Abilities Of the fair folk of the Elves shall this scroll tell, and of how skillful the women and the men of the Elven race are in many crafts - some known to Men, yet others, being mysterious and magical. Though "magical" they might seem to the mortal folk of Arda only, because for the Elven folk – these are their skills and lore. The preferences of the women and men of the Eldar have been known to differ and vary, depending upon custom, place, and time in history. It is the women who have mostly been known to practice the arts of healing, and they too, have often held the main responsibility for the care of the body. If you wish to learn much more about the healing skills of the Eldar, you would be better to find and read the scroll "The Healing Art of the Eldar”, for much is said there. Few are the women trained in the arts of Yavanna and who are renowned for the making of the lembas-bread. According to law, this is a task that they alone may perform, and it is only the highest Lady in each settlement that has the right to bestow the gift of the bread to others. In other matters of cooking, however, the men are known to prepare the food. Most of the Eldar delight in nature, and though you will often find that the women tend to the growths of the gardens, both forestry and knowledge of nature are loved by both women and men. Thus you will often find people from my kin in the wild, forming bonds with those of birds and beasts, and seeking knowledge of plants and trees. Elven women are virtuous players upon instruments of music, and yet the crafting of both music and instruments is a task that the men mostly take upon themselves. One may only wish to be fortunate as to enjoy hearing the music of the Teleri! For music they make and weave, wherein the song of the sea may be heard, and often they sing to the music. While the women delight in 'spinning, weaving, fashioning, and adornment of all threads and cloths', the men are renowned 'smiths, wrights and carvers of wood and stone', as well as most skillful jewellers. The beauty of gems and of precious metals and stones the Elves do know well! When they came to live with the Valar, they built abodes so fair that they are remembered still, fashioning them from marble and stone, silver and gold, and other substances still. Here must also be told of how the Teleri came to learn and later develop the craft of ship-building. This clan were the last to arrive to the Blessed lands of Aman, and Ulmo loved them dearly. And so it is said that, 'submitting to the will of the Valar, sent to them Ossë, their friend, and he though grieving taught them the craft of ship-building; and when their ships were built he brought them as his parting gift many strong-winged swans. Then the swans drew the white ships of the Teleri over the windless sea; and thus at last and latest they came to Aman and the shores of Eldamar.' On the shore the Teleri built their main city, for they could not be parted from the starlit Sea, and Alqualondë, the Haven of the Swans, they named it, and from the Noldor they received the gift of many gems, so beautiful that the shores and pools have scarcely been more beautiful, though that is not for me to say. The gate of that harbour was an arch of living rock sea-carved; and it lay upon the confines of Eldamar, north of the Calacirya, where the light of the stars was bright and clear…. Such was their city, and in their havens lay ships fashioned in the likeness of swans, with golden beaks and jet-black eyes set with gold. The Teleri cherished dearly their white swan-ships. The white timber they wrought with their own hands, and the white sails were woven by the Teleri wives and maidens, and to them the white ships were what the Silmarils were for the Noldor – 'the work of our hearts' . Some of the Teleri, however, never departed from the shores of Beleriand. They remained at the Falas, and were called the Falathrim. Their lord was Círdan the Shipwright, and his people became mariners and ship builders. Perhaps the finest ship ever built was the Vingilot – the white ship of Eärendil Halfelven, the son of Tuor and Idril Celebrindal, who was born in Gondolin before its fall. Tragic and yet glorious was his fate! For after ages had passed, and wars fought, and terrible kin-slaying had occurred not once, Eärendil saw no hope left in the lands of Middle-earth, and in despair he set sail to seek out Valinor and ask for the help of the Gods. ‘Eärendil was a mariner that tarried in Arvernien; he built a boat of timber felled in Nimbrethil to journey in; her sails he wove of silver fair, of silver were her lanterns made, her prow was fashioned like a