Olwë by LadySternchen

There is not too much that canon tells us about Olwë of Alqualondë, at least compared to more prominent characters within the legendarium. Nonetheless, the King of the Falmari plays a vital role in the events of The Silmarillion, and through his legacy also in the events of later ages. I therefore did my best to try and sketch out a holistic image of a character that is as important as he is underrated.

Now, who is Olwë? That is easily answered: the Lord of the Teleri in Aman, also known as the Falmari. Unlike with some other characters, there was no change to that role at all in the process of writing. What did change was his name. Olwë was in the beginning indeed called Elwë,¹ but that was a mere change of names, and bears no significance to Olwë's character development.

Speaking of names, unlike with his brothers, the meaning of Olwë's name is unknown. It might refer to either dreams or trees, but it appears that both words-stems were written down by Tolkien after the name of Olwë had first come up.²

Now, let's ask again: who is Olwë? He is described in the History of Middle-Earth that he had pure white hair and blue eyes,³ but what about his background?

Well, we know that he was born by the waters of Cuivíenen as the second son of his parents. Through his father, he is a descendant from Enel and Enelyë, the forebears of the Nelyar. Little more is known of his family, save that he had two brothers, Elwë (later called Elu Thingol) and Elmo, and was related also to Círdan—then called Nowë—and Eöl, though it is never specified in which way.⁴ We can only assume, from the way Círdan is described in The Lord of the Rings,⁵ that he was indeed a blood-relative of the brothers, but even that is guesswork.

Olwë himself later married and had a daughter and several sons. Of his family, only his daughter Eärwen is named, and in the earlier writings also one of his sons, Elulindo.⁶ Nothing else is known about his spouse or sons.

We can, however, do a little bit of guesswork here regarding family ties here, even if it is a long shot. We know that Elwë and Olwë shared the rule over the Nelyar during the Great Journey,⁷ which suggests deep trust between the brothers. Yes, dividing the Teleri, the largest of the three groups of Quendi, was probably a practical decision above all else, but it is still something one doesn't do without trusting the other. After all, Olwë had to lead his people without having been to Valinor himself, trusting in his brother's tales and subsequent choices.

Also, when Olwë's grandchildren returned to Middle-earth many thousand years later, they were the only ones of the Noldor that were allowed into Doriath,⁸ and the news of the kinslaying caused serious strife between Elu Thingol and the sons of Fëanor.⁹

But before we get to the kinslaying, I want to first turn back again to the time of the Great Journey, because it is here that we actually hear from Olwë first in the published Silmarillion. As stated above, he led the host of the Nelyar together with Elwë, because the Nelyar were the largest group, and also the one that was least eager to leave Cuiviénen.¹⁰

From the books, we learn nothing about Olwë's feelings during the march, but I think it would be safe to guess that it would have been a challenging experience to say the least. Not only was Olwë's host ever the hindmost, indicating that he quite struggled to keep his people moving, he was also confronted with losing people on several occasions. Most prominent here is Lenwë's decision to forsake the march and instead lead a group of people down the vale of Anduin, which is quite significant for later events, given that it is fairly likely that the Silvan-elven population of the Greenwood and what would later become Lothlórien originated from that people.¹¹

For Olwë, therefore, the entire march would have meant being constantly torn between his brother's impatience (and probably Oromë's, too) and his people's desire to linger—and whatever his feelings were, that cannot have been a very nice experience.

And the whole situation would have become a whole lot more stressful when Elwë disappeared on his trip to meet Finwë. We do not know anything about Olwë's emotions there; we do not know whether he was angry with Elwë for leaving them or worried about him or whether he just mourned him after a while, thinking him dead. We do know, however, that Elwë's disappearance meant a lot of additional work for Olwë, who found himself the sole leader all of a sudden. He had to search for his brother, lead his people to the shores of the sea alone, and learn there that not only Oromë but also the other hosts had abandoned them.¹²

After a while, however, Olwë and his people befriended Ossë and Uinen by the shores of the sea, and after some time, they, too, were given the chance to board Tol Eressëa and set off to Valinor. That, however, came at a heavy price for Olwë, who had been taken as king by the Teleri in his brother's stead. It says in The Silmarillion that "Olwë would be gone" while the rest of his kin and friends of Elwë wanted to keep looking for him, so there is no ground at all for doubting his will to leave, but it still meant that he had to leave not only Elwë behind, but also his second brother Elmo, who stayed to keep looking for Elwë. He was also separated from Círdan then, which does not seem to have been planned this way, given that Círdan only missed the island because he wandered so far searching for Elwë.¹³

That reads like the setup for considerable heartbreak, but whether it truly was or not, the texts do not directly state, leaving readers to infer the pain of separation experienced by the sundered Teleri.

Regardless of how he (or his people) felt about it, the Teleri were then shipped (islanded?) over to Aman, with Ossë following them because he liked their company so much. The Teleri reportedly were just as happy about their Maia-friend being there, and it was through Ossë that they asked Ulmo to tie the island off the shore of Valinor so that they might still see the stars while at the same time living also in the light of the Trees that shone through the Calacirya.¹⁴

After a while however, "their minds were changed", and they relocated to the shores of Aman, and started to build their city there with the help of the Noldor.¹⁵

Now, Tolkien never specified what brought about that change of heart, if it really was just changing their minds or if indeed both the Teleri (and also their king) needed a little while to accustom, which I personally find highly likely.

