The Quendi: Their Culture, Language, and Significance

Dawn Dowell

18 September 2008

ENGL 4305

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s epic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, was first published in 1954 and 1955. He was in his sixties at the time of its publication though the creation of the world in which the story of the One Ring takes place, Middle Earth, was the passion and place of his life’s work. Along with being a sub-creator of a Secondary World, Tolkien was also a philologist, an author of academic works, a lover of nature, a professor, and a father. In Tolkien's Secondary World, Middle Earth, the Elves exist to men as a symbol of the knowledge of Middle Earth, of unfading beauty and goodness, and of life and rebirth. The Elves play a vital role in The Lord of the Rings as they have access to the histories of the Ages of Middle Earth and they exist as an immortal species in the world of Arda. The first episode of the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, works as an introduction to the Elves, their culture, and offers a few glimpses into their language. In order to understand the importance of the Elves and their role in Middle Earth and The Lord of the Rings, we must first begin with Tolkien’s philosophy towards creation through writing and the importance of fantasy.

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s essay entitled, “On Fairy Stories,” Tolkien outlines his beliefs on the idea of fairy stories and the realm of Faerie in which these beings exist. The essay outlines his philosophy on Fantasy and it exists as Tolkien’s mantra in writing his own fairy stories, or more specifically, his own “historic-fairy-romance” as he describes his own creation: Lord of the Rings (Tolkien, Letters 149). Fairy stories involve the adventures of men into the realm of Faerie which “contains many things…it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and all the earth and all things that are in it…and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted” (Tolkien, Tree and Leaf 9). In these adventures, men will encounter fairies or elves, beings that are representative of an altered reflection of themselves and their world, that exist independently of human beings, in a different world. This fantasy world then is created and entered into. In doing this, we as readers are brought out of ourselves by showing us other creature that relate to nature differently or have a different nature than we do.

Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy Stories” addresses Man’s natural desire to create and to become a sub-creator because we are “made in the image and likeness of a Maker” (56). Because we are made we, in turn, want to make something out of our own interpretations and from our own point of view on life. Tolkien states that Man naturally desires escape from the present, Primary World, filled with the miseries of modern life that plague him daily. These miseries reach as far back as the Fall of Man and are intensified with the rise of Industrialism and its negative effect on civilization. Man, in his desire to escape, utilizes his right and ability to create a Secondary World as he is “the refracted Light through whom is splintered from a single White to many hues, endlessly combined in living shapes that move from mind to mind”—an individual (54). Being a unique individual, Man is able to draw on and manipulate his own experiences through his individual perspective.

In creating, Man now has the ability to imagine what his heart desires because stories within the realm of Faerie are not “concerned with possibility but with desirability,” whether it is recovery of a clear state of mind, an escape from reality, or the consolation of a happy ending (41). All of these desires can be fulfilled in the land of Faerie. The job of the sub-creator then is to create this world and then present the beings, events, laws, histories, etc. as being true. The reader is then able to enter into this world and leave the real, Primary World behind, so long as the writer maintains the flow of necessary realities within this suspended world.

Tolkien created his own Secondary World, Middle Earth, out of a desire to fill the absence of an English mythology to which he could relate his heritage to (Letters 144). This mythology would be made up of legends ranging from the cosmic creation to the small and personal love stories and it would reflect the ideals, peoples, places, and messages that he felt appropriate to the past of his country. For some of the species of Middle Earth, Tolkien also created a language unique and characteristic of the species and their historical context of both Middle Earth and the mythology of England that they are a part of. Middle Earth became a Secondary World “in which both designer and spectator can enter, to the satisfaction of their senses while inside” (Tree and Leaf 53). In this world, species live and coexist with one another throughout history while good and evil exist in a continuous struggle for power, similar to the Primary World in which Tolkien writes from. However, in Middle Earth these species include Hobbits, Dwarves, Wizards, Elves, Orcs, Men, and various other creatures. In order to understand the importance of the Elves and their role in Middle Earth and The Lord of the Rings, we must also examine a brief history of the Elves.

Among the highest of the species of Middle Earth are the Elves, or the Quendi. Tolkien created Elves in the likeness of Man but “with greatly enhanced aesthetic and creative faculties, greater beauty and longer life, and nobility” (Letters 176). In the history of Middle Earth and the larger world of Arda Sahta, the Elves exist in and are bound to the world by their Creator, Ilúvatar. Both Elves and Men are called the Children of Ilúvatar, however, the Elves are the Firstborn and were linked to the life of Arda, making them immortal to this world. They can be slain but their spirit, or Fëa, can pass on to the Hall of Mandos where some stay and others are reincarnated, given back both their restored body and all of the knowledge of their previous lifetime.

