Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië

Geography, yet another division of elves, and an introduction to the Noldor with whom the Silmarillion is chiefly concerned. 

At long last, the main of the Teleri host followed their new king, Olwë, to Valinor. Of the Teleri that did NOT follow Olwë, there were two groups. The Falathrim, friends of Ossë, the mariners and shipwrights, of whom Círdan was one; and the Eglath (Forsaken People) who stayed behind seeking their lost lord, Elwë. 

In Valinor, a dwelling place was made for the elves: Tirion upon Túna. In Tirion, Yavanna made a tree like to Telperion, though it did not give light of its own, from this eventually came the White Tree of Númenor. 

The lord of the Noldor was Finwë, his sons were Fëanor (one of the largest characters in the book), Fingolfin, and Finarfin (Galadriel's father).

Ta-daa!

Now then, we must dig a little deeper and quote Tolkien a whole bunch, but first a map¹.

If you will remember, Oromë was to lead all the elves to Valinor.  After the Avari (the Unwilling) broke off, the Vanyar and the Noldor went along and made it without any problem, the Teleri, however, ended up fracturing a couple more times. While they were still travelling in a generally steady fashion (before their REALLY long break in Beleriand) an elf called Lenwë broke off with a bunch of people (the Nandor) and wandered away south. 

All three elven groups made it Beleriand, then Elwë ran into Melian² in what is called Doriath on the map; as a result, the Teleri did not move on with the Noldor and Vanyar, but stayed behind in East Beleriand. The others moved on to the shores of the sea that lay between them and Aman (where Valinor is situated). At this point, Ulmo uprooted an island, brought it to the Bay of Balar, and then used it to carry the Vanyar and Noldor to Valinor; a part of this island broke off and remained behind, becoming the Isle of Balar. The Teleri did not hear Ulmo's summons, and so remained behind. However, having chosen Olwë, brother of Elwë, for their lord, they eventually came to the Bay of Balar, and were there befriended by Ossë and Uinen³.   

"Thus it came to be that the Teleri, who were from the beginning lovers of water, and the fairest singers of all the Elves, were after enamoured of the seas, and their songs were filled with the sound of waves upon the shore."

More time passed, then Ulmo at last returned to the Teleri to take them to Valinor. Ossë was fond of the Teleri, and persuaded a group of them to stay behind, these were called the Falathrim. Another group remained behind, still seeking for Elwë Singollo, "though they would fain have departed to Valinor and the light of the Trees, if Ulmo and Olwë had been willing to tarry longer." These called themselves the Eglath (the Forsaken People), but eventually Elwë returned to them with Melian at his side, his people became the Sindar, and he himself was known after as Elu Thingol.

Ossë followed the people of Olwë and persuaded them to stop, so Ulmo anchored the island they were riding upon, and it became Tol Eressëa (the Lonely Isle). 

Meanwhile, in Valinor, the Vanyar and the Noldor longed for sight of the stars and so "a gap was made in the great walls of the Pelóri, and there in a deep valley that ran down to the sea the Eldar raised a high green hill: Túna it was called." Upon this hill was raised the white city of Tirion. 

"Then through the Calacirya, the Pass of Light, the radiance of the Blessed Realm streamed forth, kindling the dark waves to silver and gold, and it touched the Lonely Isle, and its western shore grew green and fair. There bloomed the first flowers that ever were east of the Mountains of Aman."

Yavanna gave to the elves in Tirion a replica (though it gave no light) of Telperion. This tree was called Galathilion, from this came Celeborn (planted in Tol Eressëa), and eventually Nimloth (the white tree of Númenor). 

In time, the Noldorin masons dug up the first of the earth gems and "hoarded them not, but gave them freely, and by their labour enriched all Valinor." Yes, we are getting closer to the actual Silmarils. 

At long last, the Teleri once more desired to continue their journey to Aman, and Ossë was sent to teach them to build ships. He did so, and gave them 'strong-winged' swans to draw the ships to the shores of Eldamar in Aman. "[O]f pearl were the mansions of Olwë at Alqualondë, the Haven of Swans, lit with many lamps. For that was their city, and the haven of their ships; and those were made in the likeness of swans, with beaks of gold and eyes of gold and jet." 

As ages passed, the Vanyar gradually abandoned Tirion, and took up their dwelling on the mountain of Manwë, behind the Pelóri, and grew sundered from the other elves. But the Noldor liked to travel far and wide, learning of all things, and they grew close to the people of Alqualondë. 

Now then, we have only Finwë's family tree and we shall be done. You'll want to familiarize yourself with this, as these particular familial relationships are referenced a lot. Eärwen is the daughter of Olwë. The wife of Elrond was Elwing, who is the granddaughter of Beren and Luthien

Notes: 

1: I should like to note that I, being the sort of person I am, started trying to find Middle Earth places on the maps in Silmarillion before I got to the part where Beleriand pretty much all sinks. Naturally, I got confused. If you are looking to orient yourself between maps of Beleriand, and those of the Third Age, look to the far north-east corner of the Beleriand map, and you will see the mountains of Ered Luin. These same mountains can be found on the far north-west corner of the Third Age maps from The Lord of the Rings. 

2: See Of Thingol and Melian

3: See Valaquenta: The Maiar and the Enemies, Uinen and Ossë

 

(Lest there should be any confusion or matter of rights and whatnot, all quotes in this post are from the works of JRR Tolkien, unless otherwise mentioned. There may be slight errors, misspellings, or alternate punctuation in the quotes, and if you notice such, please inform me so that I can speedily remedy them.)

Cuiviénen by Jenny Dolfen: https://goldseven.wordpress.com/