[ Daily Tolkien ] It's all in the family: The Elweans and Ingweans

The first of two essays examines the Eldarin genealogies and whether it is possible to state definitively who was related to whom and how. The Ingweans and Elweans are the royal families of the Vanyar and Sindar.

Nothing is more confusing than trying to figure out who is actually supposed to be in the various family trees, and what their relationships to the three Eldarin kings are. Most people have only read The Lord of the Rings, and that book provides us with so few clues about the Eldarin families that all the cousins, brothers, aunts, and uncles who are named in The Silmarillion arrive as quite a shock. Why weren't these people mentioned in The Lord of the Rings?

Of course, their stories had come to an end thousands of years before Hobbits even arrived on the scene. So the princes of the Eldar were no longer of paramount historical importance. History in Middle-earth had shifted from being a primarily Eldarin course of events to a primarily Dunadan course of events, and even the Dunedain were in decline. Socially, the Eldar no longer mattered. So their great heroes, their ancient kings, all their noble families were forgotten by most of the peoples in Middle-earth. To hear the stories of ages lost in time's remote antiquity from people who had been there would have been an extremely special experience for the Hobbits who visited Rivendell. Their people had no knowledge of such stories, and Bilbo had accomplished something unique by awakening the desire to learn more about Elvish histories in his young nieces and nephews.

Naturally, Bilbo would be most interested in the tales of the relatives of Elrond and Aragorn, his special friends. Conveniently, their Elven ancestors just happened to be part of the extended families of Finwe and Elwe, some of whose members ruled various kingdoms in Beleriand. It would all be quite romantic (in the heroic and adventurous sense). But it would also provide an insight into the character and motivations of both Elrond and Aragorn for Bilbo to understand who their families were. It would be that Elvish sense of obligation. Elrond couldn't just leave Middle-earth until a resolution had been found for the problem of the Rings of Power. Aragorn, of course, had no opportunity to leave Middle-earth. But he had inherited the whole mess from his human ancestors.

The difficulty for us is that Tolkien never fully understood what he wanted to achieve with the Eldarin genealogies. Every now and then he would add a name to the lists and if he had time, perhaps years down the road, he would drop in some tantalizing comment that began the process of defining a new character. And in retrospect, he would delete names from the lists, too, if he felt the characters they referred to belonged in other tales, or didn't fit in at all. Hence, Indis begins as the sister of Ingwe and ends up as his niece. And Ingwiel, Ingwe's son, vanishes altogether. Such losses are regrettable, because they hint at untold stories which might be very interesting.

Ingwe, Finwe, and Elwe also present problems. Their histories as characters under Tolkien's hand evolved both together and separately. There can be no doubt that at one time Ingwe was the eldest of the Elves, the first to awaken. Finwe, too, seems to have been a first generation Elf for a while, as Feanor was originally supposed to have been born during the Great Journey. And yet, these "facts" were discarded and the Elven families were pushed back. Tolkien constructed an elaborate social history for the Elves which explained their numerous divisions and apparently called for even more ancient Elves. Ingwe, Finwe, and Elwe subsequently become merely very ancient Elves, but not the most ancient of Elves.

In the children's tale of the First Elves ("Quendi and Eldar", in "The War of the Jewels"), there is no mention of Ingwe, Finwe, Elwe, or Olwe. These Elves are not named. The first three to awaken are Imin ("one"), Tata ("two"), and Enel ("three"). Their appointed spouses lie sleeping beside them: Iminye, Tatie, Enelye. Clearly, since Finwe's first wife was Miriel and since Elwe only married Melian the Maia, Tata and Enel cannot be Finwe and Elwe. Also, because Elwe's brother Olwe is firmly established in the mythological canon, they must have had parents.

Yet some people insist that Imin must be Ingwe. After all, they argue, Tolkien doesn't say that Imin is not Ingwe. Which is the silliest possible argument of all, since it is completely lacking in logic. Tolkien's absence of denial for any given assertion does not make that assertion true, possibly true, or even possible. The distinction between Tolkien's imagination and our own is the boundary between what Tolkien wrote and what we write. It may seem convincing to believe that Imin is Ingwe, but Imin cannot possibly be Ingwe. In the children's tale, Imin is the undisputed leader of the Elves. He is the eldest. No one questions his place in their primitive society. And yet, Ingwe holds no station among the Elves until Orome selects him to be an ambassador. From that point forward, Ingwe acquires an authority which Imin cannot claim: Ingwe is Orome's chosen representative for the Minyar (the Firsts, the Elves descended from Imin's companions).

