Elenwë was an elf of the Minyar who woke upon the shores of Cuiviénen. Upon first seeing her soul-sibling, Elenwë’s sister Calima perceived him as a nér, and for many cycles of the stars Elenwë let this aspect of his fëa lie unexamined. Thus it was that he acted as Calima’s brother throughout the Great Journey to Aman, always at a slight remove from himself, unknowing what it was that left his spirit unquiet.
While the Quendi yet dwelt upon the starlit shores, Calima fell in love with the Nelyarin elf Terenwë. He was a wandering soul from the moment of his Awakening, preferring his own company and that of the forest to those of his fellow elves. But Calima was kind and good and fair, and Terenwë was moved by her love to wed her. Yet Terenwë and Elenwë disliked one another, competing for Calima’s affection and attention, and thus even in the earliest days of her marriage Calima was unhappy. They quarreled over the most trivial things, including the similarity of their names, and to appease them both Calima renamed her brother Elemmírë and her husband Terenlaimo, the star-jewel and the slender shadow.
Then came the Great Hunter Arômêz, and while all the Minyar loved him, Terenlaimo distrusted him. When it came time for Elemmírë and Calima to embark upon the Great Journey to Aman, Terenlaimo refused to accompany his wife, and in great sorrow Calima chose to follow the her kindred rather than her beloved. But before long Terenlaimo repented of his pride and hurried after his wife, reuniting with her just before the Minyar were to cross the Sundering Sea.
Calima was overjoyed to see her husband once more, and in their passion and gladness they conceived a child, though the little spark of fëa within her was not yet bright enough to detect when on the morrow Calima purposed to join the rest of the Minyar upon Tol Eressëa and embark upon the final voyage to Aman. At the prospect of leaving the starlit lands he loved forever, Terenlaimo balked once more, for in his heart he had proudly taken the moniker of the Avari, and had hoped his reappearance would sway Calima to remain with him: but alas, her mind was set, and the couple parted once more in great bitterness and sorrow. It was not until the Isle had begun its slow movement across the Sea that Calima realized she was with child, and her grief at her separation from her husband and her babe’s father grew only deeper. Soon whispers began to spread of Calima’s misfortune, and she earned the epessë Hóndil, shadow-lover, for the faithless husband she left behind.
Elemmírë was determined not to let his sister sink into her despair, and vowed to support Calima through every trial. In gratitude, Calima promised to name her child after her brother: and so it was that first of all the Eldar in Aman, Calima brought forth new life into Valinórë, and named her daughter Elenwë after Elemmírë’s first essë at Cuiviénen.
Calima, Elemmírë, and little Elenwë accompanied Alcariniel to the holy city of Valmar, settling into their new home as an unconventional family. Elemmírë entered the service of Varda Elentári, singing praises to the Queen of the Valar and becoming the greatest minstrel among the Vanyar. Calima raised Elenwë to be kind and wise, and though she never knew her father and had no ataressë, Elenwë was a joyful child and grew into a contented adult.
As the Eldar of Aman grew in number and in skill, Elemmírë won great renown for his musical talent, attracting even the attention of the Noldor. Findis, daughter of King Finwë and his Vanyarin bride Indis Vanima, befriended Elemmírë while visiting her grandmother Alcariniel upon Taniquetil, and when her nephew Makalaurë showed great musical talent in his youth she introduced him to Elemmírë in hopes of finding him a good tutor. Though Makalaurë’s father Fëanáro was at first reluctant to allow a Vanya teach his son, Makalaurë’s enthusiasm won him over, and he agreed upon the condition that Elemmírë move to Tirion to teach him.
Elemmírë nearly refused, unwilling to abandon Calima, but centuries had passed since Elenwë’s birth and Calima encouraged her brother to find his own life. Findis, who had been living among her mother’s people, offered to move back to the city of her birth so Elemmírë might have a companion, and in the end an arrangement was reached that suited everyone. Findis and Elemmírë removed to Tirion together, though they visited Valmar frequently and often took Makalaurë with them, where he met and was briefly infatuated with Elenwë.
As Elemmírë tutored young Makalaurë and became better acquainted with the House of Finwë, he began to realize there was a discordant chord within the Song of his fëa. At long last Elemmírë discovered that they were, in fact, a nís who had awoken in a hröa that Ilúvatar most commonly granted to néri, and she hesitantly shared this revelation with Findis her friend. Findis supported her wholeheartedly and urged her to seek the counsel of Varda to guide her next steps, and though the Queen of Stars did not fully understand the change in her servant’s heart, she accepted her nonetheless and allowed Elemmírë to transition from nér to nís. Calima was glad to at last know her sister for who she truly was, and remarked that she had chosen wisely in naming her daughter after Elemmírë, for “Elenwë” had always been the name of a nís, even when it had not been obvious.
Soon Elemmírë realized something else profound about her fëa: she was in love with her dearest friend. Though two níssi were not permitted by the laws of the Valar nor the customs of the Eldar to wed, the confusion around Elemmírë’s true identity allowed for a loophole wide enough for Findis and Elemmírë to join in marriage with the blessing of Manwë and Varda, and none spoke against their love.
Within only a matter of years, Elemmírë and Findis were blessed with a child: Laurefindil Alcarinquë, named like his mother for a shining star. Elenwë doted on her younger cousin, and through him grew close to the House of Finwë, where she met Turukáno Ñolofinwion, a princely young nér who in time would become her husband and Laurefindil’s liege.
When the Two Trees were killed and Valinórë fell into Darkness, Findis and Elemmírë clung to one another in their grief. To their great sorrow, Laurefindil and Elenwë both chose to depart with the Noldor into exile, but Findis remained in Aman with her mother and their Vanyarin kin. Elemmírë was especially distraught by the loss of the Trees, and wrote a haunting lament in their honor: the Aldudénië, most famous of all her songs.