swan, and light upon her banners laid. ……… Beneath the Moon and under star he wandered far from northern strands, bewildered on enchanted ways beyond the days of mortal lands. ……… He saw the Mountain silent rise where twilight lies upon the knees of Valinor, and Eldamar beheld afar beyond the seas. A wanderer escaped from night to haven white he came at last, to Elvenhome the green and fair where keen the air, where pale as glass beneath the Hill of Ilmarin a-glimmer in a valley sheer the lamplit towers of Tirion are mirrored on the Shadowmer. ……… He came unto the timeless halls where shining fall the countless years, and endless reigns the Elder King in Ilmarin on Mountain sheer; and words unheard were spoken then of folk of Men and Elven-kin, beyond the world were visions showed forbid to those that dwell therein. A ship then new they built for him of mithril and of elven-glass with shining prow; no shaven oar nor sail she bore on silver mast: the Silmaril as lantern light and banner bright with living flame to gleam thereon by Elbereth herself was set, who thither came and wings immortal made for him, and laid on him undying doom, to sail the shoreless skies and come behind the Sun and light of Moon.’ Indeed! No one could and shall ever surpass the great skills of the Elves in ship-building - for it is a craft of the Gods! Of the tribes of the Eldar, ‘twas the Noldor who became the students of Aulë. Great was their labor with the metals, jewels and stones of the earth! Many substances did they gather; shining water and sparkling dew, petals of flowers and starlight, and even more. Gracious were also the Valar in the granting of radiance from the Two Trees, which Fëanor later sought to capture forever inside his gems. From the Teleri at Alqualondë did the Noldor receive shells and pearls. It was the latter gift that inspired them to make the first gems, and greatly then did they benefit from the knowledge from Aulë and all that he had taught them. Beautiful where the gems that were fashioned under the hands of the Noldor, crystals, topazes and rubies, and many more. Their inspiration was nature, and in their jewels were caught the colors of flowers and the bright radiance of the firmament, and also the light that fell upon the Blessed Realm. And having done this, it is said that they took 'those pearls they had and some of wellnigh all their jewels and made a new gem of a milky pallor shot with gleams like echoes of all other stones, and this they thought very fair, and they were opals; but still some laboured on, and of starlight and the purest water-drops, of the dew of Telperion, and the thinnest air, they made diamonds, and challenged any to make fairer.' And some indeed took this challenge up! And indeed, no stone or gem ever wrought by an Elf, has or shall ever rival the greatness of the three jewels once Fëanor made – the shining Silmarilli! Never before has there been, and I am certain that never again shall there be, any among the Noldor whose skills and keenness of mind can rival Fëanor’s. It came to his restless mind to capture and keep forever the magic light of the Blessed Realm. To the Teleri he fared 'and begged a great pearl, and he got moreover an urn full of the most luminous phosphor-light gathered of foam in dark places, and with these he came home, and he took all the other gems and did gather their glint by the light of white lamps and silver candles, and he took the sheen of pearls and the faint half-colours of opals, and he [bathed] them in phosphorescence and the radiant dew of Telperion, and but a single tiny drop of the light of Laurelin did he let fall therein, and giving all those magic lights a body to dwell in of such perfect glass as he alone could make nor even Aulë compass, so great was the slender dexterity of the fingers of Fëanor, he made a jewel, and it shone of its own radiance in the uttermost dark; and he set it therein and sat a very long while and gazed at its beauty. Then he made two more … and he fetched the others to behold his handiwork, and they were utterly amazed, and those jewels he called Silmarilli.' But of them and of how the fate of the whole Realm of Eru became entangled with theirs, is in other tales told, and grievous these tales are. In the Hidden city of Gondolin, in Middle-earth, it is told by the bards that there lived 'a jewel-smith named Enerdhil, the greatest of that craft among the Noldor after the death of Fëanor. Enerdhil loved all green things that grew, and his greatest joy was to see the sunlight through the leaves of trees. And it came into his heart to make a jewel within which the clear light of the sun should be imprisoned, but