Before the Children, Middle Earth “lay in a twilight under the stars” in the darkness of the evil of Melkor, the beginning of evil (Tolkien, Silmarillion 47). The Valar, or gods under the Creator Ilúvatar, were not responsible for the creation of the Elves, however they were later responsible for their fates. Yavanna, one of the Valar, created new stars for the Firstborn to gaze upon before entering the darkness of Middle Earth. The Elves were born and at first sight they gazed upon the stars and their ears were met with the soothing sounds of running water. They walked through Middle Earth in amazement and began to speak and name the things that surrounded them, singing the praises of Middle Earth and naming themselves the Quendi. Oromë, another of the Valar came upon the Elves singing and was filled with the wonder of their voices and beauty. Also aware of their beauty, Melkor began to send his evil whispers into the Elves, telling them to fear Oromë. When Oromë came to summon the Elves to the Isle of Valinor, some of the elves ran in fear and were captured by Melkor while others heeded the call and followed Oromë over the Sea to Valinor.

Those who followed were named by the Valar as the Eldar or “The People of the Stars” and were led by the first Elven kings (Grey Havens). Of these kings came three races of Elves, each with their own involvement and experiences in Middle Earth. Ingwë and the Vanyar were the first to take the journey to Valinor and they never returned to Middle Earth. Finwë and the Noldor, the most gifted of the Elvish races, followed soon after. Large numbers of their race would later return to Middle Earth in pursuit of the stolen Silmarils, the coveted stones of the Elves that were stolen by Melkor. In their pursuit, they committed heinous crimes against their own kin and for this as well as their abandonment of Valinor, the Noldor were exiled from Valinor forever. The last of the Eldar to leave and settle on the Island of Valinor was Elwë and the Teleri. Elwë, also known as Thingol or Greymantle went walking in the woods one evening and came upon Melian of the Maia, the Maiar being the lesser gods than the Valar. He fell enchanted with her and left Valinor to live in Menegroth or “The Thousand Caves” where Greymantle and Melian would bear their child, Luthien, who was half Elf and half god, “the fairest of all the Children of Ilúvatar that was or shall ever be” (Silmarillion 56). While the Eldar heeded the call to cross the sea, those who remained in Middle Earth were called the Avari or “The Unwilling” who “refused the summons, preferring the starlight and wide spaces of Middle-Earth to the rumour of the Trees” and “the Light that was before the Sun and Moon” (53). For their choice, the Avari were separated from the Eldar as well as from the Isle of Valinor.

To accompany both the Eldar and the Avari and to characterize them even further, Tolkien created an Elven language for each. The Eldar, or the High Elves, were given the language of Quenya which Tolkien created out of combining and manipulating Latin, Greek and Finnish. The Avari, or Lesser Elves, were given the language of Sindarin which differs from Quenya through its British-Welsh influence. This choice was made by Tolkien in creating the languages to not only differentiate between the two groups and their histories but to also create a link between the history of Middle Earth and his mythology of England as this British-Welsh influence symbolized the Celtic influence on England (Letters 176). Tolkien had previously worked on creating the language of Quenya, however, he knew that this language could not exist without the context of the people who speak it. In creating the Elves, he made not only a race but also a history and a nature that is unique to them. Through understanding Tolkien’s philosophy towards creation as well as examining a brief history of the Elves, we can now more fully understand their importance as well as their role in Middle Earth and the story of The Lord of the Rings.

The Elves exist to men in Middle Earth as a symbol and source of knowledge. In the history of Middle Earth, the story of The Lord of the Rings takes place in the Third Age. Much of the history of Middle Earth is placed effectively throughout the story by Tolkien so as to inform without overwhelming the reader with the Ages of history. The story of the One Ring began long before the Third Age with the forging of the rings. The only species capable of recalling these histories are the Elves as they have lived through the Ages, beyond the deaths of mortal men whose memories cannot speak beyond the grave. In this, they play a vital role in conveying information about the One Ring to those who are involved with its fate. They are symbolic of wisdom and knowledge, something the Elvish race retains in their reincarnation and values very highly.