Ingalaurë was an elf of the Minyar who woke upon the shores of Cuiviénen. They were the soul-sibling of Ingwë, and loved their brother dearly, as much as they adored their wife Alcariniel. Amid the Waters of Awakening, Alcariniel bore Ingalaurë a daughter, Indis Vanima, the first child among the Minyar: and she was beloved of all her kindred, especially her uncle Ingwë.
Upon the Great Journey toward Aman, Ingalaurë and Alcariniel lingered in the rear of the Host of the Minyar, traveling slowly for the sake of Indis who was yet young. Thus it was that Indis grew close in friendship with Míriel Þerindë, who walked among the fore of the Tatyar, and the two young níssi were seldom parted. But this lingering proved ill when Indis and her family were caught in a storm amid a forest and a great stroke of lightning felled a mighty tree. It would have crushed Indis had not Ingalaurë pushed her out of the way and into her mother’s arms—but though they saved their daughter, Ingalaurë perished, leaving Alcariniel and Indis alone.
When the word of his sibling’s death reached Ingwë, he gathered his niece and law-sister to him and kept them close by his side and that of Oromë the Hunter for the rest of the Journey. Oromë assured them all that Ingalaurë’s spirit dwelt now in the Halls of Mandos and would be released into a new hröa in time, and Alcariniel took comfort from this, all the more eager to reach their destination. Yet though Ingalaurë was taken into Mandos’ care, their reembodiment would not be swift, for Lord Námo little understood their fëa’s place outside the bounds of nís or nér and tried vainly for an Age and more to “heal” this hurt that was no hurt at all.
Weary of waiting for her spouse to be reborn, Alcariniel traveled to the foot of Taniquetil to take counsel with Varda Elentári. Though she received not the clear answers she desired, she grew close to her chosen Valië, and founded the holy city of Valmar in the mountain’s shadow. In time, more and more of the Minyar who were now the Vanyar joined her in Valmar, until Ingwë himself removed himself hither from Tirion upon Túna and took his place as the Ingweron, Chieftain of Chieftains and High King of all the Eldar. With him came Indis her daughter, parting at last from the side of her friend Míriel who had wed King Finwë of the Noldor, and for many years they dwelt together amid the bliss of Aman, though without Ingalaurë their family was not whole.
Not until the Second Age of the Sun did Ingalaurë and Námo Mandos come to an understanding together, and at last Ingalaurë was given leave to return as they were to the land of the living. The reunion between Ingalaurë and Alcariniel was great and joyous, and Indis their daughter was glad at their reunion, though her long-lost parent’s return underscored her own grief at her separation from her own deceased spouse.
Estelmë was an elf of the Minyar who woke upon the shores of Cuiviénen. She traveled with her kin from Endórë to Aman, and entered into the service of Manwë Súlimo in the holy city of Valmar. On the slopes Taniquetil, Estelmë met a servant of her lord’s wife, Fëarillo of the order of Varda, and the two fell deeply in love. Before long they were wed, and when they wished to start a family of their own, they left the service of their Valar and settled in a small home in the city.
Estelmë bore Fëarillo two children: a daughter, Amárië, and a son, Laurorno. Amárië was a dancer who traveled all over Valinórë entertaining wide-reaching audiences, while Laurorno was a gardener who entered the service of Yavanna Kementári. Amárië grew close to Findaráto Ingoldo, prince of the Noldor and the Falmari, and her parents expected the two to wed: but alas, they were yet unbetrothed upon the Darkening of Valinor, and amid the chaos Estelmë and Fëarillo forbade their daughter to flee with her beloved into Exile.
This Amárië did not in truth mind, for she had no desire to leave Aman, nor did she and Findaráto love one another as spouses might, though they were dear friends. She bade Findaráto farewell and remained in Valmar with her family, and when her friend Elenwë returned from the Halls of Mandos she helped her to adjust to life once more, and did the same for Findaráto when he returned.
Though Amárië removed from the house of her parents upon Elenwë’s rebirth, not until the reembodiment of Elenwë’s husband Turukáno did she announce any intent to marry, and when she did so her decision was a great shock to her family: flouting the Statue of Finwë and Míriel, Amárië took Elenwë as her wife under the sight of Ilúvatar, while Findaráto took both Amárië and Turukáno as his spouses, and all would live together in harmony under one roof. Though this was not the first such arrangement to be reached, it was the first to be openly declared in Aman, and when these happy bonds of marriage were woven together without disaster, the Valar—and Amárië’s parents—were forced to reconsider the strictures of marriage they had imposed so long ago.
Ingwion Antarion was the eldest son of High King Ingwë of the Vanyar and his wife Antarë, born in the bliss of Aman and elder brother to Teleptië, Arnalaurë, Ilion, and Altacallo. He was ever close to his father, and became a fair and wise prince among the Eldar. Shortly before the Darkening of Valinor, he wed his cousin Ilwen Eldacalië, the daughter of his mother’s brother Tinwë and the Telerin wife he had met in the Halls of Mandos.
When Darkness fell upon Aman, Ingwion and Ilwen’s plans to start a family were set aside until the chaos settled. Ingwë and his son worked tirelessly to bring hope to the Vanyar, and with the aid of the minstrel Elemmírë they created a festival of lanterns and song to usher in the Sun and Moon. Some centuries later, Ingwion at last felt free to settle down with his wife, and Ilwen bore him two daughters: Ingil Nielluin and Airiel Wailima.
Ingil was the elder by seventy years, and inspired by the stories of the Meren Calmalírë her father organized, she became a lampmaker and storyteller. In the Third Age, Ingil met and married Telimektar, a Maia of Tulkas and friend of her uncle Altacallo, and they lived their days in joy and peace.
