Setting-wide: Peoples and Races, Sauron The Silmarillion: Eru and the Ainur, Enemies, First-Generation Elven Royalty, the House of Fëanor, the House of Fingolfin The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Free Men, the Elves, the Forces of Sauron, Other Characters
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The First Generation of Elven Royalty
Notice that all the characters in this folder aren't necessarily of the first generation of Elves, but they're the founding members of the royal Elven houses. Most of the plot of The Silmarillion stems from the drama they started.
Ingwë
The High King of the first Elven clan, the Vanyar or Fair Elves. Also considered to be the High King of all Elves. Ingwë was one of the three envoys brought to Valinor by Oromë, making him one of the first Elves to see the light of the Two Trees. All of his people, the Vanyar, followed him to the West, and only a few took part in Fëanor's rebellion. Ingwë never again set foot on Middle-earth, and rules all the Elves of Valinor from Taniquetil, beneath the throne of Manwë. His niece Indis married Finwë.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: The ruler of the Fair Elves, the wisest and holiest of the elven peoples, who almost all have golden hair. Unlike the other two clans, every last one emigrated to Valinor, where they live especially close to the Valar. Many other golden-haired elves in the story, such as Finrod and Galadriel, inherited theirs from his niece, Indis.
- Meaningful Name: Christopher Tolkien notes that his name is probably a reference to "Yngvi," an alternate name for the god Frey, king of the light-elves in Norse Mythology.
- Minor Major Character: For someone called "The High King of all Elves", Ingwë doesn't really get a say in the events of the Years of the Trees. Which is especially noticeable when the strife in the house of Finwë presumably happened in his territory.
- Out of Focus: Compared to fellow kings and ambassadors, Finwë and Elwë he doesn't really do much in story and never gets much characterization.
- Royal Blood: Having him in your family tree instantly makes you a person of importance, and many characters in the Legendarium indeed are his relatives in a way or another. It goes as far as Eldarion, the son of Aragorn and Arwen.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Mentioned specifically for being a rare Middle-earth aversion. While he is looked up as the Highest of the High, after leading his people into Valinor he ceases to be an active part of the story. His influence is only seen through his descendants.
Finwë
The High King of the second Elven clan, the Ñoldor or Deep Elves. Finwë accompanied Ingwë and his dear friend Elwë as the first Elves to see Valinor. His first wife, Míriel, died not long after giving birth to their son Fëanor, and he married Indis, Ingwë's niece. However, it didn't work as well as he hoped. When Fëanor was exiled from Tirion for threatening to murder his half-brother Fingolfin, Finwë went with him to Formenos out of love. Melkor slew Finwë there when he stole the Silmarils, making Finwë the first victim of violence and murder in the Blessed Realm.
- Divorce Requires Death: Finwë's intention of getting married to Indis after Míriel's death causes much ado, as from the point of view of the Valar and the Elves, this would have meant he had two wives. Eventually, the Valar decided they can get married, but only if Míriel remains in the Halls of Mandos forever. Finwë initially just hopes the news will convince Míriel to finally come back to life, but she refuses, so he remarries.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Ultimately. After he dies and meets Míriel again in the Halls of Mandos, he tells her all that has happened since her death, and she starts to yearn to live again. Because the Valar have decided he cannot have two living wives, he chooses to stay dead himself so that Míriel can return to life. Even Mandos approves.
- Love Epiphany: While still mourning Míriel, he walks up the mountain of Taniquetil where Ingwë's family lives, and seeing him Indis is so happy she spontaneously bursts into a song. Hearing her singing makes Finwë realize their mutual feelings.
- Love Hurts: Oh does it ever... when your wife dies and you know you will never join her.
- Love Triangle: He was originally married to and had children with Míriel. She died, and in time he remarried to Indis, and had children with her as well. This caused serious problems later on, once the Elves reached Valinor and he re-encountered Míriel in the Halls of Mandos, since this meant that he effectively had two wives and needed to choose between them.
- The Mourning After: After Míriel's death he spent a long time mourning her passing and grew noticeably colder.
- Parents as People: Tries his best to be a good husband and a father, but he is somewhat biased towards Fëanor, and he doesn't always make the best of choices. Both in-universe and in the fandom, some consider his decision to marry Indis to be a mistake in the first place.
- Parent with New Paramour: Though Fëanor never gives it a chance, even refusing to live with them and moving out as soon as he could after the marriage.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The only High King the Ñoldor can agree on.
- Suddenly Suitable Suitor: To Indis. She had loved him since long ago, but because he was already married, she thought it would never be. Then he became a widower...
Míriel
Finwë's first wife and the mother of Fëanor. Giving birth to him exhausted her of all her strength, and she first retired to Lórien to heal; her soul then departed her body and willingly passed into the Halls of Mandos. She refused to return to the world of the living even though Finwë begged her many times. Because of this, Finwë was granted the right to marry Indis on the condition Míriel would never return, as no Elf could have two living wives by Valarin law. Finwë and the Valar's insistence upon her return is specifically cited as cementing her in her decision to do the opposite.