In "Quendi and Eldar", Tolkien wrote: "According to the legend, preserved in almost identical form among both the Elves of Aman and the Sindar, the Three Clans were in the beginning derived from the three Elf-fathers: Imin, Tata, and Enel (sc. One, Two, Three), and those whom each chose to join his following....It is said that of the small clan of the Minyar non became Avari."

What we learn from these statements is all the Elves of Aman and Beleriand remembered the ancient divisions and told virtually the same stories about the three Elf-fathers. There is no indication that either Elwe or Ingwe were identified with Imin and Enel. In fact, the very absence of such identification works where the absence of denial fails. That is, if Tolkien didn't identify Enel with Elwe and Imin with Ingwe, we cannot assume that such an identification exists. The two absences don't cancel each other out. Rather, the statements of fact take precedence. Imin was an individual who awakened at Cuivienen, and his wife Iminye lay beside him. Ingwe is no longer said to have awakened at Cuivienen.

In preparing The Silmarillion for publication, Christopher Tolkien carefully side-stepped the entire issue. He says nothing about who among the three Elf-kings may have awakened at Cuivienen. In "Of the Ruin of Doriath", which Christopher wrote with some help from Guy Gavriel Kay, Thingol proudly says to the Dwarves of Nogrod, "How do ye of uncouth race dare to demand aught of me, Elu Thingol, Lord of Beleriand, whose life began by the waters of Cuivienen years uncounted ere the fathers of the stunted people awoke?" Some people misread this passage, or elect to interpret it to mean that Thingol claims to have awakened at Cuivienen. But the text doesn't say he awakened there. It only says his life began there before the Dwarf-fathers awoke.

Now, we don't know when the Dwarf-fathers awoke, but J.R.R. Tolkien's Elu Thingol most likely would not have made such a claim anyway. The original story from The Book of Lost Tales, "The Nauglafring", holds that Tinwelint (the precursor of Thingol) had fallen prey to Mim's curse on the hoard Hurin had taken from Nargothrond. Tinwelint contracted with Dwarves to shape the gold and place the Silmaril in the Nauglafring. Ufedhin, a Gnome (who evolved into the Noldor), arranged for the contract. But because Tinwelint had held him prisoner, Ufedhin asked the Dwarves to demand an insulting price for their work. The Dwarves made the request and Tinwelint had them and Ufedhin whipped. He then paid them common wages and forced them to pay for Ufedhin's food and lodging during the time he was a prisoner. The Dwarves and Ufedhin eventually left and plotted their revenge. They allied themselves with Orcs and attacked Artanor (Tinwelint's kingdom) while he was ridinng in the hunt, celebrating Beren's hunting of the wolf. Another Elf, overcome by lust for the cursed gold, helped Ufedhin enter Artanor without Gwendelin (Melian's) knowledge.

Although this story little resembles Christopher Tolkien's account of how Thingol came to be slain, Christopher's account does not resmble his father's brief notes. In an extended note explaining what material he had available for "The Ruin of Doriath" ("The War of the Jewels", pp. 354-6), Christopher says that "in The Tale of Years [composed for the First Age] my father seems not to have considered the problem of the passage of the Dwarvish host into Doriath despite the Girdle of Melian, but in writing the word 'cannot' against the D version (p. 352) he showed that he regarded the story he had outlined as impossible, for that reason. In another place, he sketched a possible solution (ibid.): 'Somehow it must be contrived that Thingol is lured outside or induced to go to war beyond his borders and is there slain by the Dwarves. Then Melian departs, and the girdle being removed Doriath is ravaged by the Dwarves."

