legolas's hair

[Galin]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Re: Appendix F- yes, but.

As I'm sure you know, that description was written of the Noldor, but somehow, apparently through inadvertence in the rush to get RK to the publishers, it was transmuted into a reference to the Eldar as a whole; a general ascription which we know to be inaccurate, given the Vanyar and the royal House (at least) of the Teleri.

I'm not sure there is a mistake here due to rushing however. CJRT even raised the idea that the golden-haired Vanyar might have arisen before the ultimate version of Appendix F...

... but in any case, he also notes his father 'carefully' remodeled the passage to refer to the Eldar (instead of the Noldor).


For the second edition, Tolkien even altered Finrod without changing the meaning of the passage. He may not have been focused on the 'Vanyar' question here -- or perhaps he meant the 'Eldar of Middle-earth' since the Vanyar had very early on left Middle-earth (total guess by that might explain things, or at least arguably allow for his later idea about the golden Vanyar).

I agree with regard to Lorien and Avari; IIRC Tolkien somewhere wrote that by the end of the Third Age there were no Avari to be found in the West (if they ever got so far, being by definition those who refused to leave Cuivienen). The Silvans if I'm not mistaken were on the whole Nandor, Eldar who baled out before reaching Beleriand, some of whom later continued on and became the Green-Elves; these "Vale Elves" of course were augmented by Sindar escaping the ruin of Beleriand.

Plus The Lord of the Rings itself 'defines' or describes the Eldar as those who crossed the Sea, including only the Sindar. These are the West Elves or Eldar -- while the Silvan Elves are the East-elves whose languages are not Eldarin (Appendix F).

I knw this isn't the scenario as depicted in The Silmarillion, but it's the one JRRT himself published anyway.