Luthien: Maia or Elf.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

I don't know that Elf-power is diluted as the years go by. After all, it is pretty much apparent that were not Imin, Tata, and Enel because they could NOT have been First-Generation Elves. The Reason: Ingwe has a sibling (either Indis or her mother), and Elwe has at least two (Olwe and Elmo), as well as "kin" (Cirdan and Eol, according to some versions). Consequently, they cannot have been "first-generation", and thus your theory starts to totter.

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You misunderstand - I did not say that Ingwe, Finwe, and Elwe were first generation as in being "awoken" - although I would not necessarily regard the presence or absence of siblings as being a decisive factor since there are "brothers" among the Valar, and if Eru created them as brothers then there is no reason why he could or would not have created brothers among the first elves.
I cannot see that there is much to object to in my description of the aforementioned as "original elf lords", unless I have missed something in my reading of the Sil. Luthien is undeniably a first generation descendent of Thingol. So what I have said stands firm so far.

I did say it was a crude theory but surely it is a "truth universally acknowledged " that the Eldar were at their peak in the First Age? If I were going to make a hierachy of elf lords I can think of few sons I would place above their fathers. Of course birth in the blessed realm and the two trees is a factor. Galadriel is clearly the most inherently powerful elf in Middle Earth at the time of the War of the Ring.

As for the size of families - in HoME Tolkien states that Feanor was exceptional in having 7 children and that was the most ever, also that the strength of the parents is passed into the children.

But the main point which I was trying to make, is that Thingol was not exactly genetic garbage as a parent....