The correct story of Thingol's death is provided only in notes associated with the previously unpublished "Wanderings of Hurin", in which tale Hurin is released by Morgoth to sow a path of death and destruction among the last enemies of Angband. Hurin unwittingly reveals to Morgoth's spies that Gondolin lies in the Echoriath, and not in the distant past as everyone had supposed for hundreds of years. Hurin then goes to Brethil, and he meets up with outlaws from Hithlum who declare their loyalty to him. He finds Morwen as she is dying and he buries her, and then he demands an accounting from the people of Brethil. In doing so, Hurin awakens a civil war among the Folk of Haleth and the last heirs of Haleth are slain.

Hurin moves on to Nargothrond, where he finds Mim has seized Glaurung's hoard. Hurin slays Mim, who curses the treasure as he lays dying. With the help of the Hithlum outlaws and some of the former people of Brethil, Hurin takes the entire treasure (or a great part of it) to Doriath, and there insults Thingol. Melian heals Hurin, who then departs into the south with a great following of Men. Thingol is left with the treasure, and eventually he commissions the melding of the necklace and the Silmaril. At this point, Tolkien notes to himself, Thingol must be drawn out of the kingdom and slain, so that Melian will withdraw her protection and leave Doriath open to the Dwarves.

Yet there is no narrative for this story. There are no statements by Thingol even in cryptic marginal notes where he makes any sort of boast to the Dwarves about having begun his life at Cuivienen. Thingol (Elwe) certainly began his life there. He was one of the three ambassadors Orome chose to visit Aman. But there is nothing in The Silmarillion or its late sources which implies that Thingol was a first generation Elf. And, in fact, since there were no siblings (brothers and sisters) among the first generation Elves, we can safely remove Thingol from the crowd.

Finwe, because of his marriage to Miriel in Aman, cannot be identified with Tata. Hence, we are left only with Imin. And of Imin there is nothing said in The Silmarillion. "Quendi and Eldar" is a fairly late composition, dating to the late 1960s. It also departs from the "established" Silmarillion canon in a few ways, such as making Eol an Avarin Elf of the Tatyar (the second clan, from whom the Noldor were derived). In The Silmarillion, Eol is one of Thingol's kinsmen.

Cirdan is another of Thingol's kinsmen, as is Celeborn. If they are Thingol's cousins, then Thingol cannot even be part of the second generaton of Elves. His parents would have to have siblings in order for him to have cousins. Hence, at the very least, Thingol would have to be a third-generation Elf. And that leads people to wonder what happened to his parents and grand-parents. In fact, we have no way of knowing how many generations lie between Enel and Thingol, nor even if Thingol is a descendant of Enel (he does not have to be). But Thingol is a contemporary of Finwe. They are friends. It seems that they must have grown up fairly close together, chronologically. So they may have been "young" but not immature Elves when Orome selected them.

Would Ingwe have been a similarly "young" Elf? He must have been a bit adventurous. He was, after all, willing to make the trip to Aman with Orome. The Elves were afraid of Orome when he first appeared, for Melkor had apparently been abducting or slaying Elves since he had first discovered them. Furthermore, in "Laws and Customs Among the Eldar" ("Morgoth's Ring"), Tolkien writes: "Indeed, in their earlier days death came more readily; for their bodies were then less different from the bodies of Men, and the command of their spirits over their bodies less complete." It is entirely conceivable that Imin, Tata, and Enel had all perished by the time Orome showed up. Conceivable, but not necessary. For, one assumption people make is that the eldest Elves must be the leaders.

Why should that be? Tolkien never says the eldest Elves are the leaders. What he says is that the ambassadors whom Orome selected were afterwards kings. Imin could have been alive and he simply deferred to Ingwe's courage and wisdom. Ingwe was indeed very persuasive, for all of the Minyar agreed to follow him to Aman. The Silmarillion says, "The first host was led by Ingwe, the most high lord of all the Elvish race. He entered into Valinor and sits at the feet of the Powers, and all the Elves revere his name; but he came never back, nor looked again upon Middle-earth. The Vanyar were his people; they are the Fair Elves, the beloved of Manwe and Varda, and few among Men have spoken with them."

