Race Relations When my good friend Eithon Echui and I first began to collect information on the many-faceted relationships that the Eldar have forged down the long ages with other races of Arda, we did not at first appreciate how our long history was in truth only part of the picture. As great a contribution has been our role as teachers and preservers of the gentler arts of scholarship, healing, horticulture and, above all, of music and speech. However this is a comprehensive work and we have not been able to overlook our more warlike attributes or the foes we have also met on our long journey, for they too tell much about our place in the full story of our troubled Middle Earth. The Elves are The Firstborn of the Children of Illuvatar. As such, Elves as a race are gifted with many advantageous characteristics lacking in the other races of Middle Earth, which of course includes Eru’s Secondborn children, the race of Men. In this work, we will see that the way in which the other races perceived Elven folk, largely depended on which ‘master’ those races followed. By ‘master’, we take Morgoth or Sauron as both synonymous with ‘evil’ and the Valar and Elves themselves are shown as belonging to the ‘good’ faction. How a particular race perceived Elves was therefore dependent on whether they followed a good or evil star, or, in some notable cases both, as various groups split their allegiances. These being more peaceful times in the Fourth Age, let us first take an overview of the ‘good’ or friendly races. In general it can be said that we Eldar were and are looked up to, rather in the style of nurturing benefactors. This was largely because we fulfilled a kind of guiding role with each ‘protégé’ race, and because of our role in helping those lucky client beings with such civilizing activities as writing, music and oral histories. This support is well chronicled and thus widely recognized. A less obvious consequence however, which certainly surfaced amongst most generations of Men, was that Elven physical perfection, culture, organization, and above all their immortality (aside from death in battle or of grief) could become a cause for envy or outright jealousy. Immortality was also an irksome attribute so far as the ‘evil’ races were concerned of course. However, our enemies were more likely influenced in their opinions of Elves by our great skill as warriors, heightened by our unerring, almost supernatural senses. This of course made us hard to kill, as well as hard to avoid being killed by. Less war-like Elven groups were on the other hand often viewed with contempt and scorn as ‘soft’ or decadent, whilst again a target for envy because their culture was so much richer and opulent by comparison. However, for the rank and file enemy factions, the Elves were known to be implacable and formidable foes and for no other reason our forebears were hated and reviled by our foes. Men Having been born to and raised by a mortal family, Eithon and I decided that I should supply this part of our work that deal with the Secondborn Kindred, since I have many unique insights from ‘either camp’ as it were. In blood I am wholly of the Eldar, due to a very strange mishap before my birth, but this was not immediately known and I was brought up amongst mortals and spent the whole of my childhood with them, thinking I was also mortal for many years. I know to my cost, having loved my human kin and friends, that the Gift of Men can be a bitter pill both to the mortal and the immortal. Its blessings for the Secondborn are truly known only to those who leave us behind, and cross beyond the bounds of Arda forever, never to return except in our memory and dreams. Even with the Elf-friends, from the outset, the relationship of Men with the Eldar was tinged with envy and rivalry. Though some may think those powerful emotions were more ascribed to Men, we too could be said to have been jealous of the ‘Gift of Men’ (the ability, through death to pass beyond the ties of Arda and be with the non-earthbound Ainur), though naturally mortals would not see it from that perspective. Immortality is both key and curse to the kinship of the First and Secondborn of Eru Illuvatar. Though blessed with eternal life if we have the will, and the luck not to fall in battle, the Elves were bound to Arda, though with a birthright to enter the Blessed Lands. To some extent therefore, the Eldar can be said to envy our weaker, short-lived brethren, as they can indeed be free to roam the spirit realms with Eru once their short and sometimes arguably futile lives were done. For Men’s part, the less apparent negative sides to immortality, of everlasting grief and loss, were irrelevant against all the time and grace that could be gained from ageless existence. In this Men are both correct and mistaken, as it can be too painful to live on when all you loved and hoped for has passed into the Halls of Mandos, or worse, if mortal, to pass forever from our reach. Our long lives can be fruitful and fulfilled it is true, but this cannot always be a source of comfort when ones whom we have loved cannot be with us to share the joy. When the race of Men first appeared at the first rising of the Sun, there was little impact amongst the Eldar. It was only when the mortals also began to trek westwards into the more populated Elven realms in Beleriand that the Elves grew curious about the Secondborn and not all of it was friendly. In Doriath for instance, mortals were actively discouraged and denied lands outside the Girdle of Melian for a long time. However, other clans found that Men also feared and hated Morgoth and his servants, and so began a long and fruitful association between the First and Secondborn, united in their enmity of the first Dark Lord. Edain Some of the Noldor, in particular Finrod Felagund were fascinated with these newcomers and in their turn, the people of Bëor were equally entranced with the Elven Lord and came to revere him for his wisdom, friendship and skill in music. They