Once Alqualondë was built it was said to be a beautiful city, with its harbour having a natural arch of rock. It was said to be adorned with many pearls, and in particular Olwë's palace there.¹⁶

Now, the Teleri also learned the art of building fair ships in the shape of swans, and ornamented their beaches with many gems they got from the Noldor. To Alqualondë, Prince Finarfin went whenever he needed peace from the quarrelling of his brothers, and there he befriended Olwë's sons and later married Olwë's daughter Eärwen. The bonds between the royal house of the Falmari and that of the Noldor were strong.¹⁷

Unlike Finwë and especially unlike Fëanor, however, Olwë never listened to Morgoth's lies, nor did Morgoth put any effort into persuading him into harkening.

None of this saved Olwë from being drawn into the Noldorin strife with Morgoth, though, for when Fëanor, driven by his grief for Finwë and and wrath for his jewels being stolen, sought a quick way to cross the sea, he approached Olwë for his ships.

That is where we get the one and only canonical line of Olwë's, as he refuses Fëanor's request and Fëanor accuses him of renouncing the Noldor's friendship, despite the help the Noldor gave the Falmari when they first arrived to mainland-Aman.

Olwë then tells Fëanor outright that, while he renounces no friendship, he sees it as his duty to tell Fëanor that he's way out of bounds with his request, and that the ships of the Falmari are as precious to them as Fëanor's Silmarils are to him.¹⁸

We know, of course, what comes off it. Fëanor loses every bit of self-restraint he might until then have had and attacks Alqualondë, resulting in the horrible battle that is now known as the First Kinslaying. It is told that, despite being only lightly armed and not well armoured, Olwë's people put up quite a fight but in the end could not hinder the Noldor from taking their ships, and even less hinder them from taking so many of their mariners' lives. We know that Olwë himself survived the kinslaying, as he afterwards calls on Ossë to prevent the stealing of the ships, but the Maia refuses, because he has been forbidden from preventing the Noldor from leaving. Uinen, however, grieved by the deaths of the mariners she has long called friends, makes the sea rage, sinking many of the stolen ships and killing those who sailed them.¹⁹

Nothing whatsoever is told of Olwë afterwards, and even of his people, little is known for certain. They did agree to ferry the hosts of Valinor to Middle-earth at the beginning of the War of Wrath but would not step ashore or fight. The wounds of the killing at Alqualondë clearly ran too deep.²⁰

There is, of course, another horrible heartbreak in this for Eärwen, and in extends to Olwë, too. After all, Finarfin, though he did not partake in the kinslaying itself, still chose initially to go to Middle-earth. He did repent later, returned, and sought and received pardon,²¹ but I still think it safe to say that this would have stained their relationship, at least at the beginning. I like to think that Olwë truly forgave Finarfin, but we simply do not know.

The last thing I want to talk about in this character biography is Olwë's legacy, that stretches to the Fourth Age, as we know.

We know nothing of Olwë's wife or his sons, as I already stated, but through Eärwen's marriage with Finarfin, Olwë is the maternal grandfather of Finrod, Aegnor, Angrod, Orodreth (depending on the text), and Galadriel. Again depending on the version, he might therefore also be the forefather of Gil-galad,²² but he regardless of version is an ancestor of Celebrían and the great uncle of Elrond and Elros. With the twins, the line of Olwë is finally rejoined with those of both Elwë and Elmo (the latter having joined when Galadriel married Celeborn, who was Elmo's grandson²³).

Through Arwen and Aragorn and their children, Olwë's legacy indeed carried on into the Fourth Age.

So yes, it is true that not much is said about Olwë in the texts, but that makes him and his legacy no less important.

Works Cited

1. The History of Middle-earth, Volume V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, The Lhammas, §6, and Quenta Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of the Elves," §29 footnote.
2. The History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, "The names of Finwë's descendants."
3. The History of Middle-earth, Volume X: The Later Quenta Silmarillion: The First Phase, "Of the Coming of the Elves," §27.
4. The Nature of Middle-earth, "Generational Schemes, Scheme 7"; The History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, Last Writings, "Círdan"; The Silmarillion, "Of Maeglin."
5. "As they came to the gates Círdan the Shipwright came forth to greet them. Very tall he was, and his beard was long, and he was grey and old, safe that his eyes were keen as stars." The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, "The Grey Havens."
6. The History of Middle-earth, Volume V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Appendix, The Genealogies.
7. The Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor."
8. Ibid., "Of the Return of the Noldor."
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid., "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor."
11. Ibid., Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age.
12. Ibid., "Of Thingol and Melian" and "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië."
13. The History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, Last Writings, "Círdan."
14. The Silmarillion, "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië."
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid., "Of the Flight of the Noldor."
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid., "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath."
21. Ibid., "Of the Flight of the Noldor."
22. According to the published Silmarillion, Ereinion (better known by his epessë, Gil-galad) was the son of Fingon, but Christopher Tolkien later claimed that to be an editing mistake, and that his father's true intention was for Ereinion to be son of Orodreth, which will make him—again depending on source—either the son of Eärwen and thus grandson of Olwë (as in the published Silmarillion) or the son of Angrod and thus the great-grandson of Olwë. The History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, "The parentage of Gil-galad."
23. Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn," introductory remarks.