Now, some people point to that phrase, "the most high lord of all the Elvish race", and argue that it refers to Ingwe's status among the Elves at the time the Great Journey began. But it is a descriptive phrase which reflects the indeterminate tense of the paragraph. The next sentence, for example, reads "He entered into Valinor and sits at the feet of the Powers". The mixture of past and present tense in a single sentence would surely merit a red mark for most people, but Tolkien is using the two tenses to imply a boundless life for Ingwe. Of the three ambassadors, he was the only one who was not slain. And we know (from late writings) that Finwe eventually elected not to return to life, so that Miriel could live again. Thingol may or may not have emerged from the Halls of Mandos. But Ingwe lives and sits at the feet of the Powers. So, although he is now "the most high of all the Elvish race", when did he become so? We don't know.

But we do know that Finwe married Ingwe's niece, Indis. In an earlier conception she was Ingwe's sister. Even if some doubt lingers about Ingwe's age, it is impossible to identify him with Imin because Ingwe has at least one sibling, a sister who is Indis' mother. Indis was originally described as "of the kin of Ingwe", and this passage was altered to "sister of Ingwe" ("Morgoth's Ring", p. 207). Eventually, in "The Shibboleth of Feanor", Tolkien notes that "she is said to have been the daughter of King Ingwe's sister" ("The Peoples of Middle-earth", p. 343). In the final conception, therefore, Ingwe has a sister and he cannot possibly be identified with the sisterless Imin. At the very least, Ingwe and his sister must be second-generation Elves, and they could be further removed from Imin and Iminye (and that assumes they were descended from Imin and Iminye).

Of Ingwe himself, little more may be said. We are told he never returned to Middle-earth. The original Ingwe, from The Book of Lost Tales, led all the Elves back to Europe in a failed attempt to rescue the Elves who had been defeated by Morgoth. In early versions of "Quenta Silmarillion", it was Ingwiel, finally Ingwion, Ingwe's son, who led the host of the Vanyar back to Middle-earth in the War of Wrath ("The War of the Jewels", p. 246). We thus know of at least six members of Ingwe's family: his (unnamed) father and mother, the unnamed sister, Ingwe's spouse, their son Ingwion, and Indis, the daughter of the unnamed sister. Ingwe's family could indeed have been much larger. He could have come with assorted aunts, uncles, cousins, daughters, younger sons, etc. But because the Vanyar were less prone to rebellion than the Noldor, and therefore less bound up with tragedy, their stories are not preserved in the histories of Middle-earth.

One Vanya did travel into exile: Elenwe, Turgon's wife. People sometimes ask if she might have been related to Ingwe. If the naming convention requires that "in-" or "ing-" be utilized, then I would say that Elenwe came of a different Vanyarin family. But that is only conjecture, as Tolkien seems never to have considered the issue (and in any event she could have been related to Ingwe by marriage if not by blood). Glorfindel is another puzzling figure, and people are tempted (because of his golden hair) to ask if he might not have been a Vanya or half-Noldo/half-Vanya who followed Turgon. My feeling is that Tolkien's statement in the LoTR appendix about only the children of Finarfin having golden hair among the Noldor must be taken with a grain of salt. That statement was added to the Second Edition in 1965 and by that time Tolkien appears to have forgotten that the Elvenking of The Hobbit (Legolas' father Thranduil) and an unnamed Elf of Lorien both are said to have golden hair. The association of the Vanyar with golden hair appears to be a late idea, or one which Tolkien abandoned and returned to more than once. Idril Celebrindal had golden hair, too, and she was not of the House of Finarfin, but rather was Turgon's daughter by Elenwe.

Elwe's family produces a few mysteries, too. For example, in Unfinished Tales Christopher Tolkien mentions "Thingol's brother Elmo -- a shadowy figure about whom nothing is told save that he was the younger brother of Elwe (Thingol) and Olwe, and was 'beloved of Elwe with whom he remained'." Elmo was presumed to be the grandfather of Celeborn through a son named Galadhon. Celeborn had a brother, Galathil, who was the father of Nimloth, Dior's wife in The Silmarilion. Many years later, Tolkien decided that Celeborn was an Elf of Aman, a grandson of Olwe. Such a relationship would have made him Galadriel's first cousin, and such a marriage was supposed to be forbidden or at least disapproved of by the Eldar. Many people like to argue that this was Tolkien's final decision on Celeborn and therefore it should be accepted, but the problem is that Celeborn's ancestry in Aman does not fit with the published texts. There is, in fact, little explanation for how Celeborn and Galadriel should arrive in Middle-earth, and it's impossible to reconcile Galadriel's history as established in The Road Goes Ever On with this late conception of Celeborn, in which she and Celeborn had the Valar's permission to leave Aman before Feanor launched his rebellion.

