Tavari
Tavari were the fays of the woods, according to the early version of the legendarium in The Book of Lost Tales.
They arrived to the world with Aulë and Yavanna, along with many other types of fays.
Etymology
The name Tavari is in Qenya, being a possible plural form of tavar ("dale-sprite"). The Gnomish cognate of tavar was tavor ("a wood fay").
The word tavar is derived from the root TAVA ("beam"), with "beam" here referring to the Old English béam ("tree, piece of wood, rafter, pillar").
The name suggests that the wood-fays 'used' the forest as their home, and that such forests were watched or guarded by the fays.
Other versions of the legendarium
In a later version of the legendarium from The Etymologies (1930s), there appear the terms tavaro(n) (male)/tavaril (female), meaning "dryad; spirit of the woods".
The hypothetical earlier forms of these names were tawaro or tawarë.
Inspiration
According to C.S. Lewis, Tolkien once told him that the historical people in a sense did not falsely claim to see "nymphs in the fountains and woods and dryads in the wood", since the production of food was closely connected to one's own land and territory: people came to internalize the nature surrounding them.
It is possible that Tolkien at one point drew inspiration from the concept of the Tavari while creating the race of Ents, since in one letter, Tolkien explores the possibility that the Ents were "souls" that were sent to inhabit (animate) trees, or that became trees themselves.
Referencias
1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 30/05/2026.
