Sundering of the Elves

They awoke at Cuiviénen on the continent of Middle-earth, where they were divided into three tribes: Minyar (the Firsts), Tatyar (the Seconds) and Nelyar (the Thirds).

The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey writes that The Silmarillion derived from the linguistic relationship between the two languages, Quenya and Sindarin, of the divided Elves.

[1] He created a family of invented languages for Elves, carefully designing the differences between them to reflect their distance from their imaginary common origin.

[2][3] In Tolkien's legendarium, the Elves awoke at Cuiviénen, a bay on the eastern side of the Sea of Helcar, on the continent of Middle-earth, where they were divided into three tribes: Minyar (the Firsts), Tatyar (the Seconds) and Nelyar (the Thirds).

[5] Those of the Teleri who reached Beleriand by the Great Sea but chose not to cross to Valinor were later called the Sindar (Grey Elves); their language was Sindarin.

[5] Those who chose to remain behind and populated the lands to the north-west of Beleriand were called the Mithrim or Grey People, giving their name to the region and the great lake there.

[T 4] Those of the Teleri who refused to cross the Misty Mountains and stayed in the valley of Anduin were called the Nandor (Those [Elves] who turn back).

Hearing of the peaceful territories of King Thingol, Denethor, son of Lenwë, collected as many of his scattered people as he could and finally ventured westward over the Ered Luin into Ossiriand.

[T 6] Their small clan was founded by Imin, the first Elf to awaken at Cuiviénen, with his wife Iminyë and their twelve companions: they broadly correspond to the Minyar.

[T 7][T 8] After the War of Wrath that ended the First Age, the greater part of the surviving Noldor and Sindar (mostly mingled into a single people) returned into the West to dwell in Tol Eressëa.

The rest remained in Middle-earth throughout the Second and Third Ages, entering the realm of Mirkwood of the Wood Elves or establishing the kingdoms of Lindon, Eregion, Lothlórien and Rivendell.

[T 3] After the Separation the Avari became divided even more than the Eldar, though little of their history became known to the Elves and Men of the West of Middle-earth, and they barely feature in the legendarium.

[5] Shippey suggests that the "real root" of The Silmarillion lay in the linguistic relationship, complete with sound-changes and differences of semantics, between the two languages of the divided elves.

This picture of increasing separation is analogous to the progressive decline and fall in Middle-earth from its initial perfection, of which the Sundering of the Elves is a major element.

Tolkien thus intended ancestry to be a guide to character; the differences between the various Elvish languages mirror both the Sundering and the events of The Silmarillion.

Arda in the First Age . The Elves awoke at Cuiviénen, on the Sea of Helcar (right) in Middle-earth , and many of them (green titles for kindreds) migrated (arrows) westwards to Valinor in Aman, though some stopped in Beleriand (top), and others returned to Beleriand later (red arrows). Those who obeyed the summons to Aman were known as the Eldar; the rest, the Avari or refusers. Those who saw the light of the Two Trees of Valinor in the blessed land of Aman were called Calaquendi, Elves of Light; those who did not were called the Moriquendi, Elves of Darkness. Locations are diagrammatic. [ 5 ] [ T 1 ]
Sketch map of Beleriand . Thingol's forest realm of Doriath with its Sindar Elves is in the centre; the Noldor cities of Gondolin and Nargothrond are to its northwest and southwest respectively. Ossiriand is in the southeast.
Elves were associated with light and darkness in Norse mythology . [ 2 ] 1866 painting Elfplay by August Malmström
Diagram of the Sundering of the Elves, showing Tolkien's overlapping classifications. The names Calaquendi and Moriquendi, Light-Elves and Dark-Elves, correspond to names used in Old Norse , Ljósálfar and Dökkálfar . [ 2 ]
Elvish Languages Mapped to Kindreds and Migrations: Languages (such as Quenya ) are shown in Boldface Blue; examples are the words for "Elves" in those languages (such as "Quendi" ), shown in Italic Black. These are overlaid on a map of Arda , with Aman on the left, Middle-earth on the right, the arrows and Green labels showing the migrations of the Elvish kindreds. The highest Elves who went to Aman and saw the light of the Two Trees of Valinor spoke a single ancient language, Quenya. Those Noldor who returned from Aman to Beleriand instead adopted Sindarin , a Telerin language. The lowest Elves, the Avari, fragmented into many kindreds with different languages. [ T 1 ] [ 5 ]