Noldor

According to legend, the clan was founded by Tata, the second Elf to awake at Cuiviénen. With him were his spouse Tatië and their 54 companions, and this clan became known as the Tatyar. Finwë, the first Ñoldo to come to Valinor with Oromë, became their King, and led most of them to Valinor. Out of the original 56 Tatyar who awoke at Cuiviénen, 28 remained at the place of their awakening, becoming Avari, while the other original 28 and their offspring continued on their Great Journey.

Elder Days

In Valinor

The Noldor were accounted the greatest of the Elves and all the peoples in Middle-earth in lore and crafts. In Valinor, their knowledge and skill became great, and they had always a strong desire for more knowledge and skill in art, surpassing even their teachers in many things. The Noldor had also a love for words, and were changeful in speech, endeavouring to find suitable names for all things. They were beloved of Aulë the Smith, and were the first to discover and carve gems. Their chief dwelling-place was the city of Tirion upon Túna. Among the wisest of the Noldor was Rúmil, creator of the first writing system and author of many books of lore. Fëanor, son of Finwë and Míriel, was the greatest of their craftsmen, "mightiest in skill of word and of hand", and creator of the Silmarils.

Melkor harboured a hatred for the Elves, despising their joy and blaming them for his downfall, and he sought to deceive them by feigning friendship. The Noldor, eager for knowledge, listened to him most readily of the kindreds. So he went often among them, offering counsel, and the Noldor hearkened to him. During this time, Fëanor created the Silmarils, and Melkor, desiring them greatly, sought ever to spread ideas and rumours among the Noldor. But amid his seemingly good advice, Melkor sowed lies to turn one House of the Noldor against another, and in the end the peace in Tirion was poisoned. After threatening his half-brother Fingolfin, believing falsely that Fingolfin intended to usurp the throne, Fëanor was banished from Tirion by the Valar. With him went his seven sons, and his father Finwë, King of the Noldor. Fingolfin remained behind as the ruler of the Noldor of Tirion.

But Melkor had yet other designs to accomplish. Soon after, with the aid of Ungoliant, he destroyed the Two Trees, and coming to Formenos he killed Finwë, stole the Silmarils, and departed from Aman. Fëanor, driven by grief and desiring vengeance, rebelled against the Valar by coming back into Tirion and making a speech before the Noldor, in which he persuaded them to leave Valinor, follow Melkor to Middle-earth, and wage war against him for the recovery of the Silmarils. He swore a terrible oath, as did his sons, to pursue Melkor and reclaim the Silmarils at all costs. Fëanor then claimed the kingship of the Noldor since his father was dead. Although the greater part of the Noldor still held Fingolfin as their leader, they followed Fëanor into Exile.

Exile

Fëanor led the Noldor from Tirion, his host in the front, followed by the hosts of Fingolfin and Finarfin. He led them to Alqualondë, seeking to persuade the Teleri to join with the Noldor in rebellion. But the Teleri did not wish to depart with the Noldor, nor aid them with the providing of ships. Angered, Fëanor assembled his host, and they took the ships by force, committing the first kinslaying. The host of Fingolfin, coming upon the battle and mistakenly believing the Teleri had attacked the Noldor, joined in the struggle, and many of the Teleri were slain. Taking the ships, the Noldor continued their journey northwards. A messenger from the Valar came later and delivered the Doom of Mandos, pronouncing judgement on the Noldor for the Kinslaying and rebellion and warning that if they proceeded their oath would betray them, and moreover they would be slain or tormented by grief. At this, some of the Noldor who had no hand in the Kinslaying, including Finarfin son of Finwë and Indis, returned to Valinor, and the Valar forgave them. Other Noldor led by Fingolfin remained determined to leave Valinor for Middle-earth, not desiring to be separated from their kin and fearing the Valar's judgement, for some among them had participated in the kinslaying. Among those that continued were Fingon, Turgon, Finrod, and Galadriel.

The Noldor suffered greatly during the cold journey, and began to mutter against Fëanor. Fearing treachery, Fëanor took his sons and those he deemed loyal to him, departing in the ships and crossing the sea to Middle-earth. He left behind those led by Fingolfin, his half-brother. Upon his arrival in Middle-earth, Fëanor had the ships burned. When the Noldor led by Fingolfin discovered their betrayal, they went farther north and crossed the sea at the treacherous Helcaraxë, at the cost of many lives.