In The Lord of the Rings, Celeborn is presented as a Sindarin Elf, related to Thingol of Doriath. But this information came late, too. Celeborn was originally conceived as a Wood Elf, according to Christopher Tolkien. He may have been silver-haired like Thingol, but he was not an Elda at all. As the years passed and Tolkien developed the Silmarillion mythology more fully, Celeborn became an important validation of Thingol's family. That is, Thingol had to have relatives, so that it would be clear he was not all alone in the woods. The Silmarillion tells us that Thingol's friends and kinsfolk mostly stayed behind to search for him. Doriath must have been a pretty cozy little place the first thousand years or so, and it would have been hard to cheat at cards because everyone knew everyone else.

Hence, if Olwe had to take most of the Teleri over Sea, then Elwe Thingol had to have other relatives who stayed behind. Celeborn's ancestry was thus moved over to the Elwean tree and he became Elwe's grand-nephew. Celeborn's wisdom is thus also transferred to the Eldar. Although some people smirk at Celeborn, who but for one reproach by Galadriel comes off as the wiser of the two in several critical areas, he is nonetheless Celeborn the Wise. Should a Wood Elf be as wise as an Elda, whose people have been tutored by the Valar and Maiar, which association the Wood Elves eschewed?

Cirdan is another of Elwe's kinsmen. Like Celeborn and Elwe, Cirdan is silver-haired (grey-haired in The Lord of the Rings). Earwen, the daughter of Olwe and Galadriel's mother, also has silver hair, and it is strongly implied that Celebrian, the daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn, may also be silver haired. Although Tolkien never assigns a significance to the silver hair, he uses it to bind Elwe's family together with a symbol of royalty. The slver hair seems to have been a mark of the family, and perhaps no other Elves would have had silver hair. But the trait does not always appear in the family lines. For example, in "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin" ("Unfinished Tales"), Voronwe tells Tuor that he is the son of Aranwe (a Noldo, whom Voronwe later on claims is "of the House of Fingolfin") and a Sindarin lady who was related to Cirdan. Although we never hear of a Mrs. Cirdan, if Voronwe's mother is only related by marriage to Cirdan, then she need not be silver-haired. But if she is silver-haired, should Voronwe have the silver hair?

Cirdan's family is not further elucidated, although it seems to me that Tolkien missed a great opportunity to expand the legends of Beleriand. Cirdan could have had one or two sons who fell in the wars of Beleriand. Imagine a Cirdanwion making a valiant last stand as Brithombar was overrun by Orcs, and Cirdan had to watch his brave son fall beneath enemy swords while his ship, the last to leave the quays, moved out. Perhaps Tolkien would have had Cirdan's son leap onto the quays to sacrifice himself in a heroic holding action.

Of course, Cirdan was also a close friend to the Dunedain. He apparently spent a lot of time with Aldarion, who learned a great deal from Cirdan about constructing sea-walls and harbors. A son or grandson of Cirdan could have made an impact in the War of the Elves and Sauron, or even the War of the Last Alliance. But there seems little room for Cirdanic heroics in those two wars. Cirdan's personal moment of tragedy was probably the fall of the Falas. Everything after that was just an extension of his life toward the War of the Ring. Cirdan's mark in Beleriand was the Falas.

Eol is another Thingolian kinsman, at least in some conceptions. "Quendi and Eldar" supposes that Eol is a Tatyarin Elf, one of the Avari, who resents the Noldor. In a note attached to the text, Christopher Tolkien writes: "It is curious that -- as in the original text of Maeglin, where he was 'of the kin of Thingol' -- in my father's very late work on the story Eol becomes again 'one of the Eldar'...." Eol is generally accepted as one of Thingol's relatives, but we only have it so because that is how Christopher compressed the story of Maeglin for The Silmarillion. "The Shibboleth of Feanor", which appears to be the most authoritative treatment of the Finwean genealogy, makes no mention of Eol (in fact, it appears to confuse Ireth, a name for Aredhel, with Idril in one passage).

