Could someone of kind nature share me additional knowledge of the elven homelands?
Could someone of kind nature share me additional knowledge of the elven homelands?
Last edited by Celerandur; Nov 04 2012 at 04:08 PM.
I'm no lore-expert by any means.
Rivendell is the home of Elrond Half-Elven. That's also what it is known as in the common tongue. Imladris is it's name to the Elves and those who speak their langue. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) it was founded after the Last Alliance between Elves and Men as a refuge.
Lindon is far to the west, and is under the leadership of Cirdan (a ship maker I believe). There the Elves set sail from middle-earth for the Undying Lands. It used to be under the leadership of Gil-galad but he fell during the Last Alliance.
Lothlorien is I believe the largest concentrated home to Elves in middle-earth, meaning I believe that's where most of the population is.
Mirkwood is the home to Legolas, and besides Rivendell, I believe has the most interaction between other races. They are close to the men of Dale, and the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain.
Again, I might be a little off, I am currently reading all the books myself so hopefully this helps you a bit!
“I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” Faramir
Thank you! I might just choose Lothlórien from what I've read and what I've heard
In fact, the Former Greenwood Was home of many elves, but now the elves only inhabbit the "coast" of the forest i think, for deep into the forest is.... Dol Guldur.
Not really. Thranduil's halls were where they always had been, toward the northeastern edge of Mirkwood. Dol Guldur was a long way away (a few hundred miles), near the southern end of the woods and it wasn't even deep in the forest, but towards the western edge.
What had really happened was that the Elves had had to bunch up into the northern woods and there was a no-go zone round Dol Guldur itself. DG didn't own all the deep woods.
Last edited by Radhruin_EU; Nov 05 2012 at 03:56 PM.
[QUOTE=What had really happened was that the Elves had had to bunch up into the northern woods and there was a no-go zone round Dol Guldur itself. DG didn't own all the deep woods.[/QUOTE]
Then Why in the World is the retaking of Mirkwood in Lotro? Hmm? Oor do we just atack DG .And Why do the elves of Lorien go fight The ENemy in Mirkwood, i mean, where are the Green-wood elves?
In the book, nobody attacked DG until after Sauron's fall. The game just invented some stuff to let players have a go at the place first. The problem for Thranduil's Elves in either scenario would be that it was a long, long way from where they lived to DG, and that wasn't the only thing that was going on, either.
The Wise
And you are forgetting the one everyone seems to, Edhellond.
The Elven refuge of Edhellond was established near where the city of Dol Amroth is now since the first age. It orriginaly was a place for elves from Lorien to take ship to the undying lands.
In fact the city of Dol Amroth's name means "The Hill of Amroth" a reference to the Elven Prince, Amroth who was a Prince of Lórien and took ship to the undying lands, leaving his lover Nimrodel in Middle Earth. However halfway out into the Bay of Belfalas he changed his mind and jumped out of his ship to try and swim back to the shore. The Hill on the coast where he jumped out was then named after him. Then when the men of Neumenor came along and settled there in the third age they named their city after the hill.
By now, no-one takes ship from Edhellond, rather it is a small haven for the Eldar to contemplate and live near to the sea. It population is sparse compared to Lorien but it is around the same size as Rivendell, well actually a bit smaller even.
Well Druid you were just about right, Rivendel was established around the time of the Last Alliance, but it was just before it, after the elf kingdom of Eregion fell (Along with most of Eriador. It was only the Neumenorians and the Elves combined might that was able to defeat Sauron's armies), Elrond and the elves there fled and made Imladris. Then they met up with Gil-Galad from the west and Elendil's troops from Anuminas and marched to Imladris where they made loads of weapons and armour and founded Amon Sul. Then they marched over the Misty mountains, met up with everyone from Lothlorien and Mirkwood and marched down to where the Brown Lands and Dagorlard plain is now and met up with Isidur and Anarion, the sons of Elendil who ruled Gondor jointly. And then they basicly were at war for something like nine years before they actually got to Mordor and killed Sauron.
Well, looking at the four "home" options ingame:
- Lindon: Lindon is the old kingdom of the Elves west of the Blue Mountains (Ered Luin). Technically, Falathlorn etc. are on the far fringes of this realm. Most importantly, the city of Mithlond (Grey Havens) are in Lindon. Lindon, also, is not technically in Eriador, but the last remnant of Beleriand, the land where Silmarillion takes place. (Rest of it was rather literally destroyed and sunken to the sea when the Powers accepted the pleas of the Free Peoples to come help them fight the old Dark Lord.) In Silmarillion, Lindon is perhaps better known as Ossiriand. Since the death of its last king in the War of the Last Alliance, Lindon (or what is left of it) is assumably ruled by Círdan the Shipwright, Master of the Havens (and probably the oldest Elf in existance in mortal lands).