Airiel married younger than her sister to Lirindo Úrion, the grandson of Olwë Lindaráto. From their union was born Meril Turinqi, a princess of both the Vanyar and the Falmari. Meril grew to be strong of will and wise in lore, and taking after her father’s people she settled upon the island of Tol Eressëa and was elected as its Queen by its eclectic population of ancient Falmari, returned Noldorin Exiles, and late-coming Teleri.
That the Exiles and late-comers were free to sail to Aman at all was in great part thanks to Meril’s grandfather. When Eärendil and Elwing brought desperate news of the perils of the Free-peoples of Beleriand, the Valar at last stirred the Amanyarin elves to action against Morgoth. Ingwë remained in Valmar as High King, but Ingwion was named the Captain of the Host of the Valar, serving alongside Arafinwë of the Noldor and Eönwë of the Maiar in the War of Wrath. It was he who freed the haven of Eglarest in the first battle of the war, driving the orcs from the shore, and throughout the conflict he proved a noble and capable commander, earning great renown for himself and his kin.
Upon Morgoth’s defeat, Ingwion returned to his family in Valmar, more grateful for the peace of Aman than ever before, and spoke in favor of lifting the enchantment of the Shadowy Isles to allow the war-wearied Beleriandrim the chance to find safety in Valinor. Moved by his account of the War of Wrath and his pity of its survivors, Manwë agreed, and thus the Exile of the Noldor and the Sundering of the Teleri began to be recompensed.
Ingwë was an elf of the Minyar who woke upon the shores of Cuiviénen. He was the soul-brother of Ingalaurë, whose wife Alcariniel bore Indis the Fair, and the siblings were much beloved of their kin. Yet none held Ingwë more dear than Antarë who would become his wife: yet they were not to wed beneath the stars.
When the Great Hunter Arômêz came to Cuiviénen and invited the Quendi to dwell with him and his kin in Valinórë, Ingwë was the first to volunteer as an ambassador for his people, one who would set forth to see the Light of Aman before the whole of the Quendi would agree to undertake such a journey. With him went Finwë of the Tatyar and Elwë of the Nelyar, and these three would become great kings and dear friends in time.
While Ingwë was gone, Tinwë the soul-brother of Antarë vanished, and all the Minyar mourned his loss. Though he was not the only nor the first elf to be taken by the Shadow, he alone of the Minyar suffered this awful fate, and thus upon Ingwë’s return bearing high praise of Valinórë and the Two Trees, all his kindred agreed to embark upon the Great Journey to Aman where they would be safe and free and see their lost loved ones rehoused in new hröar. Yet the Journey was not free from perils, and along the way Ingalaurë perished saving their daughter Indis from a fallen tree, and thus the shared grief of Ingwë and Antarë in losing their siblings brought them together once more.
So it was that twelve of the original fourteen Minyar and those children they had borne arrived in Aman, and became the Vanyar, most beautiful and beloved of the Valar. Ingwë settled upon the hill of Túna, and with his friend Finwë constructed the city of Tirion, while Alcariniel his law-sister went to the foot of Taniquetil in her grief at Ingalaurë’s death, communing with Varda Elentári and founding the holy city of Valmar. In time more and more of the Vanyar left for Valmar, and Ingwë their King took his leave of Finwë his friend, joining his kindred in their newfound home, where Manwë named him Ingweron, the Chieftain of Chieftains and the High King of all the Eldar.
Then at last Ingwë and Antarë were married under the Light of the Trees, and their union was great and glad. True to the promise of the Valar, Tinwë the brother of Antarë was reborn and present for his sister’s wedding day; but Ingalaurë the sibling of Ingwë remained in the Halls of Mandos for reasons unknown. Antarë and Ingwë begat many children in the bliss of Aman, the eldest bearing their own names: Ingwion Antarion, the son of his parents, who became a mighty prince among the Eldar, those Quendi who followed Oromë to Aman.
Four siblings had Ingwion: Teleptië of the Gardens, who entered the service of Vána the Ever-young; Arnalaurë who dreamed of their father’s sibling Ingalaurë and sought the counsel of Irmo Lórien and Estë Iscanindë to divine the meaning of their visions; Ilion the scholar, whose treatises on thought influenced even Curufinwë Fëanáro; and mighty Altacallo, closest to his brother Ingwion and a champion of Tulkas.
Continuing from my Men of Middle-earth edit series, under the umbrella of my Peoples of Arda edit series, this is a guide to the information presented in my Elves of Arda edit series. These appendices are meant to provide demystifying information about distinctions between canon and my headcanon, as well as providing an index of links to each edit.
I have linked to the Tolkien Gateway articles for each (named) canon character so you can do your own research on them. For OCs, I have linked to my personal tag for each OC.
My OC names are made with help from RealElvish.net and Parf Edhellen. If a canonical name is not given a translation, I try my best to make my own translation; sometimes I have to make things up entirely, but I will always indicate when that is the case. If I use another source to find names, I will link that source also.
Because of fandom events, I started this series off in the middle. Check out Appendix C for my Gondolin Week contributions, and stay tuned for the rest of the elves coming soon!
~~~
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Appendix A: Cuiviénenyarna, Vanyar, Misc. Noldor (you are here!)
Appendix B: House of Finwë (work in progress)
Appendix C: Gondolindrim, Nargothrondrim (work in progress)
Appendix D: Teleri, Avari (not yet posted)
~~~
CUIVIÉNENYARNA
~~~
Elf-fathers and Elf-mothers
ft. Imin, Iminyë, Tata, Tatië, Enel, Enelyë
The story of the Cuiviénenyarna is repeated here pretty much the same way it’s told in canon. I am aware that it’s apparently Cuiviényarna, “Story of Awakening” rather than “Story of the Waters of Awakening,” but...I like my version better, so suck it. There seems to be some in-universe doubt about whether or not this story is actually true, and personally I don’t think it is, so I present it here as a framing device for a fictionalized version of the Awakening, rather than truth verbatim.
