Avari

"I shan't call it the end, till we've cleared up the mess." — Sam This article or section needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of article quality.

Avari
Race
General Information
Members	Possibly Morwë, Nurwë
Physical Description
Lifespan	Immortal
Distinctions	Refused the Great Journey
Gallery	Images of Avari

Q: unwilling The Avari are a branch of the Elves. Also known as East Elves

When Oromë found the Elves that awakened in Cuiviénen, he summoned them to come with him to Valinor. All the Vanyar and most of the Ñoldor were persuaded, along with some of the Teleri, and followed Oromë into the west on the Great Journey. The remainder of the Ñoldor and Teleri remained suspicious, or simply refused to depart from their own lands, and spread gradually throughout the wide lands of Middle-earth. They were after known in Quenya—the language of the Eldar that eventually reached Valinor—by the name Avari, meaning "the Unwilling", because they refused the summons.

Having never come to Valinor, the Avari remained a wild folk, dwellers of forests. Little is known of them, as they do not appear in any of the tales, save some references to Avari creeping in the south of Beleriand in the First Age. Many of them probably merged with the Nandor and became known as Silvan Elves. Also, it is speculated that the Dark Elves were the first other sentient race encountered by the race of Men during their infancy. The Dark Elves probably taught them many of the basic crafts of civilization, though the craft of the Eldar surpassed that of the Avari even more than that of the Avari surpassed primitive Men.

It is odd that the Avari are seen as dishonorable compared to the Noldor. While the Noldor obeyed their master's call and the Sindar heard it but could not answer, the Avari ignored it entirely. But the reasons for this are not that the Elves are evil or lesser than their Noldorin brethren. The name Dark Elves is misleading in that sense.

These are Elves that were so in love with their world, their middle earth, that they could not bear to leave. A moral, then, that Tolkien quietly inserted into the history of Middle Earth is that sometimes true beauty is not perfection. Valinor was perfection, but the Dark Elves stood by their beloved Middle Earth, even when their brethren left for the obvious bliss of the Undying Lands

Tribes

Their population was composed of 1/2 of the Tatyar and 1/3 of the Nelyar, who maybe were called Lindai. According to a tradition their leaders were Morwë of the Tatyar and Nurwë of the Nelyar.

Six tribes of Avari are mentioned, and their names are all cognates of the Primitive Quendian word Kwendî (the Speakers): Kindi, Cuind, Hwenti, Windan, Kinn-lai, Penni.

According to the legends Orcs may be descended by Avarin elves captured and corrupted by Melkor. The Barrow-wights may also be spirits of Avari.

Languages

The names above are the only certain Avarin words ever mentioned in the published Middle-earth material. It is speculated however that Dorwinion was an Avarin land, with Winion carrying the meaning of "Wine".

It is also possible that the name Eöl is an Avarin one.

Names

The Avari were called Abari in Telerin and Evair in Sindarin

Other versions of the legendarium

In older versions of the legendarium, the name Avari was originally that of the later Eldar, then meaning "those that departed".

In other, relatively late writings, a brief idea was that the Avari did not come from the three clans, but from two other clans, led by Nurwë and Morwë. This idea was later dropped. In the final conception, the Elves were divided into three tribes.

External links

• Avarin languages at Ardalambion