- Rivendell: Rivendell (Imladris) is an old resting spot for Elves. In the War of Elves and Sauron (same where Eregion was destroyed), Elrond retreated from Eregion into Rivendell and was surrounded there for pretty much the rest of the war. Rivendell has been continuously been settled since. Its most notable use as a garrison was when the forces of Arnor (under Elendil) and Lindon (under Gil-Galad) mustered there to march to the War of the Last Alliance. While the core of the very oldest Rivendell Elves are probably from Eregion and Lindon, since Rivendell is one of the few places where you can cross the Misty Mountains (in summer: for the ingame time freeze it is eternal autumn unless I am wrong, so the pass is already closed), Rivendell likely has a whole lot of immigrants on their journey towards the Sea. Rivendell is "ruled" by Elrond the Half-Elven (who is actually cosmologically counted as a full Elf - it's complicated), who is the Master of the Last Homely House. Several roleplayers use "lord Elrond" as he's a member of both the High Elf (Noldor) and Grey Elf (Sindar) royal families.
- Lórien: Lórien or the Golden Wood is a Wood-Elven kingdom. The old royal family is extinct, either dead or departed over the sea. During the Second Age, Celeborn and Galadriel moved in from Eregion and rule as the Lord and Lady of the Wood. This is probably the strongest realm of the Elves, and most "fairylike" with golden trees, erratically behaving time and magic protection. Lórien, since the fall of the neighbouring Dwarven realm of Dwarrowdelf (i.e. Moria) has been in the middle of nothing. For this reason, they are perhaps somewhat xenophobic. (The wardens mention that they might have shot the Fellowship of the Ring if they hadn't heard Legolas sing about Nimrodel, who was an old princess of that land.) Oh, since the fall of Moria, they are also somewhat suspicious of Dwarves, though historically, they've had cordial ties with the Longbeards. Some survivors of Eregion retreated through Moria into Lórien. The Elves of Lórien are somewhat unique in that they live in trees.
- Mirkwood: Mirkwood is a realm of Wood-Elves and the last Elven realm ruled by a King, Thranduil (Thranduil appears in the Hobbit as "the Elven-King"). They are generally seen as the "country" Elves. Their realm is darker: While they, too, possess their own style of "Elven magic" (Elves would not likely call it magic themselves), you could think more of Tuatha de Danaan here. Thranduil's palace is underground (built possibly as an imitation to the ancient Grey Elven palace of the Thousand Caves), etc. so we have another sort of "fairy" here. Originally called Greenwood the Great, Mirkwood Elves have slowly been pushed northward (and once lived closer to their relatives in Lórien). They suffered greatly in the War of the Last Alliance, as their then-king (Thranduil's father) didn't agree to coordinate with his allies and tried to take a fortress by assault with his badly-equipped troops. (This is the Middle-earth's Charge of the Light Brigade moment. Except that the Elves weren't quite as successful as the Light Brigade.) As a result, Mirkwood Elves are also somewhat reclusive, though they do trade with neighbouring humans. As the ruling family comes from a city that was sacked by Dwarves (though ones not related to the Dwarves ingame), they are somewhat suspicious of all Dwarves.
- Edhellond: Edhellond was the port used by Lórien and, assumably, Mirkwood Elves located in "modern-day" Gondor. It has been abandoned in Third Age 1981. "Now" is 3018, so there hasn't been an Elf in Edhellond for over a thousand years, and any Elf who would've been adult in Edhellond must, thus, be at least 1100 - 1200 years old. (Elves mature around 80 - 100 years of age.)
Oh, and one more that isn't in the selection ingame: Eregion. Eregion was founded in the Second Age by Celeborn and Galadriel. The Elven Jewelsmiths arrived some time later and took over (peacefully: Celeborn and Galadriel left for Lórien). It was destroyed by Sauron in Second Age 1695 (about five thousand years ago). The survivors moved to other realms, at first chiefly to Rivendell (being chased by Sauron's forces).
Last edited by Mithfindel; Nov 12 2012 at 05:15 AM.
Thank you Storm-Winterwolf and Mithfindel for adding much more in-depth answers! Very insightful and hopefully will help out the OP even more and others who are considering rolling an Elf.
“I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” Faramir