called him Nóm (Wisdom) and his people Nómin (The Wise). Bëor’s people were the first of the race of Men to be highly regarded as allies of the Elves and were named the Edain (The Second People), our full allies the continuous wars against Morgoth and later Sauron. Later on the folk of Haleth and Hador were also called by this name. From Bëor and his people, the Noldor first learned that Morgoth had already begun to seduce Men to his banner and away from Eru’s grace. Lies were told about the Eldar, seeking to wreck any allegiances before the mortals learned the truth and could find common ground with the Firstborn. In Ossiriand, the Green Elves were less than impressed with the seeming mass migration of Men who seemed only interested in felling trees and hunting indiscriminately. The Secondborn were viewed as ‘unfriends’ and discouraged from settling permanently in their lands. Within Doriath, Thingol and Melian were equally dubious about the coming of Men. Thingol denied settlements around his realm, save to the north, and then only if their sponsoring Elven princes, such as Finrod, agreed to be accountable for any trouble caused by those of mortal race. Indeed, so entrenched was Thingol’s opposition to mortals, he went so far as to deny them entry into Doriath. This view eventually softened and there were two mortals at least that became dear to great woodland King, Beren and Túrin Turambar. There was another slight exception made for the Haladin and their female warrior leader Haleth. This tribe had no allegiance as such to any Elven overlord, but Thingol allowed them to settle next to the Brethil, east of and outside of the Girdle, after they proved to be implacable enemies of the Orcs, and on Finrod’s vouching for their prowess in battle and unending hatred for the chief servants of Morgoth. The Nazgúl Nazgûl - the Nine mortals of Númernórean descent, seduced with power and the lure of immortality in the form of Rings made by Sauron. It is far too easy to forget the Ringwraiths’ origins as Men, even of the Edain, during the Second Age. It is thought that there were three of the Nine who were once noblemen of Númenor and it is fairly well known that their chief was the Witchking of Angmar. Once ensnared by the Rings, and fully under the spell of Sauron, their power was such that they were second in evil only to their Dark Lord and as such feared by all the races of Middle Earth. This included the Eldar, but regions with special protection from the Elven Ringwielders, Rivendell, Lothlórien and, for a time the Grey Havens, were fortresses where the Nazgúl did not dare attack. When the One Ring was brought to Imladris, the Lord Glorfindel fought alongside Aragorn and the hobbits and his own array of power as a Lord of Light from the Blessed Lands was highly instrumental in driving the Nine into the Fords of Bruinen. Once caught in the floodtide, released as a further defense by Elrond and Gandalf, the Wraiths were undone and diminished as their incarnate disguises and mounts were destroyed. Left without the means to do any further harm until they had regained strength the Nine were forced to regroup and return home to Minas Morgul where they went about their transformation to an obscene flying menace on fell-winged beasts for the assault on Minas Tirith. So Elves, though rightly fearing the Nine, were more able to resist or repel them than other races. However, in a battle situation, the Nine proved less easy to overcome. The Witchking himself was immune to physical harm from ordinary weapons and it is likely that other ringwraiths were as hard to defeat with sword or spear. During the long siege of Barad-Dûr at the end of the Second Age, Elven champions such as Glorfindel and Gil-galad were unable to defeat the Nazgúl chief in battle. Glorfindel made a prophecy at the battle of Fornost referring to the Nazgúl lord “Do not pursue him! He will not return to this land. Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall.” The prophecy became true when the Nazgúl Lord met with the Lady Eowyn on the Pelennor Fields. She indeed was ‘no man’ and did finally dispatch the loathsome Wraith to eternal damnation, but there is also a school of thought that the Periannath, Meriadoc Brandybuck (obviously also ‘no man’) actually dealt the fatal blow to the lower leg with his long-bladed Westernesse-forged dagger, thus rendering the Nazgúl Lord fatally injured and vulnerable to Eowyn’s classic coupe-de-grace to the more traditionally mortal head with her own steel Rohir-forged blade. The point is moot however – no man, or indeed Eldar was the reason of the Witch-King’s downfall. The Easterlings The Swarthy Men as they were known were latecomers in the mortal migration from the East, attracted by the richness of the western lands. Some of these were undoubtedly already under the sway of Morgoth and openly allied to him. The Edain were not friendly with their eastern cousins and their Eldar allies largely took their ‘no love lost’ attitude to heart and similarly avoided friendly relations. Maedhros however, was conscious of the relatively weak position of the Noldor and their mortal allies, and chose to give his alliance to the two chief leaders of the eastern peoples, Bór and Ulfang. Maglor joined his elder brother in this, and the Easterling Bór and his sons honoured their allegiance with the Elves and stayed true. Caranthir, who allied himself with Ulfang and his sons, was less fortunate and was betrayed spectacularly in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears when the forces of Ulfgang deserted to the Enemy and wreaked havoc on the Noldorin rearguard. Obviously there is some ambivalence in the case of the Easterlings as to their worth as allies of the Elves. Even the sons of Bór, who remained true to their ally princes, seem not to have been accorded the same status of friendship as the Edain. As late arrivals in the West, their credentials were suspect, in most cases quite rightly, as they were tainted by