the jewel should be green as leaves. And he made this thing, and even the Noldor marveled at it.' The Elessar– the green wondrous stone of Eärendil he named it, and 'it is said that those who looked through this stone saw things that were withered or burned healed again, or as they were in the grace of their youth, and that the hands of one who held it brought to all that they touched healing from hurt.' A long story this jewel has, and even in later days, rumors have come from the South, speaking of King Aragorn’s use of its healing powers. The mastery the Elves have for jewels and for fine jewelry grew and largely developed through the ages. They never ceased to learn and their desire to improve their works and skills never ceased. Many tales have been told of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, the People of the Jewel-smiths, who wrought the Rings of Power. Great indeed was their power and cunning, and they wrought many Rings; some of greater power and some of less. The Rings of Power were counted 16 in all, and these were made with the help of Sauron. Yet three Rings did Sauron have no hand in making, and these were fashioned by Celebrimbor. 'Narya, Nenya, and Vilya, they were named, the Rings of Fire, and of Water, and of Air, set with ruby and adamant and sapphire ... and those who had them in their keeping could ward off the decays of time and postpone the weariness of the world.' These rings were well guarded by the Elves, and never were they touched or tainted by Evil! And yet of other wonders this scroll may tell – of how the Elves built. Ah! No town had ever been or ever will be as beautiful as Tirion - the fairest city of the Elves ever! Upon the hill-top of Túna of Valinor was once Tirion made, 'and white streets there were, bordered with dark trees that wound with graceful turns or climbed with flights of delicate stairs up from the plain of Valinor to topmost Kôr [Tirion]; and all those shining houses climbed each shoulder higher than the others till the house of Inwë was reached that was the uppermost, and had a slender silver tower shooting skyward like a needle, and a white lamp of piercing ray was set therein that shone upon the shadows of the bay, but every window of the city on the hill of Kôr [Tirion] looked out toward the sea. Fountains there were of great beauty and frailty and roofs and pinnacles of bright glass and amber that was made by Palúrien [Yavanna] and Ulmo, and trees stood thick on the white walls and terraces, and their golden fruit shone richly.' As the ages passed, and as the fair folk spread all over the lands beyond the Great Sea, many other wonders they created, such as the mighty halls of King Thingol of Doriath! The ancient scrolls reveal that there Elves and that strange but crafty folk of the Naugrim, 'together, each with their own skill, wrought out the visions of Melian the Maia Queen, images of the wonder and beauty of Valinor beyond the Sea. The pillars of Menegroth were hewn in the likeness of the beeches of Oromë, stock, bough, and leaf, and they were lit with lanterns of gold. The nightingales sang there as in the gardens of Lórien; and there were fountains of silver, and basins of marble, and floors of many-coloured stones. Carven figures of beasts and birds there ran upon the walls, or climbed upon the pillars, or peered among the branches entwined with many flowers.' And other wondrous cities did the Elves built in Middle-earth - all and always trying to match the unsurpassed beauty of the magnificent Kôr in the fair lands of the Blessed Ream of Valinor. Gondolin they built, the white city of seven gates and of many fountains, and there also were Glingal and Belthil made and fashioned, trees of gold and silver, as a distant memory of Laurelin and Telperion in Valinor. Nargothrond did Finrod Felagund have hewn in the caverns of Narog – Gondolin and Nargothrond becoming mighty cities both, strongholds to guard the Elves from the evil of Morgoth Bauglir, but also abodes of great splendor! Alas! All that beauty has now gone to ashes and ruins! And no matter how much Men learnt from the Elves, and in spite of the great cities and high-rising towers which the mighty race of the Númenóreans built in the lands of Middle-earth, none can ever be so splendid as the cities of the Elves! Of letters, and of languages, and of Elvish lore is this account, too. For no race in Arda has ever been able to match the Elves in that craft! The Elven women love and enjoy all 'matters of lore and they love most the histories of the Eldar and of the houses of the Noldor; and all matters of kinship and descent are held by them in memory. ' But the neri