various relatives. The extended family of these two brothers implies they must be from at least the third generation of Elves. If we accept that both Cirdan and Eol are indeed relatives of Elwe and Olwe, and assume that they are first cousins to the brothers, there would have to be a generation of siblings to serve as their parents. Hence that generation of siblings could not (or should not, for some people argue that there could have been siblings among the larger groups of Elves) be First Elves. So, if we conclude that Elwe and Olwe come from at least the third generation and that Ingwe and Finwe come from at least the second generation, we must ask the obvious question: what became of the first generation? Why were these guys the leaders of the Eldar and not their parents? For one thing, it doesn't follow that Imin, Tata, and Enel were necessarily the ancestors of Ingwe, Finwe, and Elwe (and Olwe). But even if the four Eldarin kings came from these three primal families, need they have been the oldest sons of the oldest sons? The Silmarillion, despite its confusing textual history, was still mostly written by J.R.R. Tolkien, and the early chapter "Of the Coming of the Elves" is pretty much "canonical". Hence, we can see from the text that Orome selected Ingwe, Finwe, and Elwe almost at random from among the dread-filled Elves. And yet, if we look at a slightly older text, "Annals of Aman", we can see that in a previous version of the story only these three (of the leaders of the Elves) were willing to go with Orome to Valinor. In this older tale the other chieftains are Morwe and Nurwe, and they appear to lead their own two kindreds. So one must concede it is not entirely clear that in the later conception Ingwe, Finwe, and Elwe had rivals for leadership among their peoples.

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