Morgoth’s lies and corruptions. The Men of the south and the east, the Haradrim and those of Rhûn are assumed by us to be of the same origins as the Swarthy Men, although the Edain of Westernesse are known to have settled in coastal areas southwards of the Anduin and inevitably, it must be supposed, have intermingled with the local peoples in the course of time. However, as these borders are so far from our own traditional homelands in the north and west of Middle Earth, it is only through their historic allegiances to Sauron that we know of them. In Elessar’s time, there was peace between his kingdom and Southrons and it became more widely known that although the Haradrim fought for the Dark Lord, there were many, even of the rulers and nobles, that did so only out of fear and coercion. This is an attribute that many Eldar do not understand fully, and once more it is mortality that is the key. It is difficult when you know death is a eventual certainty, to seek it willingly before your time. Men are subject to such fears almost from the moment they are born – threat of death or subjugation is a strong weapon against the weak or vulnerable and even if it is lived in fear or enslavement. Evil is certainly inherent in some Men, but for most it is fear, and not just fear of death that drives the hearts of many Men. Those who can rise above their fears and conquer it, no matter the cost, they are folk who deserve our utmost respect and we have seen many such arise amongst the Secondborn, even if they are not of the stature of Beren or Hurín or Elessar. Orcs It is hard, but necessary to recognise that Orcs were most likely the descendents of straying Elves captured, tortured and mutilated by Morgoth during the Great Darkness, before Oromë led the Eldar’s migration to Aman. The way in which this corruption of the Firstborn was achieved by Morgoth, on its own explains the hatred of the Elven race for the disgraced Vala. His former brethren discovered how the Enemy had tortured and mutilated these wretched captives and broken their minds so that they became his creatures totally, hating and loathing their own former brethren. One cannot wonder at how much this vile degradation caused such hatred as we had for Morgoth. As a state of open warfare existed between the Elves of Doriath and Beleriand, and Morgoth and his creatures, including Orcs, long before the return of the Noldor to Middle Earth, one must also assess how much the knowledge that they were forced in effect to fight their own lost, ruined kin affected the Moriquendi and fuelled the enmity of the two warring factions. Even worse was the Orcs ability to reproduce still, although whether their inherent racial immortality remained intact is debatable in view of the violent, warring nature of their existence, even amongst themselves. Though alleged interbreeding with Men could have been of the reasons of such. Without echoes of such vicious and obscene twisting and corruption of a natural condition persisting even to this day, it might be difficult to understand how we of the original and pure race could not help but pity our shadow brethren, even a little. But as we know only too well, atrocity only breeds more fear and hatred. The shattered wrecks of Elves, who were the core source of the race of Orcs, although theoretically pitiable, were conditioned and then bred to be loathsome and irretrievably insane with skewed envy of their more fortunate cousins. The children of those first Orcs, knowing no better life, would naturally grow to despise their estranged cousins and hold us in contempt and bitter jealousy down the generations. For our own part we also feared and hated Orcs even if only as a survival tactic to our shadow kindred’s implacable enmity. However it seems that the unnatural differences that Morgoth, and later Sauron and Saruman forced in them, did indeed make the Orcs inferior to us, their unimpaired cousins, mainly due to their demented psyches and lack of intellectual integrity, although perhaps physically the Orcs, especially the Uruks that emerged later in their development, may have had equal or greater strength, stamina and certainly savagery in battle. Mountain Orcs As just mentioned, the race of Orcs gradually evolved physical variations and attitudes that divided them into distinct clans or tribes, if not strains or breeds. First and most predominant of these were the mountain races of Orcs. These were the type that rarely ventured into and, in fact loathed, the sunlight. As such their favoured habitats were in underground cave systems in the Misty Mountains and also in Mount Gundabad in the far north. Perhaps because of this, mountain Orcs’ natural enemies were probably the Dwarves rather than the Green Elves at first. However, the return of the Noldor to Middle Earth, and the escalation of war against Morgoth, for the retrieval of the Silmarils, meant the earliest breeds of Orc were more and more in conflict with the Elves of both Doriath and the immigrant clans who claimed and repopulated the rest of Beleriand. It was the Battle on Unnumbered Tears that saw the effective demise of the senior branches of both main families of the Noldor, and the first serious betrayal of the Eldar’s trust for all but the most prominent houses of Men. There can be no doubt that Orcs were the front rank troops of Morgoth’s armies. Although the Orcs suffered their own appalling attrition rates, their vastly superior numbers and outrageous capacity for savagery and deceit made them the main target for the Elves hatred after Morgoth and Sauron. Most offensive was their role as dungeon masters and torturers, with no holds barred so far as mutilation and degradation of prisoners of any enemy race were concerned. Even under the white flag of ceasefire during the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, the Orc Commander of Morgoth’s forces produced Gelmir son of Guilin, of Nargothrond, who was captured in the Bragollach. Not content with already blinding the hapless