16 Facts About Noldor

The majority of the Noldor returned to Beleriand in the northwest of Middle-earth following the murder of their first leader Finwe by the Dark Lord Morgoth, on the instigation of Finwe's eldest son Feanor.

The Noldor are called Golodhrim or Godhellim in Sindarin, and Goldui by Teleri of Tol Eressea.

Noldor were counted among the Calaquendi or High Elves, as they had seen the light of the Two Trees of Valinor.

Noldor primarily spoke Quenya as their first language, though the Exiles in Middle-earth would speak Sindarin, a Quenya term for the language of the Sindar, a kindred of Elves who initially accepted the summons of the Valar but never completed the journey to Valinor, and remained in Middle-earth as a prominent civilization.

Noldor were the proudest of the Elves, as they vaunted in particular their ability to create: by the words of the Sindar, "they needed room to quarrel in".

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Noldor drew the ire of the rogue Vala Melkor, who envied their prosperity and, most of all, the Silmarils crafted by Feanor.

Some Noldor who had had no hand in the Kinslaying, including Finarfin son of Finwe and Indis, returned to Valinor, and the Valar forgave them.

Noldor crossed the sea to Middle-earth in the stolen ships, leaving Fingolfin and his people behind.

In Beleriand, in the north-west of Middle-earth, the Noldor made alliances with the Sindar and later with Men of the Three Houses of the Edain.

Fingolfin's reign was marked by warfare against Morgoth and in the year 60 of the First Age after their victory in Dagor Aglareb the Noldor started the Siege of Angband, the great fortress of Morgoth.

The defeat of Morgoth marked the end of the First Age and the start of the Second, and most of the Noldor returned to Aman, though some like Galadriel or Celebrimbor, grandson of Feanor, refused the pardon of the Valar and remained in Middle-earth.

Noldor's forces attacked Eregion, destroying it, but were repelled in Rivendell and Lindon.

Leslie A Donovan notes that Tolkien's concept of exile, as principally exemplified by the Noldor, derives in part from Anglo-Saxon culture, in which he was an expert.

Medievalist Elizabeth Solopova makes a connection between Middle English and Tolkien's description of Finwe's first wife Miriel as the most skilful of the Noldor at weaving and needlework; Solopova notes that Tolkien had proposed an etymology for the Middle English term burde, meaning lady or damsel, linking it to Old English borde, embroidery, and that he had given examples from both Old English and Old Norse where women were called weavers or embroiderers.

Noldor adds that the smith-Vala Aule is not only the patron of all craftsmen but the Vala most like Melkor, the first Dark Lord.

The kinds of craftsmanship he encouraged among the Noldor was not only of physical things, but "'those that make not, but seek only for the understanding of what is' — the philologists, one might say", writes Shippey, including Tolkien's profession along with the Noldor's skill with letters and poetry.