~~~
VANYAR
~~~
Ingwë
ft. Ingwë, Ingalaurë (OC), Antarë (OC), Tinwë (OC), Ingwion Antarion, Teleptië (OC), Arnalaurë (OC), Ilion (OC; inspired by Ilion), Altacallo (OC)
Right of the bat, let’s make a few things clear: I came up with these headcanons before the release of NoMe, so while I’ve tweaked a few things here and there to fit in the new ideas from that book, I largely regard it as non-canonical. Thus, my OC for Ingwë’s wife is named Antarë, and she is not the semi-canonical figure of Ilwen! Nor is my Ingwë the son of Ilion, a descendant of Imin; I’ve already established that Imin does not actually exist, so I’ve moved Ilion down a generation to become one of Ingwë’s sons.
Since I ignore the buckwild, nonsensical calculations that give us “Tree Years” lasting 10x as long as Sun Years (not to mention the whole concept of a yén being 144 years...!), my timelines are much more condensed than those that take Tree Years into account. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to me that Ingwë, Finwë, Elwë, & co. could be Unbegotten: there’s only 50 years between the first elves Awakening and Melkor being thrown into Mandos for the first time, which is just enough time for elves to get a society going and start having kids and dealing with death and other unpleasant things, but certainly not enough time to get four or five generations after the original Wakers. tl;dr: My Ingwë is Unbegotten, and yes actually that makes perfect sense if you ignore Jirt’s terrible, terrible math.
Moving on! Canonically, Indis is the daughter of Ingwë’s sister. Here, I’ve messed with gender, making Ingwë’s sibling amab nonbinary instead, but still the parent of Indis. I named this character Ingalaurë in an attempt to reincorporate that name into Indis’ family tree, as it was considered as a mother name for both Finarfin and Finrod before Tolkien settled on “Ingoldo” instead. The reason Ingalaurë spends so long in Mandos is because Námo doesn’t understand their nonbinary gender and keeps trying to force them into a box; other nonbinary elves cave under the pressure, or pretend to go along with it and then revert to their true identity when they’re reborn, but Ingalaurë is resolute and refuses to budge (very Vanyarin of them, imo).
The main story of the elves leaving Cuiviénen is canon, though I’ve filled in the gaps with a lot of headcanon and OCs. We don’t know anything about Indis’ parents other than that one of them is related to Ingwë, so my headcanons about Ingalaurë dying and their wife founding Valmar are entirely my own. Ingwë did found Tirion with Finwë before moving to Valmar.
I always thought Ingwion’s name to be incredibly uncreative, but rather than interpreting it as more of a title than a name I decided his parents were just really stumped on names and gave them their own names—thus his mother-name is Antarion, “son of Antarë”! We know that Ingwë had more children than just Ingwion because of Finwë’s complaint that Ingwë and Olwë have oodles of kids while he only has the one (in asking for permission to remarry), so I gave him a handful of OC babies. Teleptië is the only girl. Arnalaurë is actually nonbinary like their father’s sibling Ingalaurë, but because of the Valar enforcing a gender binary they don’t realize it until much later; they do, however, have dreams of Ingalaurë in Mandos, and seek out the Dreamlord and his wife for help interpreting them. Eventually the Valar take a step back and reconsider things (they weren’t being intentionally malicious, just really bad at understanding the Quendi) and thus Ingalaurë is allowed to be reborn without compromising their identity, and Arnalaurë has their own gender revelation. Estë’s epithet “Iscanindë” means “pale one” and is my headcanoned translation of her sobriquet “the Pale.” As mentioned before, Ilion is the name of Ingwë’s father in NoMe, repurposed here as the name of one of his sons. Altacallo is a warrior, and followed Ingwion to war at the end of the First Age; the rest of their siblings stayed behind.
Ingalaurë
ft. Ingwë, Ingalaurë (OC), Alcariniel (OC), Indis
I already talked a lot about Ingalaurë in the notes for the previous edit. Alcariniel’s name looks like it means “daughter of glory” (and it could mean that) but I actually translate it as “glorious star,” like how Undómiel and Tindómiel mean “star of evening/morning” rather than “daughter of evening/morning.” Indis’ mother-name is a direct translation of her epithet “the Fair.” Indis and Míriel being friends is a headcanon (though it’s so popular it’s fanon; my particular take on how they became friends is more unique).
Ingwion
ft. Ingwion Antarion, Ilwen Eldacalië (OC), Ingil (OC), Airiel (OC), Lirindo (OC), Meril-i-Turinqi
Pretty much all we know about Ingwion is his name, who his father is, and that he led the Vanyar in the War of Wrath. It’s canon that he freed Eglarest toward the beginning of the war. Everything else is my headcanon. I like the idea of Ingwion marrying his cousin as a way of showing that cousin marriage among the Eldar, particularly among Eldarin royalty, is really not a big deal. Thus, Ingwion’s wife is the daughter of his uncle Tinwë, who met a lovely Telerin lady in the Halls of Mandos and married her when they both were reborn. I’m repurposing the name Ilwen, NoMe-canon for Ingwë’s wife, to be the name of Ingwion’s wife instead. I did already have a name for Ingwion’s wife (Eldacalië) but it actually worked out well for her to have two names, given the format I chose for this graphic. “Meren Calmalírë” is Quenya for “Festival of Lamps and Song,” a reference to the festival Ingwion helped organize during the Darkening. (That’s also a headcanon.) We don’t know if Ingwion had any kids, but we do know that Meril-i-Turinqi is Ingwë’s great-granddaughter, so I decided it made plenty of sense to have that relation be through Ingwion. Thus I gave him two daughters: one entirely an OC (Meril’s mother) and the other definitely still an OC, but with names repurposed from her father’s rejected names. Ingil was Ingwion’s name in BoLT (where Meril also appears); Nielluin was an early name for the star Helluin, which according to Meril is Ingwion in the form of a blue bee (???) that followed Telimektar into the skies and became a star. Absolutely wild BoLT nonsense there! I reconciled that by having Telimektar become a Maia of Tulkas, and married him off to Ingil Nielluin. Thingol can’t be the only elf to ever marry a Maia!!! As for Airiel, we know that Meril is related to both Ingwë and the Teleri (well, Solosimpi, but you know what I mean), so I had Airiel marry a grandson of Olwë. I find Meril-i-Turinqi a fascinating character, and decided to keep her as the Queen of Tol Eressëa—but as a fun twist I decided she was elected by her people rather than inheriting the title through her royal ancestry. We don’t know if Ingwion actually spoke for the Exiles after the War of Wrath, but we do know that’s when the enchantment was lifted blocking ships from coming to Aman, and since I connected Ingwion’s granddaughter to Tol Eressëa and thus the returned Exiles, I thought it fitting to tie him into that part of the story as well.