prisoner, the Orcs then proceeded with further mutilations severing his hands and feet and lastly beheading him in front of the appalled allied forces, which included many elf-warriors from Nargothrond. This was only one example in a long litany of crimes of abuse and obscenities, of which perhaps the worst example was the torture of Celebrian, wife to Elrond, and daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn. This later assault was perpetrated in Moria by Orcs allied to Sauron, and inspired the terrible quest for vengeance of Celebrian’s twin sons, who ceaselessly hunted down and exterminated any Orcs they found without mercy, even after the ultimate victory in the War of the One Ring. Uruks of Mordor During the period of perhaps three to five hundred years prior to that conflict another group of Orcs became distinct – the Uruks of Mordor. It is not certain that Uruks from Lugbúrz (Barad-dûr) formed part of the mixed party that captured Merry and Pippin and attempted to take them to Isengard although the one known as Grishnákh certainly indicated he took orders from the Dark Lord and had a similar mission to the Isengard contingent to bring in Halfling captives to his own master in the east. The Red Book also speaks of there being 'smaller goblins' who were evidently from the Misty Mountains and not Mordor. That third and least martial faction of the hobbits' captors were Orcs had pursued the Fellowship from Moria. The ‘top dogs’ both in terms of leadership and physical aggression were Saruman’s fighting Uruk-hai under the massive Uglúk, and finally a smaller party from Barad-dûr under the treacherous Grishnákh, who had joined the other two groups for reasons of expediency in their own mission to intercept the Fellowship and take the Ringbearer prisoner. This group from the Black Land, as observed by Peregrin and Meriadoc, were more robust physical specimens than the Misty Mountain contingent, possessing great cunning and malevolence, but not as soldierly as the Uruk-hai. There is little information on how this ‘improvement’ to the original mountain Orc was generated, unlike the gruesome development under Saruman. What seems most likely is that Sauron, or perhaps the Nazgûl under his instruction, conducted some kind of breeding development project on Orcs during the later years of the Third Age, after the Dark Lord’s first overthrow. Whether this was yet another perversion of the original method of creating the race is unclear, as it may have been more easily achieved as a result of more traditional breeding techniques by selecting naturally larger Orcs and feeding them ‘better’ food. Whatever the method, the Uruks of Mordor were more intelligent, aggressive and cunning, even more so than the Uruk-hai, who almost appear quite soldier-like in comparison, so far as ideology and discipline are concerned. Frodo Baggins’ treatment by Shagrat and Gorbag in Cirith Ungol shows the enhanced vicious and treacherous streak of the Mordorian Uruks. Shagrat’s consequent panic and flight from Master Samwise in his guise as Elf-warrior and rescuer, in contrast shows that the fear and loathing of Elves still persisted in the breed, along with a good dollop of respect for their fighting prowess. Uruks of Isengard (or Uruk-hai) As few Elves carried arms in the time War of the One Ring, except of course for Guards and several other elves, there is not much evidence to suggest a conflict, aside from the pre-existing racial hatred between Elves and Orcs. There can be no doubt that if Uruk-hai aggression had been taken so far as Lothlórien, the Galadhrim would not have flinched from defensive or even retaliatory action, but as this never happened, it is only hypothesis for our purposes. It is clear that Men played some part of Saruman’s breeding plan in some shape or form - perhaps simply as food. Whether this 'breeding' relied on natural or magical means is not known. Presumably it must have been obscene in the extreme. As it was, Saruman directed his powerful Uruks against the land of Rohan and the race of Men. There is consequently no real evidence as to how the Elves would have reacted if aggression had come their way from Isengard. It is almost needless to say that this further execrable phase in the degradation, that began with total vilification and arcane transformation of the first Children of Illuvatar, could only have been further fuel to the bonfire of ancient enmity between Elf and Orc. From that point of view the 'creation' of this new tribe of Uruks by Saruman, once such a close ally of Elrond and Galadriel and leader of the White Council, can be viewed as a political-charged affront, even atrocity, and a racial challenge to the Eldar, even though the military use of the Uruk-hai was not directed at Elves as such. The Ainur With a few very notable exceptions, the Elves revered, loved and respected Eru Illúvatar’s Ainur, particularly the Valar. The spirit ‘races’ were the only ones to whom it could be said the Elves looked up to, particularly the Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri, as the first tribes that went to Valinor with Örome. The Valar’s ‘first contact’ with the Firstborn through Örome was certainly not an immediate or total success as the Firstborn, having already sustained losses and been tainted with the lurking malign influence of Morgoth, whose lies and hatred had raised our suspicion and fear of the Ainur. However, Örome finally won the trust of the three leaders of our clans and was able to show them the delights and advantages of life in the Blessed Lands. Once Finwë, Ingwë and Elwë (Thingol as he later became) were returned to their respective clans it was only a matter of time before the great migration of the Quendi into Valinor was achieved. Once settled in the western shores of Arda, under the benign and inspiring influence of the Valar, there was no holding our progress in culture and learning. Our society was unparalleled by any race that followed us back in Middle