Indis

"Queen Indis" by Shyangell
Vanya
Indis
Biographical Information
Pronunciation	Q, pron. [ˈindis]
Other names	The Fair
Position	Queen of the Noldor
Location	CuiviénenNB Foothills of Taniquetil Tirion
Language	Vanyarin & Quenya
Birth	Before Y.T. 1105NB CuiviénenNB
Family
Family	Ingwë
Spouse	Finwë
Children	Findis Fingolfin Írimë Finarfin
Physical Description
Gender	Female
Height	Tall
Hair colour	Golden
Gallery	Images of Indis

”

I have joined the people of the Ñoldor, and I will speak as they do.

The Peoples of Middle-earth, "The Shibboleth of Fëanor"

Indis was a Vanya, the second wife of Finwë. She was renowned for her swiftness of foot as well as her skill at singing.

History

Early history

Indis was born at Cuiviénen before the Great March of the Eldar to Aman. She was close kin to Ingwë, King of the Vanyar (see below).

Early years in Aman

At some point while the Noldor and Vanyar dwelt together in Tirion, her heart turned towards Finwë, though he was wed to Míriel Þerindë. When Ingwë and the Vanyar left Tirion to dwell in the plains of Valinor, Indis accompanied them and stayed near Ingwë's house on the western slopes of Taniquetil. During this time, Indis often wandered the fields of Valinor alone, singing.

After the birth of Fëanor, Míriel chose to die and refused to be reembodied or healed, leaving her husband Finwë in an unfair widowhood. Ingwë, seeing Finwë's grief, invited him to leave Tirion and dwell in the light of the Trees for a season, to bring him some distance from the memories of his loss. Initially Finwë declined this invitation, but later thought better of it and departed Tirion for the house of Ingwë. In his journey along the paths of the Mountain, Finwë chanced to encounter Indis; in that moment his heart turned towards her, and they recognized their mutual love.

When Indis saw Finwë climbing the paths of the Mountain, and the light of Laurelin was behind him as a glory, without forethought she sang suddenly in great joy, and her voice went up as a song of the lirulin in the sky. Then Finwë heard that song falling from above, and he looked up and saw Indis in the golden light, and he knew in that moment that she loved him and had long done so. Then his heart turned at last to her; and he believed that this chance, as it seemed, had been granted for the comfort of them both. 'Behold!' he said. 'There is indeed healing of grief in Aman!'

Morgoth's Ring, "Later versions of the Story of Finwë and Míriel", §26 p. 262

With the Statute of Finwë and Míriel, Manwë allowed Finwë to take a second wife and Indis thus became the stepmother to Fëanor. Indis bore four children to Finwë: Findis, Fingolfin, Írimë, and Finarfin. Fëanor never became close with his stepmother or half-siblings, and dwelt apart from them as soon as he was of age to do so.

Unrest of the Noldor

The unrest in the House of Finwë – and among the Noldor in general – was exacerbated by a seemingly trivial linguistic matter. The Quenya spoken by all three kindreds of the Eldar at the time of their arrival in Aman included the letter and sound þ. The Vanyar and Falmari retained this, but at some point after the departure of the Vanyar from Tirion, the Noldor had chosen to exchange þ for s in both writing and speech. This change would have turned Míriel's mother-name "Þerindë" into "Serindë," but Míriel herself desired that her name continue to be spoken and written with þ.

As long as Míriel lived – and while he retained hope that she might return from death – Finwë himself retained þ in his speech in deference to Míriel. However, after her conclusive refusal to return to life, Finwë also adopted the change to s. By this time, the shift was nearly universal among the Noldor – except by Fëanor, who closely identified þ with his late mother.

When Indis wed Finwë, she ceased the use of þ, which was part of her native Vanyarin dialect, and adopted s out of loyalty to her husband and to show her loyalty to her new people, the Noldor. However, Fëanor believed she did so in belittlement of his late mother, and thus made þ into a dire personal and political matter. He demanded that his House and all his true supporters use þ; his opponents (and alienated former supporters) therefore became all the more committed to s. This became yet another source and symptom of unrest among the fractious Noldor.

In Y.T. 1490, tensions between Fëanor and Indis' children boiled over. In a quarrel, Fëanor drew a sword against his eldest half-brother Fingolfin, and for this crime was exiled from Tirion by edict of the Valar. Finwë accompanied his eldest son into exile to Formenos, leaving behind Indis and his other children. Fëanor's wife Nerdanel also declined to go into exile, instead remaining in Tirion to dwell with Indis.

