Arda Kompendium

The Great Journey of the Eldar

the long wandering of the Elves from Cuiviénen to the West

termgreat journeyeldarelvescuivienencalaquendimoriquendi

The Call

When the Elves awoke at the starlit lake of Cuiviénen far in the East, the Valar did not at once know of them. It was Oromë the Huntsman who, riding beyond the mountains upon his great horse, came upon the new people and declared them the Firstborn; and in the counsel of the Valar it was resolved that the Elves should be summoned to the West, where the Valar dwelt beneath the Light of the Trees.

Oromë chose three ambassadors from among the hosts — Ingwë (later of the Vanyar), Finwë (of the Noldor) and Elwë (of the Teleri, afterwards called Thingol). These three were taken to Aman and shown the wonder of Valinor; when they returned to their people they spoke so warmly of the Light that many of the Elves chose to follow. The people had already divided into three kindreds — the Minyar (who became the Vanyar), the Tatyar (the Noldor) and the Nelyar (the Teleri) — and of each the ambassador was their lord.

The March

The Great Journey began: three hosts set out from the East in the dark before the rising of the Sun, guided by Oromë. The way was long — years upon years — over rivers and mountains, through the secret lands of the old world; and the hosts did not travel alike:

  • The Vanyar, the fewest, marched swiftest, ever nearest the huntsman’s horn.
  • The Noldor, next, were strong and eager.
  • The Teleri, the greatest of the three, were the slowest and most reluctant; they loved the wide meadows and the bright waters of the journey, and lingered longest in the lands through which they passed.

The Sundering on the Road

flowchart TB C["The Elves awake at Cuiviénen"] C --> D["The Valar send for them; Oromë the Huntsman rides in the East"] D --> E["Three kindreds begin the Great Journey"] E --> F["The Vanyar reach Aman — they see the Light of the Trees"] E --> G["The Noldor reach Aman — they see the Light"] E --> H["The Teleri — the greatest and the slowest host"] H --> I["The Nandor turn aside at the great river (Lenwë)"] H --> J["Elwë lingers; the Sindar stay in Beleriand"] H --> K["The Teleri halt at the Sea"] I --> L["Sundered and 'dark' — the Moriquendi, who never saw the Light"] J --> L K --> M["Ulmo's island is drawn; Ossë and Uinen ferry the host"] M --> N["The Falmari at last reach Alqualondë, the Sea-elves of Aman"]

On the long way the Elves were parted again and again, and the parting set the names of all the kindreds:

  • Some would not go at all and remained in the East; these are the Avari, “the Unwilling”.
  • At the great river of the East many of the Teleri under Lenwë turned aside and were lost to the westward; these are the Nandor, and from them came the Green-elves and the Silvan Elves.
  • In the deep woods of Beleriand Elwë, walking alone, was lost in wonder of the Maia Melian; his people waited and sought, and in the end the great host of the Teleri passed on without him, and Elwë’s kindred — the Sindar of Doriath — stayed for ever in Beleriand. From their number came the folk of Círdan, the Falathrim of the western havens.
  • Those who would not cross the Sea, or who never saw the Light of the Trees, are the Moriquendi, the “Elves of the darkness”; those who did see it are the Calaquendi, the “Elves of the Light” — the Vanyar, the Noldor, and at last the Sea-elves.

The Sea and the Crossing

At last the Teleri came to the great sea of the West, and the sight of the ocean amazed them — the first Elves ever to see the Sea — and they learned to love it. There they halted a long age, till the Valar sent help: Ulmo drew the great island of Tol Eressëa westward as a ferry, and Ossë and Uinen drove it slowly across the sea, bearing the Teleri. For many years the Sea-elves dwelt upon the Lonely Isle, still within sight of Middle-earth, before (at Ossë’s urging and with Ulmo’s consent) they came at last ashore at the haven of Alqualondë in Aman — known thence as the Falmari, the Sea-elves.

The Meaning

The Great Journey is the seed of the whole tale: it brings the Vanyar, the Noldor and the Falmari into the Light — and so into the long memory that would make the Silmarils and the Rings possible — while it sets the Sindar, the Nandor, the Silvan folk and the distant Avari in the darkness of the Moriquendi. The whole later legendarium, the exile, the wars, the loves between the kindreds, grows from the roads that were taken and not taken upon that long march. The later annals (in Unfinished Tales and the History of Middle-earth) preserve other shapes and other numbers of the journey, but the meaning is one: the Elvenkind sundered by time and longing, and by the Light they did or did not grasp.

Verknüpfte Seiten

CuiviénenOromëThe Undying LandsAvariNandorMelianSindarElvesThe Sundering of the ElvesVanyarNoldorTeleriThingolConcordance — A to Z
Werke: die Quellen sind seitenübergreifend die Bücher von J.R.R. und Christopher Tolkien (Silmarillion, Hobbit, Herr der Ringe, Unfinished Tales, History of Middle-earth, Nature of Middle-earth u. a.) — eigene Zusammenfassung. Siehe die Concordance und den README der Quelle für die Einzelbelege.
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