Earth, save, debatably, by the Edain of Numenor in their heyday under Elros, after the War of Wrath. The Noldor’s break away from the protection of the Valar, and the first Kinslaying, it is true harmed this ‘special’ relationship a great deal, but was inevitable given the behaviour of Morgoth and his cohorts, and the manic pride and possessiveness of Fëanor for the three Silmarils, and his followers intransigent adherence to his oath to regain them at all costs. With the Valar, the Vanyar were completely loyal, as were the Teleri (although not as attached to the western realms), and to be fair, a significant number of the Noldor, particularly those following Finarfin, remained true to the values of their guides and mentors, even if they chose Exile. Although the Valar did nothing to actually prevent the aftermath of Morgoth’s theft happening, they did, in the case of Mandos, actually devise a punishment for the oath-takers for having taken the lives of the Teleri when they tried to deny Fëanor and his half-brothers the means to escape from the western lands. The Valar policy of non-intervention in the consequent attrition in Middle Earth during the First Age, can be seen as a more passive punishment of the Exiles and, more unfairly perhaps, the Moriquendi of Beleriand by default, for that revolt. In retrospect this was perhaps a valuable lesson for the Firstborn on both sides of the Sundering Seas - to have to learn the folly of insurrection at leisure, without the assistance of the Blessed Realm, until the intercession of Eärendil and Elwing succeeded in bringing the aid of the Ainur to the cataclysmic consequences of Morgoth’s initial theft and ruinous warmongering. It was a high price to pay for rejecting the counsel and support of our supernatural protectors and benefactors. Morgoth And what of the Ainur who were the sworn enemies of Elfkind? First and foremost was Morgoth, contemptuously named Morgoth, the Black Foe of the Earth by Fëanor after the obliteration of the Two Trees, the brutal murder of Finwë and the theft of the Silmarils. The Noldor’s hatred of him was scarcely more than the other Elven tribes, as all suffered from Morgoth’s crimes and the atrocities of his Maiar allies such as Ungoliant, and his misbegotten creatures the Orcs, Trolls and Dragons. The Maiar Melian the Maid The relationship between the Elves and the Maiar was perhaps closer and on a more equal footing than that with the Valar and Eru. The most obvious example, beginning in romantic enchantment, was the relationship of Elwë/Thingol and the Maia Melian, and their benign rule in Doriath. From their first meeting Thingol was enthralled by Melian and it seems that the Maid was similarly engrossed by the Elven King and the people of his clan who stayed behind on the eastern shores and never took part in the principal sins of the Noldor, until their fateful arrival back in Middle Earth. Having made such a remarkable bond, it was the crucial ability of Melian, with her girdle of protection around Doriath’s boundaries that kept Thingol’s realm and people safe and in peace and prosperity for so long, both before and during the First Age. She was also the teacher and mentor of Galadriel, whose key role in subsequent Ages and in preventing the spread of Sauron’s evil was based in the benefits of close friendship and collaboration during the future Lady of the Golden Wood’s long career as caretaker and co-leader of the Silvan Elves. If only because of this crucial collaboration with Galadriel, Melian’s gift to the Eldar and close relationship with the affairs of Middle Earth, was arguably even greater and more far-reaching than the Maiar who came to Middle Earth after her. And let us not forget that she was also the mother of Lúthien Tinúviel, thus forging an enduring connection between the Maia and the kingly First and Secondborn bloodlines of Doriath, Gondolin, Rivendell, and the twin kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor The Istari During the Third Age, the other great partnership between the Eldar and Maiar began with the staggered arrival of the five Istari at Mithlond. Although in all important respects wearing the form of Men, the Maiar best known as Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast and two others known as the Blue Istari (Alatar and Pallando), were instantly recognized by Círdan as powerful allies and all had some part to play in resisting the revived fortunes of the deposed Sauron and the chief of his evil servants the Nazgúl. The two Blue Istari vanished into the far east of Middle Earth and were not heard of again in our lore histories. The White Council Of those first three Istari, Saruman and Gandalf were consequently welcomed by the other great Elven leaders, Elrond, Galadriel and Celeborn as natural partners in the forming of the White Council, to stem the slow rise back to power of the Dark Lord and the Nazgúl. The two wizards joined with the rulers of Mithlond, Imladris and Lothlórien to form the White Council of which Saruman took leadership due his great knowledge of the tactics and lore of the Enemy, despite some opposition from Galadriel and Elrond in support of Gandalf who in any event refused the office as leader in view of his allegiances to Manwë and Varda, which required a roaming brief to monitor the advance of darkness and give aid to the other races of Middle Earth as well as to the Elves. Radagast the Brown Of the remaining three wizards, only Radagast, an acolyte of Yavanna, plays little part in the famous tales of Bilbo and the downfall of Smaug or in the War of the One Ring. His main areas of concern were focused on the animals and birds of Middle Earth, so he impacted only a little in the wars against Sauron. His talents however played a small but vital role in the closing year of the Third Age as it was through his good offices that the Eagles under Gwaihir were able to rescue Gandalf from Saruman’s clutches and, again, come to the aid of the ring-bearers whilst Orodruin destroyed the