In Middle-earth

Arrival

Fëanor's company encamped in the region of Mithrim and was soon attacked by the host of Morgoth. The battle became known as a Dagor-nuin-Giliath, and was a great victory for the Noldor. But Fëanor rode too far from his host during the battle, pursuing the remnant of the Orcs in a vengeful mood. Several Balrogs, including their Lord Gothmog, issued from Angband and fought him. Despite battling valiantly, Fëanor was mortally wounded and would have been captured and taken to Angband had it not been for the swift arrival of his sons. However, Fëanor died whilst being carried back to his own people.

Because Fëanor had taken the ships and left the Noldor led by his half-brother on the west side of the sea, much enmity remained between the Houses of the Noldor. The feud was at last settled when Fingon, son of Fingolfin, saved Maedhros, Fëanor's son, from Morgoth's imprisonment. Maedhros was due to succeed Fëanor, but he regretted his part in the Kinslaying and waived his claim to the kingship of the Noldor to his uncle Fingolfin, who became the first High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth. The House of Fëanor became known as the Dispossessed after this.

Kingdom of the Noldor

In Beleriand, the Noldor made alliance with the Sindar and later with the Edain. Fingolfin reigned long in the land of Hithlum, and his younger son Turgon later ruled in his Hidden City of Gondolin. The Sons of Fëanor, under Maedhros, ruled the lands of East Beleriand, while Finrod Felagund, Finarfin's son, was the King of Nargothrond.

Fingolfin's reign was marked by warfare against Morgoth and in First Age 60, after their victory in Dagor Aglareb, the Noldor besieged Angband, the fortress of Morgoth. Yet in First Age 455, the Siege was broken by Morgoth in the Dagor Bragollach, and many of the Noldor were slain or scattered. Fingolfin rode in despair to Angband and challenged Morgoth to single combat. He dealt Morgoth seven wounds but perished, and was succeeded by his eldest son Fingon, who became the second High King of the Noldor.

Demise

In First Age 472, Maedhros organised an attack on Morgoth and this led to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. Betrayed by the new-come Easterlings, the forces of the Noldor, Sindar and Edain were utterly defeated. Fingon the Valiant was slain; he was succeeded by his brother Turgon as the third High King of the Noldor.

Morgoth scattered the remaining forces of the Sons of Fëanor, and in First Age 495, Nargothrond was also defeated. Turgon had withdrawn to Gondolin which was kept hidden from both Morgoth and other Elves. In First Age 510, Gondolin was betrayed by Maeglin and sacked. During the attack, Turgon was killed; however, many of his people escaped and found their way to the Mouths of Sirion. Turgon was the last surviving male descendant of Fingolfin, so Gil-galad, great-grandson of Finarfin, became the fourth and last High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth.

Finally, the Host of the West came down to Middle-earth and in First Age 545 to First Age 587, the War of Wrath was fought and Morgoth was cast into the Void. As a result of the cataclysmic war, Beleriand sank into the sea, except for a part of Ossiriand (Lindon), and a few islands. The defeat of Morgoth marked the end of the First Age and the start of the Second.

Second Age

Most of the Noldor sailed back to Tol Eressea at the end of the First Age; but some, like Galadriel daughter of Finarfin, or Celebrimbor, grandson of Fëanor, refused the pardon of the Valar and remained in Middle-earth. Gil-galad, last heir of the kings of the Noldor in exile, and acknowledged as "High King of the Elves of the West", founded a new kingdom at Lindon, and ruled throughout the Second Age, longer than any of his predecessors.

Gil-galad's people were mainly Noldor (especially from Gondolin, but also from the Houses of Finarfin and Fëanor); early in the Second Age, most of the Noldor that remained in Middle-earth lived in Lindon. During this time, the few Exiles that remained also lived in Lindon.

In Second Age 750, some Noldor learned that mithril was found in Moria under the Misty Mountains, so they went to Eregion. Because of their legacy as craftsmen, they were less unfriendly to the Dwarves than the Sindar. They became the Gwaith-i-Mírdain under Celebrimbor and formed the closest friendship ever between Elves and Dwarves. Although war soon befell Eriador along with Celebrimbor's death, remnants of Eregion, including many Noldor, either followed Elrond to establish Imladris or fled to Lothlórien.

Gil-galad perished in the War of the Alliance at the end of the Second Age, and so ended the High Kingship of the Noldor. He fathered no children; however, the line of the High-elven kings, including the High Kingship of the Noldor, was alone preserved in the descendants of Elros and Elrond.

Later history

After the fall of Gil-galad (during the time of the Kings of Arnor), there was still a remnant of the Noldor who dwelt at the Grey Havens of further inland in Lindon who constituted the largest population of Noldor remaining in Middle-earth. However, in Eriador, the chief dwelling of the Noldor was Imladris.

In the late Third Age, the Noldor in Middle-earth were greatly diminished, as most had passed over the Sea. If any remained in the early Fourth Age, they were few.