If we put all the pieces together, we may contrive several family trees for Elwe and Olwe, but none of them are very satisfying. I doubt that Eol and Cirdan would have been brothers. They just seem to be too different in temperament and proclivities to have had much association with one another. Hence, I think there would have to be three branches of the family: the primary branch, consisting of Elwe, Olwe, and possibly Elmo (although the name doesn't seem to fit well) and their descendants; Cirdan (originally called Nowe, according to an essay published in "The Peoples of Middle-earth") and his "kin", perhaps a sister or several siblings and their descendants, including Voronwe; and Eol, who would not have had any siblings.

If we accept this as the working genealogy, there would have to be at least two generations missing from the tree. Enel and Enelya could have been the grandparents. Some people seem to be compelled to insist that would have to be so, and I know of no reason to argue otherwise. There would have to be at least three siblings, the eldest of whom would be the father or mother of Elwe, Olwe, and Elmo. However, limiting the family to three generations like this makes Doriath seem awful empty. The text says that Thingol's friends and kinsmen stayed behind, but I get the impression that he had a lot of relatives. Now, I don't mean hundreds. But keeping Elwe in the third generation just makes it all too tight and cozy. A lot of time elapsed between the awakening of the Elves and the Great Jouney. I think Tolkien eventually came to realize this and that is why he began making the genealogical explanations much vaguer. He was leaving himself room to fill out the family trees, or to at least introduce new cousins and kinsmen later on, if the need arose.

Even Beleg and Mablung could have eventually become kinsmen of Thingol (although I would not find that satisfying -- it's nice to know there are other families which can produce a few lords and heroes). And, too, some people like to see Oropher and his son Thranduil as kinsmen of Thingol who wandered into the eastern lands of Middle-earth hoping to revive the spirit of Doriath. Keeping them in the family would provide an adequate context for Celeborn's cryptic "Too seldom do my kindred journey hither from the North" in "The Mirror of Galadriel" (a statement which seems to clearly imply that Celeborn is a Wood Elf, since Legolas has already declared himself to be "of the Silvan Folk" in "The Ring Goes South").

So, if Oropher is another cousin, we either have to introduce a fourth sibling in the second generation (not really a problem, actually) or we have to insist on a four-generation tree leading down to Thingol and the boys.

Then there is the unnamed Sindarin lady whom Orodreth married. Adding her to the family of Elwe and Olwe is, in my opinion, a stretch. She came from northern Beleriand, apparently the region of Dorthonion, and must have been the daughter of the chief of the Sindar in that region. Such a leader would have been the Elvish equivalent of a clan-lord, perhaps himself a very ancient Elf or the son of one of the ancient Elves who made the Great Journey. When the Noldor first divided the empty lands of northern Beleriand among themselves, Finrod and his brothers were given the upper Vale of Sirion and Dorthonion.

When Thingol gave Nargothrond to Finrod, he moved south and Angrod moved into the Vale of Sirion, leaving Dorthonion to Aegnor. Angrod's wife was Eldalote (Sindarin Edhellos) and their son was Orodreth. Orodreth's children were Gil-galad and Finduilas. Finduilas had golden hair, like her foremother Indis, but Gil-galad does not seem to have been golden-haired or silver-haired. His most famous name, "Gil-galad" (Star-radiance), refers to "his helm and mail, and his shield overlaid with silver and set with a device of white stars, shone from afar like a star in sunlight or moonlight and could be seen by Elvish eyes at a great distance if he stood upon a height."

Author: Michael Martinez
Published on: August 26, 2001
Michael Martinez is the author of Visualizing Middle-earth

The Daily Tolkien articles by various authors	The Tolkien Virgin articles by Mark-Edmond
ARTICLES 01-10
ARTICLES 11-20
ARTICLES 21-30	ARTICLES 01-10
ARTICLES 31-40	11) Of the Sindar
41) Love in the Trees	12) Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor
42) The Philosophical Etymology Of Hobbit	13) Of Men
43) Exploring Tolkien's Fourth Age
44) Origin and History of the Ents
45) It's all in the family: The Elweans and Ingweans

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