Ring. However, his interaction with the Elves was almost negligible it seems. Gandalf the Grey As the acolyte of Manwë and Varda, Gandalf’s role in the period of the War of the One Ring, especially his elevation to ‘the White’ and leadership of the White Council after overcoming the Balrog in Moria was arguably the culmination of the Maiar’s historical alliance with the Eldar, certainly during the Third Age and he was particularly close to Elrond and Galadriel as much in friendship and respect as in his wielding of the Narya, one of three unsullied Elven Rings. His departure, together with Elrond and Galadriel from Middle Earth, marks the final withdrawal of the power of Valinor and of the three Elven Rings of Power from Middle Earth at the start of the Fourth Age and the dawning of the coming Age of Men. Sauron Chief of those classed as enemy Maiar was Sauron, whose original allegiance to Aulë was quickly transferred to Morgoth even before the coming of the Firstborn. Indeed, Sauron’s misdeeds were as black as Morgoth’s and his own rise to power saw another deliberate degradation of the Eldar’s chief allies amongst the races of Middle Earth, as he turned the Kings of Westernesse against Valinor and the Elven clans, and orchestrated the fall and destruction of Númenor. With the lure of immortality, Sauron ensnared the line of Elros and for a short time managed to turn the royal line and their supporters to the worship of Morgoth once more. The ignominious end of Westernesse was thereby set, as this worship took the form of human sacrifice and chief amongst its victims were those Númenoreans who stood fast in their friendship with the Elves as they were persecuted for their disloyalty to the crown. But Sauron’s worst deed so far as the Elves were concerned was of course the forging of the One Ring, after feigning friendship with the Elves of Eregion, and so designing the flaws in the other Rings of Power as he guided Celebrimbor’s hand in fashioning those ill-fated jewels. Fortunately the Three Elven Rings wielded by Gil-galad, Círdan and Galadriel and later by Elrond and Gandalf were untouched by Sauron and so escaped his direct influence, although their use was greatly limited and still inexorably linked to the sway of the One Ring. During his first ‘empire’ in the latter years of the Second Age, Sauron’s power became so great that the Elves under the High Kingship of Gil-galad made their Last Alliance with the scanty remnant people of Westernesse under the Elf-friend Elendil and two eldest sons, Isildur and Anárion, Even so Sauron’s forces could not be defeated, nor his own sway broken until many Elves and Men had died and all their leaders but Isildur slain during the seven year siege of Barad-dûr. As we know, this nigh impossible feat was ultimately undone by Isildur’s refusal to destroy the Sauron’s Ring, but at least allowed the Three Elven Rings some time to consolidate the allies hard-won peace until it’s emergence in the Great Years at the end of the Third Age. By virtue of this, Rivendell and Lothlórien were able to grow strong and aid other regions during the time of Sauron’s diminution. By the time he rose once more to his full strength during the War of the One Ring however, the Elves, already depleted by many returning to the West from the Havens, were able to do little more than offer advice to the inhabitants of Middle Earth on how best to resist and undermine Sauron’s schemes, and of course how to destroy the One Ring once and for all. Balrogs The enemies of the Eldar amongst the Ainur would not be complete without mention of the fire-spirit Balrogs. There can be no doubt that the Eldar feared these powerful beings whenever they appeared. Indeed, many Elven warriors tried and failed to fight and paid with their lives. The only recorded ‘successes’ for the Elves was that of Ecthelion and Glorfindel during the fall of Gondolin. So evenly matched in battle were these Elves with their fiery enemies that they both died in the attempt, but nevertheless killed their respective Balrogs. In the less well-known incident, Ecthelion of the Fountain fought with Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs in the very central square of Gondolin. Glorfindel’s encounter ended in death too, in this case, on a mountainside where both protagonists fell from the heights to their doom. These costly victories were only ever repeated by Gandalf, himself a Maia of course, in Moria during the Third Age, where once again there was a fall into the depths and then upwards to the pinnacle of Durin’s ruined tower and a final fall to extinction for the Shadow onto the very slopes of the Silvertine. Legolas Greenleaf’s reaction to this final appearance of the ‘Flame of Udûn’ was certainly one of great fear and despair, which in itself speaks volumes of the dread the Elves held for the power of this creature of Shadow and Flame, calling it the most deadly elf-bane save Sauron himself. Their eventual downfall, during the First Age, came only when the Valar finally intervened and Beleriand itself was destroyed and vanished beneath the vengeful seas. At least one survived in the Misty Mountains however, and that was enough to destroy the first colonisation of Moria by Durin’s folk, and Durin himself, and forced many Eldar, living in the area of the Nimrodel, to flee its destruction of the lands to the east of the Misty Mountains during the Third Age. Most possible is that this was the same Balrog that Gandalf later defeated, given that Balrogs were also of the Ainur and thus immortal. Saruman Saruman, another of Aulë’s Maiar (Aule seems to have had little luck in his choice of followers!), started as an ally of the Eldar, but his well documented betrayal of the White Council and its works may have gone further back than the downfall of Dol Guldur, the very year that Bilbo found the Ring in Gollum’s cavern. Although in the end co-operating with The White Council on the taking of Dol Guldur, Saruman had been reluctant to commit to the