Míriel is also remembered as a great seamstress and the inventor of embroidery.
Míriel is also remembered as a great seamstress and the inventor of embroidery.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Wonderfully Averted. When she hears about all that happened after her death, she isn't one bit jealous of Indis, but she is glad that she made Finwë happier.
- Death by Childbirth: An unusual example of the trope: she doesn't die in childbirth or immediately after, but she becomes so exhausted and weary of life that she desires death and doesn't last much longer. This is attributed to the fact that Fëanor was borne to be so formidable, so she had to give up a great part of herself for him to come to be. Sometimes interpreted as the extreme, Elven equivalent of post-partum depression.
- First Girl Wins: It seems like she loses and Indis is victorious, but it becomes more and more clear that even when he is with Indis, Finwë can't forget Míriel, and in the end, their marriage is more or less over. Finwë claims he loves them both just as much.
- Insistent Terminology: She speaks an archaic form of Quenya that has fallen out of use with the other Ñoldor (though it is still spoken by the Vanyar), and insists that her epithet at least is pronounced as she prefers it ("Therindë" instead of "Serindë".) Fëanor and his sons maintain the pronunciation difference in her memory, and it turns into a political shibboleth after Morgoth starts sowing discord in Valinor.
- Missing Mom: To Fëanor, unique in that she was the first and only Elf that we know of who chose to die and never reincarnate.
- Motor Mouth: Not quite. She is proud of her skill to speak fast while remaining understandable.
- Pride: Fëanor inherited his from her, along with a stubborn streak wider than a continent.
Indis
The Vanyarin niece of High King Ingwë, the second wife of High King Finwë, and the mother of Fingolfin, Finarfin, and their two sisters, Findis and Írimë, who do not appear in the published Silmarillion. Indis had loved Finwë for a long time, and when he was widowed she brought joy back into his life. However, Míriel's shadow didn't leave their family.
- The Cutie: Sweet, pretty, feminine, likes dancing and singing. Be sure bad things happen to her loved ones.
- Devoted to You: Devoted to Finwë even though it seemed impossible she could ever get him.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: What little we know of Indis seems to indicate that she is very gentle, kind, and patient like all of her Vanyarin kin. She also possesses the golden hair of the Vanyar, this being one of the reasons she was given the epithet 'The Fair', the other being her great beauty. She passed the trait of golden Vanyarin hair to her youngest son Finarfin and his children, who were the only Ñoldorin noble house to sport fair hair, most famously through her granddaughter Galadriel, who became famous for her glorious, shiny silver-gold tresses.
- Outliving One's Offspring: She outlives her son Fingolfin, her grandsons Fingon, Turgon, Argon, Finrod, Angrod, and Aegnor, her granddaughter Aredhel, her great-grandsons Maeglin and Orodreth, her great-great-grandson Gil-galad, her great-great-grandaughter Finduilas, and two of her half-elven descendants, Elros and Arwen, who chose mortal lives, plus dozens of generations of Elros's mortal descendants.
- Romancing the Widow: She loved him from afar for years without any bitterness when he married another woman, but she couldn't help letting her love for him show when he visited her uncle after his wife died.
- Second Love: To Finwë. But he never quite gets over the First Love.
- Wicked Stepmother: How Fëanor sees her, though she averts the trope.
Elwë Singollo / Elu Thingol
The High King of the third Elven clan, the Teleri ("last-comers"). He met the Maia Melian and stood still in enchantment with her for a hundred years, thus missing the departure from Middle-earth, and became the king of the Sindar (Grey Elves), a branch of the Teleri who stayed in Middle-earth to search for him after his disappearance. His brother Olwë became the king of those Teleri who journeyed to Valinor. See below under House of Thingol for tropes pertaining to him.
Olwë
After Elwë's disappearance, the Teleri who did not stay to search for him chose his brother Olwë as their new High King. Olwë reluctantly left Middle-earth to lead his people to the Blessed Realm, where they settled on its outer shores. This small remnant of the Teleri became known as the Falmari, or Sea Elves. Olwë's daughter Eärwen married Finwë's son, Finarfin, making Olwë the grandfather of their children Finrod, Galadriel, Aegnor, and Angrod. When Fëanor came to the Falmari demanding ships, Olwë refused to lend the ships or aid him in building his own. Fëanor and his followers attempted to steal the ships by night (and succeeded), but as they were guarded, this resulted in the First Kinslaying. Olwë survived and helped his people recover.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Outlives his grandsons Finrod, Angrod, and Aegnor, his great-grandson Orodreth, his great-great-granddaughter Finduilas, his great-great-grandson Gil-galad, and his great-granddaughter Arwen.
- Out of Focus: Like the rest of the Elves living in Valinor, once the story shifts to Beleriand, we don't hear much else about Olwë. Presumably he still leads the surviving Teleri into the Fourth Age.