Elemmírë
ft. Elemmírë, Calima (OC), Tríwath (OC), Elenwë
Trans Elemmírë my beloved <3 Pretty much everything here is headcanon, except for Elemmírë composing the Aldudénië. Elemmírë’s name originally having been Elenwë was fun to come up with, and makes Calima naming her daughter Elenwë that much sweeter :) Terenlaimo will show up again in a later edit under a different name, though not for quite some time. Elemmírë and Maglor’s connection was also quite fun, and I may write a fic about them sometime in the future. Also, I think it’s funny that baby Maglor had a crush on the much older Elenwë...only for Turgon, who’s even younger than him, to end marrying her! Glorfindel as the son of Findis and Elemmírë is one of my favorite headcanons. His name “Alcarinquë” means “glorious,” but like Elemmírë’s name, it’s also the name of a star. There’s a bit more to the story of Elemmírë and Findis, but that will be covered in a later edit.
Amárië
ft. Fëarillo (OC), Estelmë (OC), Amárië, Laurorno (OC)
Literally everything in this edit is headcanon, except that people thought Finrod and Amárië would get married but she didn’t follow him to Middle-earth. It took me a long time to settle on Amárië headcanons that felt right, but now that I’ve gotten here I’m pretty pleased about them :)
~~~
MISCELLANEOUS NOLDOR
~~~
Daurin and Tórin
ft. Daurin, Tórin, Liatamë (OC), Calarië (OC), Quildalótië (OC), Sinwatië (OC), Nasarion (OC)
Daurin and Tórin were both names of a proto-Fëanor character from early drafts of the Silm who died defending the Trees when Melkor and Ungoliant attacked. I’ve split him into two elves, brothers, who are instead die-hard Fëanor supporters. (Well, Daurin is. Tórin never got the chance.) Again, literally everything here is my headcanon. I’m especially pleased with the idea of Daurin’s daughter marrying Fëanor’s son, and with the dramatic irony of Daurin and Tórin getting so close to a reunion but then Daurin beefs it. It was also a lot of fun to fit in OCs to known tragedies in the Silm that don’t get to eat up any named characters: Uinen drowning the ships, the “few friends” that stood by Fëanor when the Balrogs surrounded him, and the Fëanorian followers who went through all of the First Age only to turn on their lords at Sirion.
Ñolyo and Silindë
ft. Ñolyo (OC), Silindë Maidros (OC), Míriel Þerindë
More 100% headcanon! This series gets more self-indulgent with each installment, lol. I knew that since Míriel had an -iel name that she wouldn’t be Unbegotten, but I also knew I wanted her to be at Cuiviénen, so thus she became one of the earliest elf babies. We know that elves died and disappeared at Cuiviénen, so her parents became victims. I go with the version of orcs that are twisted from elves (at least, the earliest ones are), and Silindë drew the short straw there, poor girl. As for Silindë turning into Maidros...okay this one is really self-indulgent, but I thought this was a very fun way to reincorporate “Maidros grandfather of Fëanor.” Instead of being Finwë’s father (or a proto-Finwë’s father), I made Maidros be Míriel’s mother! And the connection between the names Maidros and Maedhros came about through their encounter in Angband, where Maedhros learns about the origins of orcs and meets his long-lost great-grandmother in one fell swoop. And, as you’ll notice has become a pattern, I’m always going to give my characters a happy ending when I can, usually through reembodiment...though they’ll go through a hell of a lot of pain before they get there.
Remwë and Satya
ft. Remwë (OC), Satya (OC), Landion (OC), Nindion (OC)
Meet a bunch of my OCs! I made these guys up to A) fill in Nerdanel’s (extended) family tree and B) have some named characters as part of the Houses of Gondolin. Since these are all OCs, everything about them is entirely made up. Their stories are also covered in the Gondolindrim edits.
Mahtan
ft. Mahtan, Ontamë (OC), Þennë (OC), Nerdanel
Mahtan’s life before Valinor and the origin of his names are all headcanon, though each one of his epessi are canonical. I cover Þennë’s story more in the previous edit with her husband. Istarnië is a rejected name for Nerdanel that I repurpose as her amilessë and translate as “wise tears.” I go into my headcanons about that name in this fic. The translation of Nerdanel as “manly woman” is also my own. The details about her sculptures are taken from canon. I had fun coming up with my Fëanor/Nerdanel romance! I’m very fond of those headcanons. Also you may have missed the implication, but they DEFINITELY got elf-married before they were “supposed” to, and Nerdanel was already pregnant with Maedhros at the ceremony!