venture, but it was not until the eve of the War of the Ring that his treachery of the trust of the Elves and all the friendly races of Middle Earth was fully revealed by Gandalf. On being imprisoned in the pinnacle of Orthanc, Gandalf reported to the Council of Elrond that Isengard had been brought by Saruman to come under the influence of Mordor and been turned into a fortress and breeding den for the Dark Lord. And so, with this final betrayal, Saruman became the third of the principal Maiar to turn their backs on Eru and his Firstborn. Trolls It is said that Morgoth created the race of Trolls as a mockery of the strength and endurance of the Ents. So, once again, as an ‘evil’ race, beings created by Morgoth, perhaps aided by Sauron, trolls were the natural enemies of Elves. The Ents also say of Trolls that they are weaker than the Shepherds of the Trees and, moreover, even more fatally allergic to sunlight than Orcs (but for Olog-hai, the Trolls that were not afraid of sunlight). Trolls subjected to the light of the Sun revert to the stones of the Earth from which they were originally made. In the lands ‘outside of Middle Earth’, Trolls are consistently treated as barely sentient, little better than large savage animals and thus portrayed as the lowest creature in the ranks of evil, though still possessed of enormous strength, endurance and malevolence. As we see in the experiences of the Fellowship in the Dwarrowdelf, a Troll can easily demolish a well-made and barricaded dwarven door to the Chamber of Mazarbul by one well-placed and mighty blow. At the siege of Minas Tirith they certainly hauled and loaded the catapults and siege weapons under cover of a preternatural darkness. The overall view appears to assign Trolls to a role as a beast of burden and heavy artillery for the more cunning and adept evil races. Regardless as to which authority is more reliable, how they historically interacted with Elves is quite simply as enemies on a basic and instinctive level. The Eldar and Avari branches seem relatively unworried by trolls, although, again in Bilbo’s tale, Gandalf reports that two of Elrond’s people who were passing the vicinity of the said Tom, Bert and Bill (the Trolls mentioned in Bilbo Baggins’ book) did so in some haste and trepidation. Whether these two people were in fact Elves is not mentioned, but if they were, perhaps for non-combatants, or when in small groups, trolls did pose some kind of threat to Elves. In wartime or battle Elven natural agility and battle skills would have been enough to outwit and out-manoeuvre such slow creatures, or if not mortally injured or encumbered in some way, keep a Troll at bay until the sun rose, taken the battle conditions were more or less normal. This fear of sun was inherent to most of Orcs and Trolls (save Ologs) and then, of course, not of their choosing due to their own aversion to the sun. In Bilbo’s story, Bert, Tom and Bill of course get turned to stone when Gandalf keeps them arguing until dawn. In underground caverns, sunlight could only come to the rescue near the surface. When the Fellowship is involved in the previously mentioned fight in the Chamber of Mazarbul with Orcs and a Cave Troll, it is Frodo, (rather than Boromir and his Gondoran sword), who actually, injured the Troll by stabbing him in the foot with Sting. Since Sting was an Elven blade from Gondolin, we must therefore conclude that Trolls were vulnerable to Elven weaponry, so if a Hobbit wielding a long-bladed elven knife can damage a troll, by inference a fully armed Elven warrior would have little trouble in dealing with a Troll regardless of its superior size or strength. Hobbits Being a sub-branch of Men, Hobbits’ perception of Elves is also very similar to that of humans. In their earlier days Hobbits rarely associated with Elves owing to their isolation from when they lived by the banks of Anduin. When they migrated to Eriador and the Shire, this changed drastically. They came under the tutelage of Elves living near Lake Annuminas under the rule of Galadriel. They profited much from this liaison, learning masonry, farming and many other crafts besides. Of all the Hobbit kindreds, the Fallohides had the most contact with Elves. From this kindred came the ’peculiar’ or rather ’different’ families of the Shire like the Tooks and the Brandybucks, who were considered to be adventurous to the point of foolhardiness. Hobbits were largely welcoming and friendly towards Elves. However, towards the end of the Third Age, Hobbits became much like the Free Men of Middle Earth in their perception of Elves, ignorant of everything Elven and of Elves ‘in the flesh’. Even Elf-friends such as Bilbo Baggins had some fear of us, although of course in his case this gradually subsided into a lasting friendship with the Elves of Rivendell. Bilbo’s protégé Frodo, the Ringbearer of the Fellowship, was even more influenced by Elrond and by Galadriel and indeed with the wandering companies of Elves such as Gildor Inglorion. These latter groups represented Elven commitment to protection and nurture of younger, more vulnerable races, even without any knowledge or thanks. In the case of Hobbits, the pervading attitude towards the Eldar was one of suspicion and almost fear of their power and what was generally seen as ‘meddling in dangerous and disreputable affairs’. Perhaps the best illustration of the Elves nurturing, guiding relationship of the younger mortal races, although tested to the extreme, was the care of Gollum, a completely ruined Hobbit forebear, when he was held in custody in Mirkwood by Thranduil’s people. Despite Gollum’s persistently taxing and irredeemable behaviour, Legolas told the Council of Elrond that they could not deny him sunlight and decent treatment in the hope of his ultimate reformation. Naturally they were disappointed in this as he was too frightened and frantic for escape to respond to such fair and kindly intentions. However, Gollum’s later, partial return to ‘goodness’ in the service