are the true loremasters of the Elven race, and by many it is held a common truth that they are 'the chief poets and students of languages and inventors of words.' It was in ages long gone and forgotten that the Elves awoke by the shores of the starlit Cuiviénen, and long they dwelt by that lake beneath the stars. And knowing no tongue, they fashioned new words for all the things they felt and saw, and named themselves the Quendi - 'those that speak with voices…' When the Elves came and settled on Aman, the Valar rejoiced and often they enjoyed the company of the Firstborn Children of Eru - their younger divine kin, and often they would venture in teaching them the mastery of speech and poetry and song, of languages and lore, and the Gods were delighted to see that the students would quickly surpass the teachers. It is said by those of the Noldor who went into exile that 'Manwë and Varda loved most the Vanyar, the Fair Elves; but the Noldor were beloved of Aulë, and he and his people came often among them. Great became their knowledge and their skill; yet even greater was their thirst for more knowledge … They were changeful in speech, for they had great love of words, and sought ever to find names more fit for all things that they knew or imagined.' … Rúmil of Tirion was the name of the loremaster who first achieved 'fitting signs for the recording of speech and song, some for graving upon metal or in stone, others for drawing with brush or with pen..' … And Fëanor 'in his youth, bettering the work of Rúmil, devised those letters which bear his name, and which the Eldar have used ever after. Fëanor was a master of words, and his tongue had great power over hearts when he would use it.' Ages later, in Beleriand there used to live another Elven loremaster and word-weaver – 'Daeron the Minstrel, chief loremaster of the kingdom of Thingol, [who] devised his Runes.' What Men and all other creatures of Middle-earth marvel most, however, is the mastery of the Elves to wield "magic" through speech and song. Though "magic" it is not to the Elves, but the craft of implementing their skills and lore into producing things beautiful and of good nature and purpose. 'Their 'magic' is Art, delivered from many of its human limitations: more effortless, more quick, more complete (product, and vision in unflawed correspondence). And its object is Art not Power, sub-creation not domination and tyrannous re-forming of Creation.' Surely they have always used this craft wisely, and never would Elven "magical" deed, spell or chant serve the powers of Evil. Elven women were most skilled in the art of magical spells and enchanting. One of the greatest enchantresses that ever lived among the Elven folk was Lúthien - the fair princess of Doriath, daughter of the Elvish High King Thingol and Melian the Maia Queen. When Lúthien would sing, 'keen, heart-piercing was her song, as the song of the lark that rises from the gates of night and pours its voice among the dying stars, seeing the sun behind the walls of the world; and … frozen waters spoke, and flowers sprang from the cold earth where her feet had passed.' Magic of all kinds this fair maiden wielded. Tales are sung of how she escaped from her imprisonment among the branches of the great tree of Hírilorn. 'She put forth her arts of enchantment, and caused her hair to grow to great length, and of it she wove a dark robe that wrapped her beauty like a shadow, and it was laden with a spell of sleep. Of the strands that remained she twined a rope, and she let it down from her window; and as the end swayed above the guards that sat beneath the house they fell into a deep slumber.' By her magical art did Lúthien succeed to fight monsters, and so strong her spells were, that she could even enchant Morgoth himself, and in his very own halls! She would speak her words, and powerful enough those were to break a spell of evil that 'bound stone to stone', and 'walls would open and pits laid bare, and so she freed many thralls and captives from the dungeons of the stone-and-iron Angband, and Sauron and Morgoth were dismayed. Any form and shape, and any creature that walked, crawled or flew in Middle-earth, was fair Lúthien capable of turning into. When she went on her quest with Beren, she turned herself into a bat-like shape of a vampire, and even Beren she changed by her magic into a horrifying werewolf, and clad in these hideous forms they boldly entered the Halls of Morgoth. And then stood Lúthien in the face of the mighty Vala, and she sang, and her song was 'of such surpassing loveliness, and of such blinding power, that he listened perforce; and a blindness came upon him, as