Anairë
ft. Veryo (OC), Sarnë (OC), Manyaro (OC), Lindalëa (OC), Sendiel (OC), Anairë, Lúnalótë (OC)
More OCs, this time for Anairë’s family! This is entirely headcanon, except for the part where Anairë marries Fingolfin :P Since Anairë’s name means “holiest” I decided that her family would be very devout and religious, and built their story from there. Lindalëa was originally a Noldo in my head, but recently some discussion among friends reminded me of the drafts where Anairë’s name was Alairë and she was Turgon’s wife rather than his mother, thus taking the place of Elenwë, and was a Vanya. I think it would be very interesting to have Fingolfin marry another half-Vanya/half-Noldo elf; it would certainly give them something to bond over, so I changed Lindalëa to be a Vanya. Here is another appearance of my headcanon that Anairë is a devotee of Nessa! “Melestamma” is a tweak from one of Nessa’s rejected names Melesta, “beloved”; just to make the names flow better together, I added the -mma, making the name mean “our beloved” (the same way people refer to God as “our Father”). I am fond of the idea of Anairë and Fingolfin being an arranged marriage, very proper compared to Fëanor’s wild courtship of Nerdanel, but I do very much believe they were in love! It was just a less exciting kind of love, lmao. They are very happy together (until, of course, they’re not). Lúnalótë and her family are getting their own edit so I can better expound upon the horrible ways they all die :) I have many thoughts on the origins of orcs that I’ll go into later; here’s another glimpse into that with Veryo’s fate. Also, I can’t bear the thought of Sarnë fading away into oblivion—elven fëar are bound to Arda, so I believe that elves who fade are still able to be found and reborn, especially if they’re lucky enough to be discovered by a friendly Maia shortly after their death like Sarnë was.
Lúnalótë
ft. Lúnalótë (OC), Nermindil (OC), Awaldiel (OC), Hyartamo (OC), Úriel (OC), Mámalindë (OC)
Once more, everyone here is an OC and therefore entirely made up by me!! I’m definitely interested in the lives of non-noble/royal characters and since we get so few of them in the Silm I’ve got to make some of them up myself. Nermindil’s name was inspired by a Gnomish word “nermi” meaning “a fay that haunts meadows and river-banks”; I’m all about adapting rejected concepts into the larger Legendarium, so I thought it would be interesting to include field spirits (aka Maiar of Yavanna) into the lives of Amani farmers...and how those kinds of spirits would be different in Middle-earth. I always imagined that the Nolofinwëans had cousins on their mother’s side, too, so here they are! (I can imagine Anairë bemoaning Findekáno falling in love with Maitimo: “You have cousins on my side of the family too! If you were going to pick a cousin couldn’t you have picked one of them?? Mámalindë is single! He’s very nice!!”) The chaos of the Darkening probably deeply affected the farmers in Aman, and while I can’t imagine the Valar letting the elves go hungry it must have been devastating to see the fruits of their labors shrivel up and die amid the Darkness. So thus Lúnalótë’s family were tugged in the direction of the Exiles by Hyartamo’s Fëanorian wife...and they each meet their own grisly end. Again, here’s an exploration of the unnamed casualties in the Silm: a Noldo killed at Alqualondë, a Kinslayer drowned by Uinen’s storms, Maedhros’ company of soldiers he took to parlay with Morgoth, another victim of the Helcaraxë, a casualty of the Lammoth...and then poor Nermindil is the only one left :( At least he gets to be friends with Fingolfin, and do eventually get their happy ending after they all go through hell. “Nandil” is a Sindarization of Nermindil, and means “valley friend” rather than “friend of field spirits,” representing the loss of that companionship.
Ezellë
ft. Poldamaitë (OC), Cútasar (OC), Ezellë (OC)
Once more, an OC edit! (I promise we’ll get back to canon characters soon!) Ezellë is Maglor’s wife, and she was my very first Silm OC, so she is very near and dear to my heart <3 I came up with Poldamaitë and Cútasar to flesh out her backstory, and they ended up in Gondolin when I was doing those edits. For a narration of Ezellë and Maglor’s reunion, check out this fic! (It’s not 100% canon to this edit series, but it gets the gist of things across)
Bruithwir and Finrun
ft. Bruithwir, Finrun
A shorter one, for once! (That’s because I was originally going to include them with the next edit, but things kind of separated out when I began writing the captions.) These two also appeared in the House of the King edit, and their story is the same here, but with a little bit more detail. I explained their origins in the notes of the other edit, but here it is again:
Bruithwir was the name of a proto-Finwë character in the Book of Lost Tales; Finrun was the name of a fourth son of Finwë mentioned just once in The Shaping of Middle-earth. Instead of trying to squeeze them into the Finwëan family tree, I’ve just repurposed their names to use as early Noldor, though I have made them (Unbegotten) brothers as a nod to their technical relation. “But wait,” you cry, “they don’t look like they’re related!” Well I have two things to say to that: 1) give me a break I’m trying, and 2) they’re Unbegotten and their brotherhood is entirely a thing of the fëa since they don’t have actual parents.