of Frodo, insofar as he was capable of course, proved that such an effort was justified, even if it took another Hobbit, less terrifying and more consonant with Gollum’s own experience, to achieve his short-lived return to grace. Ents Ents, at least as old a race as the Elves, had a good opinion of the Eldar and certainly recognized shared traits for ‘getting inside other things’. By this similarity of thirsting for understanding of other cultures and creatures and appreciating their right to be ‘different’ or not having other beliefs or ways imposed on them, there is little doubt that Elves regarded Ents with respect and honour for their care and husbandry of the woodlands. Fangorn himself confided to Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took that the Elves taught the Ents how to speak to the other sentient races as well their trees. And maybe to some extent the Ents in their turn helped the Elves to at least commune with the trees, if not actively speak to them. Certainly Legolas and other Silvan Elves appear to be very ‘aware’ of the emotional tone and ‘feelings’ of the woodland, if not individual trees. In addition Legolas was very careful to ask Fangorn’s permission to make an extended visit to the Forest with Gimli – an act of diplomacy and recognition of the lordship held by the Ents over the woodland realms. During the First Age there was also a notable example of the early allegiance between Ents and Elves when the Tree Shepherds helped Beren and the Elves of Ossiriand repel the hostile Dwarf Army at Mount Dolmed, thus securing the return of the Nauglamir for Dior. This appears to have been similar to the aid Fangorn lent to Gandalf and to Theoden when the Huorns destroyed the Orc army that threatened to overwhelm Helm’s Deep. Certainly the outcome achieved appears to be sinisterly alike in that no Dwarves were observed escaping the clutches of the Ents and their charges. Dwarves The relationship between Elves and Dwarves is perhaps the most fraught and testy of all the ‘friendly’ Races. Who is most to blame for this state of affairs is debatable and anyway futile to discuss as each would still hold the other more to account. There is of course the famous example of Legolas and Gimli to illustrate that the two races can exist in harmony, but even that relationship began in rancour and distrust. Perhaps Elf and Dwarf are too much alike in some respects. For instance both are adept at warfare and gifted at building great structures and works of art in metal and precious stones. The Noldor certainly were friends to the Dwarves and understood and admired their affinity to delving in the earth and mining. The first watershed in cessation of good relations came in the First Age with the murder of Thingol by a band of Naugrim master craftsmen who were commissioned by the King of Doriath to set the Silmaril within the Nauglamír. Instead the Dwarves plotted to steal the fateful necklace and treacherously killed Thingol to secure it. There followed a mad scramble for possession of the Nauglamír in which Menegroth fell to an avenging army of Dwarves from Nogrod, The defeat of Doriath saw the final destruction of the Girdle of Melian, as the Maia, distraught at her husband’s demise, left Middle Earth forever, but not before sending word to Lúthien Tinúviel and Beren at Ard Galen of the fate of the Silmaril that adorned the Nauglamir at such cost. Beren, leading a phalanx of skilled Elven Archers duly met and overcame the Dwarvish Army with the help of the Ents and retrieved the Great Jewel. The other event that cooled any easy friendship between Elves and the Dwarf nations came in the Second Age when Durin’s folk inadvertently awoke a Balrog during the first colonization of Khazad-dûm. The destruction released, as we Eldar saw it, by the greed and carelessness of the Dwarves, spilled all over the area of Moria, Hollin and even as far as Lothlórien, resulted in the fleeing of Elves settled around the Nimrodel to the havens in Dol Amroth. It seems that these episodes were the death knell for good relations between Dwarf and Elf which soured even the friendship between Elves and Dwarves not connected with the tribes involved in these two catastrophes. Each group hardened themselves against the other and at best a state of uneasy tolerance existed between the two races for the most part. It would appear that some trade still went on where it was mutually profitable – the Elves of Mirkwood certainly had dealings with Dale and the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain before Smaug destroyed the Dwarven city and drove them out into the Wilderness. Once Dáin was able to re-establish the Lonely Mountain, the relationship with Mirkwood elves was revived and also evidently with Rivendell due to the help and assistance Elrond had given to Thorin Oakenshield. But still old memories ran deep and it did not take much to irritate old wounds as observed at the Council of Elrond when Glóin lost his temper with Legolas on hearing how well the Elves had treated the prisoner Gollum, which was rather marked in comparison to how the old Dwarf and his twelve companions had been treated during their own incarceration in Thranduil’s dungeons. With either faction able to claim some grievance, the relationship between the two races was fraught with bad feelings on both sides. Additionally, with the Silvan Elves making up by far the largest Elf community in Middle Earth during the Third Age, there was precious little that they seemed to have in common. The War of the One Ring at least saw more tolerance and co-operation as the Dwarves suffered as equally badly as the Elves at the hands of the Dark Lord. With this common cause the two races finally united in their opposition to a shared and powerful foe. So, not so much a relationship of love or fellowship, but a workable peace of tolerance and shared goals finally brought the two races to a mutual co-existence and respect. By Janowyn and Eithon Echui Research Back to the top