They also are representative of the height of beauty, wisdom, and goodness in the midst of other species: men, dwarves, hobbits, etc. Each species symbolizes and exhibits its own importance and role in the story and history of the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. In this history, the Elves created the Three Rings, untouched by Sauron but still subject to the One Ring. The Three Rings hold the ability to “preserve the memory of the beauty of old, maintaining enchanted enclaves of people where Time seems to stand still” and hold power in places like Rivendell and Lothlórien (Letters 151). These places, with the power of the Three, serve as a haven of safety, beauty, and escape within the story. While the Three were created and “directed to the preservation and beauty,” the One Ring forged by Sauron contained not only his power but the power of all the Rings created. The wearer of the One Ring then has the ability to “see the thoughts of all those that used the lesser rings, could govern all they did, and in the end could utterly enslave them all,” creating a danger for all of the rings and ring bearers (152). It is here that the Elves immortality meets their vulnerability to the Ring with a force unlike any in Middle Earth, the ability to pass on beyond the petty troubles of Middle Earth and out of time and history, across the Sea to Valinor or Eressëa.

The Elves also exist in Middle Earth as a symbol of life, rebirth, and the idea of immortality. The plan for the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings is for it to be destroyed in the fires of Mordor and if the journey is a success, the power of all the Rings will be diminished and the Elves will depart, back over the Sea. To the Elves, Middle Earth is not the end of their journey and they are not interested in the troubles that it has to offer as evil encroaches into their world. While they are immortal and bound the life of Arda, they are able to pass on to a place where sadness does not exist and the evils of Sauron cannot follow. In this, they function as a component of the theme of fate or destiny that is threaded throughout the trilogy. While they are a vital element to The Lord of the Rings and the story of the One Ring, they are not ultimately or permanently affected by the outcome as their final place exists beyond the Sea, apart from Middle Earth.

The first episode of the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, works as an introduction to the Elvish people, their culture, talents, history, and offers a glimpse into their languages. The larger, more complex world of the Elves and their long existence is referred to minimally through the novel and is then left up to the reader to research further through Tolkien’s histories of Middle Earth. Tolkien does an interesting job of placing encounters, characters, and additional information about the Elves throughout The Fellowship of the Ring in a way that both intrigues and efficiently informs the reader. By the conclusion of the first episode, the reader is enchanted and yet still has a whole entire other world to discover; this is the beauty of the complexities of the Elves in Tolkien’s Secondary World.

The first time that the reader encounters the Elves is outside of the Shire where Elves could be seen “passing westward through the woods in the evening, passing and not returning; but they were leaving Middle Earth and were no longer concerned with its troubles” (67). As Frodo, Sam, and Pippin start out on their journey towards Buckland, a Black Rider encounters them on the road. As Frodo is battling the desire to slip the Ring on in the presence of a Servant of the Enemy, the High Elves of Woodhall arrive singing and laughing and scare the Ringwraith away. In this moment, it is implied that the goodness of the High Elves of Woodhall is stronger than the will of the Ringwraith, defeating Evil for a moment. Later, as Sam and Frodo are discussing their first experience with Elves, Sam explains that they seem to him “so old and young, and so gay and sad,” a species of contradictions, living a life that he can’t quite comprehend (117). To the reader, this scene introduces the Elvish people as a species that is uninterested in the issues of the world at hand and has the ability to leave the world in which it is no longer interested in. This ability exhibits a key difference between the Elves and the other species of Middle Earth, those who are doomed to the world in which they inhabit and are interested solely in it and its successes.

The Elves are immortal to the world of Arda and have, therefore, survived through the history of the Ages. Through this history, they are connected to many events that impact and influence the present story of the One Ring. Once the company of hobbits allows Aragorn to join on their journey towards Rivendell, he entertains them at Weathertop with the story of Beren and Luthien. The story reaches back to a history in which Sauron was merely a servant of the Great Enemy, a time long before the Ring and the present story. The story tells of the fairest maiden Elf who was half Elf and half god, Luthien, and her love for Beren, a mortal man. Upon his death, Luthien chose mortality to die with him and so she left the world. However, her pure line was continued through Beren and Luthien’s children, half mortal and half Elf-god. Of this pure blood come Elrond and Arwen, both of which are present and active in the story and fate of the One Ring. As they each come from a mixed bloodline, they are given the choice of which race to follow in fate: Men and mortality or Elves and immortality. In this, the story of Beren and Luthien serves as both a love story and a historical piece that ties the history of the past Ages to the present. It also represents part of the Divine Plan of the Creator, Ilúvatar, through the entering of Men into the Elven-strain “for the ennoblement of the Human Race, from the beginning destined to replace the Elves” (Letters 194). Through the gift of choice, some Elves are given the chance of mortality, allowing them to pass beyond the boundaries of Middle Earth to the unknown fate of Men rather than to be bound to Arda until the End.