Lambengolmor
ft. Quennar i Onótimo, Rúmil of Tirion, Ailios Gilfanon, Evromord, Penlod, Pengolodh
I purposefully didn’t include Fëanor here even though he is one of the Lambengolmor because he’s going to show up later, and he kind of did his own thing. We don’t know the details of Quennar and Rúmil’s origins, nor their relationship to one another or anything about their personalities, but we do know they were both scholars in Aman and the details of their writings/studies are mostly canonical. Lambessë is my Quenya translation of the Sindarin L(h)ammas. I invented the origins of i Equessi Rúmilo, but in researching that it reminded me a lot of the Socratic dialogues so I kind of channeled that vibe. We know less about Quennar than we do Rúmil; check out his TG article to get a rundown on their interpretations of his story, which I adopted myself for the most part. Rúmil is assumed to not have gone into exile, where Quennar is assumed to have finished his work in Middle-earth. There’s a note in The Lost Road that suggests that Rúmil was “one of the Noldor who returned to Valinor with Finrod” (at that point, “Finrod” was the name of the character who would later be known as Finarfin), so I have him going into exile but turning back after the Doom of Mandos, while Quennar continues. The only logical place for Quennar to go in Beleriand is Gondolin, so I stuck him in with his loremaster students in the House of the Pillar. (See that edit’s notes for info on my decisions about that; since I didn’t think to include Quennar there, I just kind of made him a secretive recluse here to explain his absence. Oops.) Quennar’s great work was about the differences between Tree time and Sun time, but since I elect to ignore most of those, I kept the details vague (but I imagine he wrote more about the differences in calculating time in those different conditions, rather than 1 Tree Year = 10 Sun Years). In the Book of Lost Tales, Rúmil was the old door-ward at the Cottage of Lost Play, but was later replaced by Evromord; I just had that happen literally, so Evromord took up his position when Rúmil retired. Evromord and Gilfanon were there when Eriol shows up way later; they’ll appear in another edit soon. Pengolodh only appears here briefly, but he will also show up again in an edit more focused on later Ages.
Tulkastor and Valwë
ft. Tulkastor, Ñandellë (OC), Maryalassë (OC), Lanyaro (OC), Naimi, Vairilmë, Valwë, Culdiel (OC), Lindo, Vëannë
These characters were adapted from The Book of Lost Tales, so naturally I had to do quite a bit of fanangling to make them fit into later canon. It was said of Tulkastor that he “was of Aulë’s kindred, but had dwelt long with the Shoreland Pipers, the Solosimpi, and so came among the earliest to the island”; I interpret this as him being a Noldo who lived with the Teleri. I lengthened the name “Vairë” to “Vairilmë,” since I don’t think anyone would name their child after a Vala directly, something that Tulkastor’s own name points to. Naimi is canonically Vairilmë’s niece, so I invented a family tree (see below) to explain that relation. That tree also shows Lindo’s ancestry.
Lindo is one of the storytellers of the Cottage of Lost Play in The Book of Lost Tales; his father Valwë is mentioned to be a companion of the Vala Noldorin (later adapted into the Maia Salmar) who went to “find the Gnomes” (Noldor) around the time of a battle that vaguely resembles what came to be the Fall of Gondolin. I mostly needed more people to put in Gondolin, but it is nice that he happens to be somewhat connected to the early versions of the story. Tolkien Gateway unfortunately doesn’t have much on him, but you can find this info in BoLT if you go looking.
Vëannë and Ausir are children at the Cottage, but we know nothing about their relationships to anyone. I like to headcanon them as cousins, and to connect them to the rest of the Cottage cast, I made Vëannë the daughter of Vairilmë and Lindo and Ausir the son of Evromord and Ailios, making them cousins through Lindo’s mother’s family.
The Cottage of Lost Play
ft. Rúmil of Tirion, Quennar i Onótimo, Evromord, Ailios Gilfanon, Ausir, Lindo, Vairilmë, Vëannë, Ilverion, Meril-i-Turinqi
This is mostly headcanon extrapolated from the canonical details we know about the Cottage. I’ve given it a clearer purpose/goal as well as a history of its occupants and keepers, incorporating this weird relic of BoLT into the later Legendarium. Rúmil and Evromord are connected characters (Evromord was considered to replace Rúmil at one point), so I had Evromord take Rúmil’s place when he retired. Gilfanon’s “House of a Hundred Chimneys” is still kind of a mystery, but I guess the guy just really liked chimneys? I made Ausir his and Evromord’s son, and Evromord became Lindo’s uncle, so Vëannë and Ausir could be cousins :) Lindo and Vairilmë were the keepers of the Cottage when Eriol showed up, so I think Evromord and Gilfanon took a step back from running things when they had a kid, letting their friends do more of the work (though they also have a kid around the same age). My headcanons for Ilverion (aka Littleheart) are complicated (he’ll show up again in a later edit when I get to Voronwë), but basically I made him a teacher at the Cottage. And of course Queen Meril gets a cameo because she meets Eriol too!
Erestor
ft. Curulaer (OC), Lagrieth (OC), Erestor
100% of this is headcanon, except that we do know Erestor lived in Rivendell. The “new friend” mentioned in the last sentence is, of course, Glorfindel. They will both show up in a future edit about the people of Imladris.
Messengers
ft. Baralin (OC), Mantariel (OC), Gelmir the Messenger, Arminas, Arachon, Bregil, Brandir Bregilion, Beldis
In canon, Gelmir and Arminas are both implied to be Calaquendi from Aman. However, I thought we had plenty of Calaquendi elves already, so I changed Gelmir to be half-Sindarin and half-Noldorin, born in Middle-earth. Arminas is still from Valinor. They were canonically part of Angrod’s people, then fled to the Havens when Dorthonion fell. Their meetings with Tuor and Túrin are from the text as well. Everything else here is complete headcanon; Gelmir’s parents are OCs, and not only is there no indication that Arachon and Gelmir are related, Arachon is probably actually a human! If you read my disclaimer on Bregil’s edit you’ll see my explanations for that choice there. “Gelmir” probably translates to “jewel-joy,” which Tolkien Gateway notes is interesting because usually “mir” would turn into “vir” in a compound like that, but they also mention that the Northern Sindarin dialect did not have that change, so I thought it made sense for his father to be of those people! I identify Baralin as “an Edhel” rather than “a Sinda” because “Sinda” is actually a Quenya word, and this early in Sindar-Noldor cultural exchange I don’t think the term “Thennedhel” (aka “Grey-elf”) would have caught on, at least not as a word for self-identification.
