Vanyar

Much of this article relates to the later versions of the legendarium, and as such may contain discrepancies with The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, and The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle. See LOTR:Canon for a discussion. This subject's portrayal in earlier or alternative versions is discussed in the In other versions section.

Vanyar Elves depicted by Jenny Dolfen
Vanyar
Other names	Minyar (Q.), Minil (S.), Fair-elves, Spear-elves
Dominions	Tirion, Valmar, Taniquetil
Languages	Vanyarin Quenya
Lifespan	Biologically immortal
Distinctions	Gifted in poetry and music
Height	Tall
Hair color	Golden blond

The Vanyar (Q.: "Fair Ones"), singular Vanya, also named the Fair-elves or Spear-elves, were the first and smallest of Three Kindreds of the Eldar. Under the leadership of Ingwë, the Vanyar were the first to set forth on the Great Journey and reach the shores of Belegaer; they sailed to Aman on the first voyage of Tol Eressëa and remained there permanently. Very few, if any, Vanyar remained in or returned to Middle-earth after the Great Journey.

History

A Vanyar Elf by Antonio Vinci

Vanyar were descendants of Imin, the first Elf to awake at Cuiviénen, his wife Iminyë, and six other pairs of Elves who were awoken by them. Imin's companions, Tata and Enel, later awoke groups of nine and twelve pairs respectively, and Imin decided that since his group was the smallest and each group that he and his companions discovered was larger than the last, he then chose third rather than first in order to make up the numbers. However, only a further two groups were discovered, leaving Imin's group of fourteen by far the smallest of the three Elven clans.

When the Elves were discovered by Oromë, each clan chose an ambassador to return with him to Valinor to verify his claims of its greatness. The Minyar (Imin's companions) sent Ingwë. Upon his return, his people were swayed by his testimony and adopted him as their king, and he led them with Oromë to Aman. Ingwë was since reckoned the High King of all Elves, and became known as Ingwë Ingweron, the "Chief of Chieftains", and his people were known by the rest of the Eldar as the Vanyar. In Aman the Vanyar first dwelt in Tirion. Later, they came to love the full light of the Trees and wandered into Valinor or settled on Taniquetil. Ingwë dwelt with them on the slopes of Taniquetil, beneath the halls of Manwë.

Ingwion, son of Ingwë, by Maureval

After arriving in Aman, the Vanyar were rarely seen even by other Elves. Very few individual Vanyar are named besides Imin, Ingwë, his sister (or possibly niece) Indis, and Amarië, who was in love with Finrod Felagund. Indis became the second wife of Finwë, the High King of the Ñoldor and the mother of both Fingolfin and Finarfin, the latter of which founded the only house of Ñoldorin Elves to sport golden Vanyarin hair. After her husband was killed by Melkor in his attack on Formenos to attain the Silmarils, she returned to her people with her daughter Findis.

Unlike the Ñoldor, the Vanyar loved the light of Valinor so much that they never choose to return to Middle-earth, save when many of the Vanyar marched in the War of Wrath with the Host of Valinor. Though they preferred the peaceful light of Valinor, the Vanyar were skilled in the arts of war and were known for their fashioning of spears, thus they no doubt fielded a formidable army in the war. Ingwë's son Ingwion led an armed host of his people from Valinor to fight in the War of Wrath. They returned to Aman, along with most of the Eldar living in the largely destroyed Beleriand, at the end of the First Age.

Description

The Vanyar were the fairest of all the Elves, hence their name "Fair Elves". Unlike other kindreds attracted to the sea or the building and forging of things, the Vanyar culture seemed to revolve about the Valar and Valinor. This is probably the reason why they chose to stay in Valinor proper, centered around Taniquetil, the seat of the rulers of Arda, and loved the light of Valinor best of all the other places in Aman. They greatly valued the wisdom of the Valar and were thus favored by Manwë and Varda, and always distrusted by Melkor. They were known to have had the greatest skill in poetry of all Elves, likened to Manwë, who loved them for it. Their hair was golden, and their banners were white.

Etymology

The name Vanyar means 'Fair-ones' in Quenya, referring to their golden hair. The Vanyar often called themselves by their ancient name Minyar (meaning "Firsts"; singular Minya; adjectival Minyarin). This name did not refer to the Avari who remained in Middle-earth, since all of the Vanyar heeded the call of the Valar to come to Valinor.^{[citation needed]}

Relations

Galadriel was the granddaughter of Indis. It was to her Vanyarin blood that Galadriel owed her famous silver-golden hair.

Other versions of the legendarium

In the earliest versions of J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology, two names used for the first tribe of the Elves were Teleri and subsequently Lindar. Both terms were later reused for the third tribe, initially called Solosimpi. Another term initially used for the Vanyar was Ingwi, as they were the people of Ingwë, High King of the Elves.

Gallery

Indis the Fair, the wife of Finwë, the first High King of the Ñoldor and Queen of the Ñoldor, by Marya Filatova

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Amharic	ቫኛር
Arabic	فنيار
Armenian	Վանյար
Assamese	ভানয়াৰ
Belarusian Cyrillic	Ваньяр
Bengali	বন্যার
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Ваняр
Catalan	Vànyar
Chinese	凡雅族
Dari	وانیار
Georgian	ვანიარები
Greek	Βάνιαρ
Gujarati	વાન્યાર
Hebrew	ואניאר
Hindi	वाञार
Japanese	ヴァンヤール
Kannada	ವೈನ್ಯಾರ್
Kazakh	Ваняр (Cyrillic) Vanyar (Latin)
Konkani	वान्यार
Korean	바냐르
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Ваняр
Macedonian Cyrillic	Ванyар
Malayalam	വന്യാർ
Marathi	वन्यार
Mongolian Cyrillic	Ваныар
Nepalese	भान्यार
Pashto	وانیار
Persian	وانیار
Polish	Vanyarowie
Punjabi	ਵਨਯਾਰ
Russian	Ваниар
Sanskrit	वन्यर्
Serbian	Вањари (Cyrillic) Vanjari (Latin)
Sinhalese	වන්යාර්
Tajik Cyrillic	Ванyар
Tamil	வன்னியர்
Telugu	వన్యార్
Thai	วันยาร์
Urdu	وانیر
Uzbek	Ваняр (Cyrillic) Vanjari (Latin)
Yiddish	וואַניאַר