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Map adapted from "The Atlas of Middle Earth" by Karen Wynn Fonstad
As told in previous chapters, the hosts of the Elves had been led to the BELEGAER SEA by OROMË, and they settled around the RIVER GELION while he took counsel with the other Valar deciding the best way to cross the Belegaer Sea to Aman.
In the north, the two continents of AMAN and MIDDLE-EARTH bent toward each other until they were almost touching; the only thing separating them was a narrow sea full of dangerous, grinding ice. Oromë did not want to bring the Elves that way.
Then ULMO came to the shores of Middle-earth and spoke with the ELDAR who waited there. Ulmo had composed special music on his pipes for the Elves which turned their fear of the sea to desire. After he played, he uprooted an island and then anchored it in the Bay of Balar at the mouth of the Sirion. The VANYAR and the NOLDOR climbed aboard. Ulmo started to move the island out to sea, but the eastern part of the island was deep-grounded and broke off as they started. This piece of the island became the ISLE OF BALAR where afterward, OSSË often came to talk with the remaining Elves.
Ulmo pulled the rest of the island to the shores beneath the mountains of Aman; there the Vanyar and Noldor entered Valinor and were welcomed to its bliss.
The TELERI remained behind. They had not heard the summons of Ulmo until too late; many were still searching for ELWË, their lord, and without him, they were unwilling to depart. When they learned that the hosts of INGWË and FINWË had gone, they left the woods and hills to settle near the sea. They chose to live near the mouths of the Sirion filled longing for their friends who had departed. They remained by the coast for long ages; there OSSË and UINEN befriended them. Ossë instructed them, sitting on the rock near the land. From him, the Teleri learned sea-lore and sea-music. Thus, the Teleri who loved the waters from the beginning and were the fairest singers of the Elves, became enamoured of the sea, and their songs were filled with the sound of waves upon the shore.
Finwë, king of the Noldor, pleaded with Ulmo as the years passed to bring the Teleri to Valinor, if they would come. As the years passed, the Teleri were indeed willing, but Ossë and Uinen grieved that they would never again hear the fair voices of the Teleri. Ossë persuaded some of the Teleri to remain; they became the FALATHIM, the Elves of the Falas. They built the havens of Brithombar and Eglarest and when they learned to build ships, became the first mariners in Middle-earth. They chose CÍRDAN the Shipwright as their lord.
The kinsman and friends of Elwë Singollo also remained behind seeking him. Had he been found, they would have departed for Valinor to dwell in the light of the trees. Time finally ran out; the host who followed Olwë were gathered to the sea. Ulmo again brought the island to take them to Valinor.
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Elwë finally awoke from his long trance. He emerged from NAN ELMOTH with MELIAN and together they lived in the woods in the midst of the land. Although Elwë desired to look upon the Two Trees again, the light of Aman was in the face of Melian and in that light he was content. When he emerged, his people gathered around him in great joy, and were amazed at the change in his appearance. He was fair and noble before; now he appeared as a lord of the Maiar; his hair was silver-grey, and he had become the tallest of the Children of Ilúvatar.
Ulmo continued to pull the island with the Teleri across the Belegaer Sea. Within sight of the bay of Eldamar in Aman, Ossë, who had been following the host, called to them. Seeing Ossë following, the Teleri begged Ulmo to stop and Ulmo knowing the hearts of the Teleri, let Ossë root the island in the foundations of the sea. Ulmo had spoken against the summons to Valinor for he felt that the Quendi should remain in Middle-earth. The island remained before the bay and was named Tol Eressëa, the Lonely Isle. Finwë grieved that the Teleri did not leave the island and join them in Aman. But the Teleri lived as they wished; they were under the stars of heaven but within sight of the Blessed Realm.
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| The Calacirya "Pass of Light". The city of Alqualondë is at the base of the moutains. Picture by Ted Nasmith |
Within Valinor, the Vanyar and the Noldor were given a land and dwellings, but in that brightly lit land, they still longed at times to see the stars. The Valar felt their longing, and caused a mighty rift in the mountains of the Pelóri, wide enough to for a valley to run down to the Sea. A great hill was raised in the middle of the Valley; it was called TÚNA. Half the hill was bathed in the light of the Trees while the Eastern side of the hill was in shadow. The pass was called the CALACIRYA, the Pass of Light; the light of the Trees streamed down to the waters of the sea, highlighting the dark waves in silver and gold. The Light touched the Western side of the Lonely Isle, and there the shore grew green and fair.
On the crown on Túna the Elves built the city of Tirion with white walls and terraces. The tallest tower of the city was called Mindon Eldaliéva, the Tower of Ingwë. This tower was equipped with a lamp that could be seen far out to sea. Upon the hill of Túna, in the city of Tirion the Vanyar and the Noldor lived long in fellowship.
