The Quendi were sundered after the awakening and many sub-groups appeared. No other race has been blessed and cursed more than the Quendi. These gifts come at great cost, though: they are strongly bound to Fate (see Mandos) and hated by Morgoth. On a clear day they can see ten miles with perfect clarity and detail up to 100 miles. Elven skill and agility is legendary: for instance, walking atop freshly fallen snow without leaving a trace of their passing. They cannot become sick or scarred, but if an Elf should die, from violence or losing the will to live from grief, their spirit goes to the halls of Mandos, and as they are bound to Arda and cannot leave until the world is broken and remade. They can see as well under moon or starlight as a man at the height of day. Fair and fine featured, brilliant and proud, immortal and strong, tall and agile, they are the most blessed of the Free Peoples. They call themselves the Quendi, or "Speakers", for they were the first to utter words and, even now, no race understands language and song like the Firstborn. Born under the stars before the ascension of the Moon and the Sun, they retain a special love for light and an inner spirit endowed with unique gifts. The Elves, or Firstborn, were the first of Eru's Children to awaken. The Ent Treebeard quotes lines from a traditional lay listing them: First name the four, the free peoples Eldest of all, the elf-children Dwarf the delver, dark are his houses Ent the earthborn, old as mountains Man the mortal, master of horsesĪfter encountering the hobbits Merry and Pippin, he consents that hobbits are a fifth free people, adding a fifth line, "Half-grown hobbits, the hole-dwellers". Strictly speaking, among Men it was only the Men of the West who were Free People, particularly the descendants of the Dúnedain of the Isle of Númenor, as most Men of the East and South of Middle-earth became servants of Morgoth and Sauron over the ages. The Free Peoples of Middle-earth were the four races that had never fallen under the sway of the evil spirits Morgoth or Sauron: Elves, Men, Dwarves and Ents. By the Third Age, the only remaining Balrog was "Durin's Bane," the Balrog of Moria, killed by Gandalf. They participated in the wars of the First Age of Middle-earth but were mostly destroyed during the War of Wrath which ended the Age. Balrogs ĭemonic creatures of fire and shadow, Balrogs were fallen Maiar, loyal to the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. As each of these Istari learned from their Vala, so they acted in Middle-earth. Radagast, servant of Yavanna, loved the things of nature, both animals and plants. Gandalf was the servant of Manwë or Varda, but was a lover of the Gardens of Lórien, and so knew much of the hopes and dreams of Men and Elves. Saruman was the servant and helper of Aulë, and so learned much in the art of craftsmanship, mechanics, and metal-working, as was seen in the later Third Age. Īs the Istari were Maiar, each one served a Vala in some way. The Blue Wizards do not feature in the story, as they are said to have journeyed far into the east after their arrival in Middle-earth. Gandalf and Saruman play important roles in The Lord of the Rings, while Radagast appears only briefly, innocently helping Saruman to deceive Gandalf, who believes Radagast since he is honest, and fortuitously alerting Gwaihir to rescue Gandalf again. Each wizard in the series had robes of a characteristic colour: white for Saruman (the chief and the most powerful of the five), grey for Gandalf, brown for Radagast, and sea-blue for the remaining two, known consequently as the Blue Wizards. Tolkien never provided non-Elvish names for the other two one tradition gives their names in Valinor as Alatar and Pallando, and another as Morinehtar and Rómestámo in Middle-earth. The first three of these five wizards were known in the Mannish tongues of the Lord of the Rings series as Saruman "man of skill" ( Rohirric), Gandalf "elf of the staff" (northern Men), and Radagast "tender of beasts" (possibly Westron). They were sent by the Valar to assist the people of Middle-earth to contest Sauron. Outwardly resembling Men but possessing much greater physical and mental power, they were called Istari ( Quenya for "Wise Ones") by the Elves. The wizards of Middle-earth were Maiar: spirits of the same order as the Valar, but lesser in power.
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