his eyes roamed to and fro, seeking her.' And then all his court 'were cast down in slumber, and all the fires faded and were quenched; but the Silmarils in the crown on Morgoth's head blazed forth suddenly with a radiance of white flame; and the burden of that crown and of the jewels bowed down his head, as though the world were set upon it, laden with a weight of care, of fear, and of desire, that even the will of Morgoth could not support. Then Lúthien catching up her winged robe sprang into the air, and her voice came dropping down like rain into pools, profound and dark. She cast her cloak before his eyes, and set upon him a dream, dark as the outer Void where once he walked alone.' This is how a Silmaril was retrieved from Morgoth – one of those three great jewels that he once stole from Fëanor, and that caused much grief and harm to Arda and all its peoples. And yet more is to be told of the "magical" arts and crafts of the Elves. Of Elven "magic" and spells people of Middle-earth have many legends and tales - some true, others not. But even the little folk of the Shire know about another great enchantress that lived in those lands – Galadriel, the Lady of Lothlórien. The Lady Galadriel was a keeper of Nenya, the Ring of Adamant, one of those three Rings of Power that were once wrought by the Elven smiths of Eregion, and by its magical powers she maintained and defended the land of Lothlórien against its Enemy, and Time passed in slower pace in her realm. Yet, another object of magical powers did Galadriel wield - her water mirror. With water from the clear streams would Galadriel fill the basin to the brim, and then she would breathe on it, and when the water was still again she would let others look into it. But their minds she could well read, and what the Mirror revealed to them was in her mind, too. And if they should be unable to understand what they saw there, or would they be enchanted by what the Mirror showed, the Lady Galadriel would help them find the truth. Many things she could command the Mirror to reveal – things that are, things that were, things that one's heart desired to see, and even things 'unbidden … often stranger and more profitable than things which we wish to behold'. There did once live in Middle-earth yet another elf who had mastered great skills and deep knowledge of magic … although 'lore' he would rather call it than 'magic'. This is Lord Elrond, the ruler of Rivendell - one of the last Elven kingdoms in Middle-earth. He, too, could control the waters of rivers, and at times of great peril and need, he would unleash those powers. The mortal folk must know well of the Great Quest of the Ring, that was undertaken by four little Hobbits. Well, as it was, in the early days of their journey, they reached the Bruinen of Rivendell, and were about to cross it, but were attacked by the servants of the one the Elves speak the name of not – the Black Riders, the Nazgûl those were. 'Swords were naked in their pale hands; helms were on their heads. Their cold eyes glittered, and they called … with fell voices.' And just when the 'foremost of the black horses had almost set foot upon the shore', 'there came a roaring and a rushing: a noise of loud waters rolling many stones'. At that very moment the tales tell of the horrified Hobbit, Frodo, who 'saw the river below him rise, and down along its course there came a plumed cavalry of waves. White flames seemed to Frodo to flicker on their crests and he half fancied that he saw amid the water white riders upon white horses with frothing manes. The three Riders that were still in the midst of the Ford were overwhelmed: they disappeared, buried suddenly under angry foam. Those that were behind drew back in dismay.' And so were the Hobbits saved. But who, do you think, let loose the rage of the river? It was Master Elrond! Yes! Full of magic and powers beyond the understanding of the mortals, is the Realm of the Elves! A lot is there to be yet told, for deep lore and much knowledge and many skills the Elves have. Though, in the course of time much was alas! lost, yet much was preserved – in scrolls and books – those to be read, understood and applied for the good and prosperity of all the free peoples of Arda! By Aldoriana All passages in the above text, standing between '…', are quotes taken from the following sources: 1/ "The Lord of the Rings" 2/ :The Silmarillion" 3/ "The Book of Lost tales – I" 4/ "Morgoth's Ring" - vol.X of the "History of Middle-earth" ; "Laws and customs among the Eldar" 5/ "The Unfinished Tales" 6/ Comments and notes of J.R.R Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien Research Back to the top