In the courts beneath the Mindon, Yavanna made a tree for the Elves that was the image of Telperion; unlike Telperion, this tree did not give light of its own being. The Elves loved this white tree the most of all the things in Valinor. They called it Galathilion in the Sindarin tongue, and its seedlings were numerous and flourish. One of these seedlings was planted in Tol Eressëa where it flourished and, as is elsewhere told, was the stock from which came Nimloth, the White Tree of Númenor.
Of all the Elves, Manwë and Varda most loved the Vanyar, the Fair Elves. Aulë loved the Noldor and he and his people often came among them. The Noldor learned many things, but so great was their thirst for knowledge and so great was their skill and craftsmanship that they soon surpassed their teachers. They had a great love of words and always tried to find names more fitting for all the things they knew or imagined. After quarrying in the hills for stones (for they delighted in building high towers), the Noldor came across the first rough gems, and brought them back. They devised many tools for the cutting and shaping of gems, and carved them in many forms. They gave them out freely and by their labour, enriched all of Valinor.
What follows here is the list of the leading family of the Noldor. The Noldor was led by Finwë, the King of the Noldor. Finwë was first espoused to Míriel Serindë; their child was Fëanor. As is told in a later tale, Míriel departed her body to enter the Halls of Mandos, and Finwë took a second spouse, Indis of the Vanyar. Their sons were Fingolfin and Finarfin. Fëanor was the mightiest in skill of word and of hand, more learned than his brothers and his spirit burned as a flame. Fingolfin was the strongest, the most steadfast and the most valiant. Finarfin was the fairest, the wisest of heart and became friends with the sons of Olwë, lord of the Teleri, and took to wife Eärwen, Olwë's daughter.
Fëanor had seven sons: Maedhros the Tall, Maglor the mighty singer, Celegorm the fair, Caranthir the dark, Curufin the crafty, who inherited his father's skills, and Amrod and Amras the twins.
Fingolfin had two sons and a daughter; Fingon, who eventually became King of the Noldor, Turgon who built the city of Gondolin and became its lord, and Aredhel the White. She was sometimes called Ar-Fieniel, the White Lady of the Noldor, for though her hair was dark, she never dressed in anything but silver and white, to go with her pale and luminous skin.
Finarfin had four sons and a daughter; his sons Finrod (who later became Finrod Felagund, Lord of the Caves), Orodreth, Angrod and Aegnor. These four were as close to the sons of Fingolfin as if they were all brothers. Galadriel was Finarfin's only daughter, the most beautiful of all of the house of Finwë; her hair was lit with gold as if it had captured the radiance of the tree of Laurelin.
Before beginning the history of the Noldor and the Silmarils, the story of how the Teleri came to the Land of Aman must be told. Through long ages they dwelt on the island of Tol Eressëa, with the light of the trees reaching their island through the Pass of the Calacirya. Their hearts slowly turned toward the light, and they were torn between their love for the sea and the desire to see their kin again on the shore. Ulmo, finally submitting to the will of the Valar, sent Ossë to teach them the craft of shipbuilding. When their ships were finished, many strong swans were sent to pull the ships over the windless sea to the shores of Eldamar.
There the Teleri dwelt on the shore where they could see the light of the trees, where they could walk the golden streets of Valmar or climb the crystal stairs of Tirion upon the hill of Túna if they wished. Their greatest pleasure was to sail in their swift ships on the waters of the Bay of Elvenhome. Many jewels the Noldor gave to them, opals and diamonds and pale crystals which they scattered upon the shores and pools. Many pearls they took for themselves from the sea; they made their halls of pearl along with the mansions of Olwë their lord. They built the city of Alqualondë, the Haven of the Swans, and lit it with many lamps.
As the ages past, the Vanyar grew to love the full light of the trees and they left Tirion to dwell around the mountain of Manwë, or about the plains and woods of Valinor, where they lived in bliss. But the Noldor ever remembered Middle-earth under the stars, so they lived in the Calacirya within the sound of the western sea. The people of Túna and Alqualondë drew closer in those days when Finwë was king in Tirion and Olwë was king in Alqualondë. Ingwë, king of the Vanyar was still held as the High King of the Elves, but he lived on Taniquetil at the feet of Manwë.
Fëanor and his sons seldom stayed in one place for long, but traveled far and wide through Valinor, finding the cold shores of the Outer Sea. They were often guests of Aulë, but Celegorm went more often to the house of Oromë. There he learned much about birds and beasts and learned all their tongues. All the creatures of Middle-earth also lived in the land of Aman, except for the evil and corrupted beasts of Melkor. There were also creatures that were never seen in Middle-earth, not now, nor since the fashion of the world has changed.