Following the death of Finwë

In Y.T. 1495 Melkor destroyed the Two Trees and Darkened Valinor; shortly after he further raided Formenos to steal Fëanor's silmarils and slew Finwë in the process. In the Halls of Mandos Finwë was reacquainted with Míriel, and when she informed him of her desire to live again he pleaded with Vairë to forgo his own return to life in Arda in exchange for Míriel to be reembodied. At this Vairë alleged that in his pity for Míriel, Finwë had forgotten Indis and his children. Finwë responded that his love for each woman did not diminish that for the other, and that he had already been parted from Indis, having not seen her for many years. He further stated that even if he did return, it would be of little comfort to her: her love was most for Fingolfin, and though she may miss his (Fingolfin's) father, she did not miss the father of Fëanor. Further, he stated that above all Indis wished to return to the halls of Ingwë and the peace of the Vanyar. This request was ultimately accepted by Mandos.

The last that was known of Indis was that she, along with Findis, did not go into exile, but went to abide among the Vanyar in grief until such time as it seemed good to Manwë to restore Finwë to life.

Etymology

Indis is Quenya for "Great or Valiant Woman," but it is also glossed as "wife, bride."

Genealogy

This family tree is meant to depict an ambiguous familial relationship between Indis and Ingwë. See below for details.

Imin awoke Y.T. 1050

Iminyë awoke Y.T. 1050

Míriel d. Y.T. 1170

Finwë d. Y.T. 1495

INDIS b. Y.T.

Ingwë b. Y.T.

Fëanor Y.T. 1169 - 1497

Findis b. Y.T.

Fingolfin Y.T. 1190 - F.A. 456

Írimë b. Y.T.

Finarfin b. Y.T. 1230

Other versions of the legendarium

Other uses of the name "Indis"

The name "Indis" first appears in The Annals of Aman (c. 1950-1) in reference to the only wife of Finwë. When Tolkien first revisited the Quenta Silmarillion c. 1951, he discarded the name "Indis" entirely, with the wife of Finwë being named "Míriel."

Following the publication of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien returned to the matter of the First Age and began the work of "remoulding" the existing texts with a view towards publication. This began with The Earliest Version of the Story of Finwë and Míriel (c. 1958). In this tale, the name "Indis" was given to a new character, "Indis of the Vanyar," the second wife of Finwë. This Indis would also appear in the essay Laws and Customs among the Eldar and subsequent revisions to Finwë and Míriel that were developed in connection with the "second phase" drafts of the Later Quenta Silmarillion (all c. 1958). References to this new Indis were also inserted into the text of The Annals of Aman during this period.

Relation to Ingwë

Sister of Ingwë

In the Later Quenta second phase material in which she first appears (see above), Indis is consistently identified as the sister of Ingwë. In several of these written and typed drafts, Tolkien initially wrote "close kin" but emended this to "sister."

Daughter of Ingwë

In c. 1959-60, Tolkien became interested in the subject of the Elves' increase in numbers from the first Elves of the Awakening and drafted a series of generational schemes exploring the time periods involved. In two of these schemes Indis is identified as the daughter of Ingwë, rather than his sister.

In the first scheme, Indis was born at Cuiviénen to Ingwë and his wife Ilwen before Oromë discovered the Elves. In this scheme she also had an older brother, Ingwil, as well as an unnamed younger sibling.

In the second scheme, she was likewise born at Cuiviénen before the Elves were discovered by Oromë. However, in this scheme her mother is not mentioned, and she was the eldest child of Ingwë with her younger sibling being born just before the start of the Great March.

An entry in the Words, Phrases and Passages (c. late '50s) published in Parma Eldalamberon 17 also identifies Fingolfin's mother as "the daughter of Ingwi." Elsewhere in that text, "Ingwi" is defined as the "people of Ingwë".

Niece of Ingwë

Tolkien revisited the subject of Indis' parentage for the last time in the essay The Shibboleth of Fëanor (c. 1968), in which Indis is identified as "Indis of the House of Ingwë." In a contemporary excursus, The names of Finwë's descendants, published in The Peoples of Middle-earth as an appendix to the Shibboleth, Tolkien stated that Indis "is said to have been the daughter of King Ingwë's sister.

Unspecified descendant of Ingwë

In a note on the above excursus, Tolkien stated that in the person of Eldarion "the lines of all the Three Kings of the High Elves (Eldar), Ingwë, Finwë, and Olwë and Elwë were united and alone preserved in Middle-earth." In an editorial comment on this note, Christopher Tolkien noted the apparent absence of direct descent from Ingwë to Eldarion, stating "It is hard to know what my father had in mind when he wrote the opening of this note."

Fifth child

The Later Quenta second phase material names a fifth child of Finwë and Indis, Faniel, who is not included in the list of Indis' chldren in the Shibboleth or The Silmarillion. Two positions in the birth order are attested for Faniel: in Laws and Customs and the second draft of Finwë and Míriel, Faniel is the third child and Írimë is the fifth child. In the fourth and final revision of Finwë and Míriel, Faniel is the fifth child and Írimë (here named "Finvain") is the third.