Noldorin Servants
Galdor of the Havens, Cúlalmion (OC), Redoril (OC), Ferior (OC), Athaenir (OC)
As you could probably guess from the abundance of OCs in this edit, literally everything here is headcanon, except that Galdor did in fact attend the Council of Elrond. I decided that, in my personal canon, this Galdor is not the same as the Galdor of Gondolin; instead, I go with Tolkien’s later suggestion that “Galdor” is simply a common Sindarin name, which is further evidenced by the existence of Galdor of Dor-lómin, an entirely separate (human) character. Since “gal” can mean both “light” and “tree,” I chose this Galdor to have the tree-name and the Gondolin one to have the light-name (which, in retrospect, is kind of funny because the Gondolin Galdor is literally the Lord of the Tree...but whatever, it can have a double meaning).
Imladrim
ft. Elrond Peredhel, Celebrían, Pengolodh, Glorfindel, Elladan, Elrohir, Arwen Undómiel, Erestor, Lindir
Well, I didn’t intend for this to get this long, but...oops. Originally this was just going to cover the Third Age, but then I realized I’d included Pengolodh here and he sailed for Valinor after the War of the Elves and Sauron, and I didn’t have any other place to put his story so I just bit the bullet and started to narrate Imladris’ history from its foundation in the middle of the Second Age, lol. Elrond’s personal edit covered a lot of that stuff, but I went into more detail here, so hopefully that’s...interesting? at least. Pengolodh’s story is mostly canonical (with some embellishments); I took some liberties with what he did immediately after the fall of Eregion, since I needed him to end up in Rivendell for a least a little while, and I made up a bit of the cultural impact around his writings, but everything else is canon. We don’t know what Glorfindel’s exact duties and positions were in the Second Age, but he did end up in Rivendell by the Third Age so I decided it would be fine to place him there earlier, since he’s got a personal connection to Elrond through Turgon and Eärendil. The bit about people being suspicious of him since he looks/acts a lot like Annatar did at the beginning is fanon (though I don’t remember where I first saw it). I send him back to Middle-earth with the Blue Wizards, and I also throw in an Avarin elf with a similar mission, though she only makes a very brief cameo in this caption. Durin V in particular being the leader of the dwarves during the Last Alliance is a headcanon, but it’s around the time when he could have lived. I don’t think it’s specified if Elrond was the one to deliver Valandil, but he was born in Rivendell so it makes a lot of sense.
Canon places Gil-galad giving Vilya to Elrond much earlier, around the time when Elrond officially becomes Lord of Imladris, but I don’t think he would give up both his Rings of Power, so I have him give Narya to Círdan at that time but keeping Vilya for himself until later. I don’t think he passes Vilya on to Elrond until the War of the Last Alliance, because he can feel his doom approaching—something that Elrond, at that time, does not want to accept (though he knows it too). But that’s all headcanon, and actually goes against canon in places. I also think it’s more impressive if Elrond could hold Rivendell without the Ring for half an Age; I think he had his own magic from the line of Melian and was able to set up something like a Girdle around the valley, later strengthening it with Vilya’s power. We don’t know the details of Elrond and Celebrían’s courtship, so I kept it simple. Arwen’s crafts of smithing and weaving are headcanon, though we know she’s at least enough of an artist to make Aragorn’s banner. I greatly simplified the war with Angmar; you can read about that in more detail in the Royalty of Arnor section of this series. Everything about every depiction of Glorfindel and Erestor’s entire relationship is completely fanon, and since my Erestor is aroace and I prefer Glorthelion, I like to depict them as very good friends but not romantically involved. The White Council stuff was also condensed. We know that Celebrían did give Arwen the Elessar, but we don’t know when or why, and my explanation is a headcanon; we also don’t know how it ended back up with Galadriel to give to Aragorn, so I made that up as well. I also love the headcanon that Arwen always sort of knew what her Choice would be and was just waiting for the right moment to make it, so both she and Celebrían knew deep down that this would be the last time they saw each other ;-;
Lindir’s entire story is a headcanon; I’ll go into him a bit more in a later edit. The “mysterious, anonymous bard” he learns from is, of course, Maglor ;) Also, he’s definitely the one who came up with “Tra-la-la-lally”! Aragorn’s story is condensed here; we don’t know that he met Bilbo when he was a child, but he would have been in Imladris when the Company passed through, so I think it’s entirely possible (and very cute)! We know that Bilbo and Aragorn were friends in later years, but Bilbo’s relationship with Erestor and Lindir is made up (all we know about Lindir from canon is that he’s not super familiar with Mannish vs. hobbitish music, but I think it’s likely he was teasing them, at least in part). I’m really unsatisfied with this faceclaim for old Bilbo and it may change if I find something better. Glorfindel’s ride and the Council of Elrond are also both condensed, but I think I got the important bits in there. I don’t think it’s specified that Elladan and Elrohir were specifically considered for the Fellowship, but since Elrond was suggesting members of his household, I think it’s likely they were floated; the same goes with the other riders that he sent out looking for Frodo earlier. I didn’t remember the detail about Elladan and Elrohir scouting out a path for the Fellowship but apparently that’s canon! This is canonically the time period when Narsil was reforged into Andúril, but that Arwen did the reforging is a headcanon. There are conflicting accounts of whether Elrond was there or not for Arwen’s wedding, but I find it unacceptable that he would miss such an event, so I bring him there. We know that Erestor, Elladan, and Elrohir were all present, but not about Glorfindel and Lindir, but I think it’s likely they were. Also, it gives a great opportunity for Glorf to meet Éowyn and Merry! We don’t know if/when Erestor sailed, so I sent him along with Elrond; we know Glorfindel eventually makes it back to Valinor, but not the timing, so I send him with Elladan and Elrohir, whose ultimate fates are not revealed in canon. I just find it improbable that they would choose mortality; I think the reason they remained behind was to watch over Arwen, and once she died they were free to leave. Obviously, Glorfindel marrying Ecthelion in Valinor is a headcanon, but I do love a tragic romance where the couple are parted for thousands of years—just so long as there’s a happy ending!