After the Dominion of Men was taken up by Aragorn II Elessar, the last of the Noldor set sail from Mithlond and left Middle-earth forever.

In Valinor
The first two kings were not distinguished as being in Valinor, since the entire population of the Noldor lived in Valinor at that time.

Finwë, first King of the Noldor.
Fëanor, first son of Finwë; claimed the title after his father's death.

Finarfin, third son of Finwë, remained in Aman after the Exile of the Noldor and ruled the remnant of his people in Tirion, although he never officialy claimed this title.

In Middle-earth

Fëanor nominally ruled in Middle-earth for a few months before his fall in the Dagor-nuin-Giliath, although he never established a realm.

Fingolfin, second son of Finwë; held to be the first High King of the Noldor by the majority of the Noldor after Maedhros son of Fëanor gave up his claims.
Fingon, first son of Fingolfin.
Turgon, second son of Fingolfin.
Gil-galad, great-grandson of Finarfin.

The Noldor were the Second Clan of the Elves in both order and size, the other clans being the Vanyar, a smaller group, and the Teleri, a much larger one. The Noldor typically had grey eyes and dark hair, save for the members of the golden-haired House of Finarfin.

From their beginning the Noldor (meaning "Those who Know") were always distinguished, by their knowledge of the things that are and were in this world, and by their desire to learn more. They were the most skillful of these Clans, and were specially loved by Aulë, from whom they learned many things, although less than they wanted to know. Their skills included the developing of their language, the building of great towers and halls, and gem extraction. One of their most famous artefacts were the crystallic Fëanorian lamps; the craft to make them was lost to Middle-earth when they left.

The Noldor were the proudest of the Elves; in the words of the Sindar, they came to Middle-earth because "they needed room to quarrel in". It was this pride that Melkor used to turn the Houses of Fëanor and Fingolfin against each other. The pride of the Noldor also led to their Fall and Exile (and their continued quarrels in Middle-earth, as noted by the Sindar).

Of the three clans of the Eldar they are also the people who most favours swords and shields as their weapons.

The Sindar often called the Noldor Lechind (sing. Lachend), which meant 'flame-eyed' due to the piercing brightness of their eyes. This was the distinctive feature of all the Elves that had dwelt in Aman, whose eyes thus deeply impressed those of Middle-earth.

Noldor is a Quenya name that meant "the Wise" (in the sense of possessing knowledge, not sagacity or sound judgment), derived from the Elvish root NGOL ("knowledge, wisdom, lore"). This name was given to the Second Clan by the others and was accepted and used as their regular and proper name by all the Eldarin members of the clan throughout their later history.

Its singular form is Noldo and the adjective form is Noldorin.

The spelling Ñoldor, rather than Noldor, was often used by Tolkien in his later writings. The grapheme Ñ is used here to represent the phoneme [ŋ]—the velar nasal sound at the end of the English word sing—rather than the palatal nasal [ɲ], as in the Spanish word año. This is due to vacillation on whether or not initial [ŋ] (written ñ) from [ng] became [n] or not in Quenya. Even in earlier forms the name Ñoldo/Noldo came from the same Primitive Quendian stem *ñgolodō, which led to Ñoldo in Quenya and Golodh in Sindarin.

The Noldor were called Golodhrim (pron. ) by Sindarin-speakers and Goldoi by the Falmari of Aman. Both of these terms are cognates of the Quenya Noldor, meaning 'wise, learned ones'. The Sindarin singular Golodh () had the plural form Gelydh (, or in Gondorian pronunciation , archaically Gœlydh ). The class plural, Golodhrim, was used for the people as a whole. Later the Sindar replaced these with Gódhil (sing. Gódhel) or Gódhellim (), which, in turn, was a modernised form of Ódhil or Ódhellim, Sindarin name for the Amanyar.

The Noldor were called the "Deep-elves", a loose translation of Noldor, where 'deep' means 'wise, learned'. Other names used for the Noldor included the Wise, the Golden, the Valiant, the Sword-elves, the Elves of the Earth, the Foes of Melkor, the Skilled of Hand, the Jewel-wrights, the Companions of Men, the Followers of Finwë, and Loremasters. It is also told that the Noldor were often called the Lispers by other native speakers of Quenya (such as the Vanyar), since the Noldor generally did not retain the sound "th" [θ] in their speech.

In the earliest versions of Tolkien's Legendarium, the Noldor were called 'Noldoli' or 'Gnomes'. They were still called Gnomes in early editions of The Hobbit. They were also the ones who spoke the language that later became Sindarin (then called Gnomish or Noldorin).

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 28/05/2026.