elves

Elves

Elves have always been shadowy figures in the older legends. They seem to have always been in stories. In older times they were thought of as being a short, slim people that dwelled in the great forests. People would associate them with the fey. It was thought that they were almost spirits, either protecting the sacred wood or playing tricks on mortals. In the older stories elves were depicted more as pixies or gnomes than what we think of as elves today. It was the author Tolkein that first took elves out of the pixie and into the elf.

Tolkien described the elves in his books as being tall, slender, fair, and with the light of Valar in their eyes. Tolkien also said that the elves were imortal. This is how Tolkien told of the beginnings of the elves...

A long time ago, back in the Eldar days, when the Elves were just awoken and called themselves the Quendi 'Those who speak with voices'. They met Oromë (one of the Valar) who said that they could come to Valinor (A land of light for the Earth at that time had no sun). Most of the Elves wanted to go to Valinor, they where called the Eldar, 'People of the stars'. But there were also some Elves who wouldn't go they were called The Avari or 'Unwilling'. They disapeared out of the stories and songs and nothing was heard from them again. The elves later left Valinor for various reasons and came back to Middle Earth when the sun was created. There, they met the first humans and they set up great kingdoms. After many ages they finally left Middle Earth and returned to the lands of Valinor. Mankind was barred from Valinor because they were not imortal and were doomed to die. Thus in time the earth was left to the race of men.

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