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Much of this article relates to the final versions of Middle-earth's history, and as such may contain discrepancies with The Silmarillion. See LOTR:Canon for a discussion. This subject's portrayal in earlier or alternative versions is discussed in the Earlier versions of the legendarium section.


The Avari were a branch of the Elven race in Middle-earth, the group of Moriquendi ('Elves of Darkness') who never journeyed to Aman, and their descendants. They were also known as Avamanyar (Quenya for 'Those who would not go to Aman')[2], as opposed to the Amanyar, 'Those of Aman', and Úmanyar, 'Not of Aman'.

History[]

Sundering of the Elves

The sunderings of the Elves

When Oromë found that Elves had awakened in Cuiviénen, he invited them to come with him to Valinor. All the Minyar and most of the Tatyar and Nelyar were persuaded and followed Oromë into the west on the Great Journey. The remainder of the Tatyar and Nelyar remained suspicious of the Lords of the west, seeing them only in their wrath, or they simply refused to depart from their own lands, and spread gradually throughout the wide lands of Middle-earth. They were after known in Quenya, the language of the Eldar that eventually reached Valinor, by the name Avari, meaning "the Unwilling", because they refused the summons.[3][4]

Having never come to Valinor, the Avari remained wild folk, dwellers of forests. Little is known of them, as they do not appear in any of the tales, save some references to Avari creeping in the south of Beleriand in the First Age. Some of them merged with the Nandor and Sindar in Eriador and the Vale of Anduin.

In The War of the Jewels, names of six tribes of Avari in their own languages are given, all being cognates of the Quenya term Quendi (the Speakers): Kindi, Cuind, Hwenti, Windan, Kinn-lai, Penni. They are the only certain Avarin words ever mentioned in the published Middle-earth material. It is speculated however that Dorwinion was an Avarin land, with Winion carrying the meaning "wine".

The Annals of Aman, given in Morgoth's Ring, suggest that Orcs descended from Avarin Elves captured and corrupted by Melkor, in mockery and in his envy of the Eldar in particular.[5] Tolkien suggests elsewhere that this notion was, at least, a belief the Eldar held about the Orcs' origin.[6] The matter is not ultimately clarified.

Eöl, one of the Teleri, was called the 'Dark Elf' for how he shunned the daylight, preferring to stay within the dark woods of Nan Elmoth and walk at nighttime. He was not, in fact, of Avarin lineage, being related to Thingol.[7]

Other versions of the legendarium[]

In older versions of the legendarium, the name Avari was originally that of the later Eldar, then meaning "those that departed".

In other, relatively late writings, a brief idea was that the Avari did not come from the three clans, but from two other clans, led by Nurwë and Morwë. This idea was later dropped. In the final conception, the Elves were divided into three tribes.

References[]

  1. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, Part Four: Quendi and Eldar, Author's Notes to Quendi and Eldar, note 9
  2. Eldamo.org - Eldamo : Quenya : Avamanyar
  3. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, Part Four: Quendi and Eldar
  4. The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch. III: "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor"
  5. The History of Middle-earth, Morgoth's Ring, Part Two: The Annals of Aman, "Second Section of the Annals of Aman", pgs. 73-4
  6. The History of Middle-earth, Morgoth's Ring, Part Five: Myths Transformed, VII, pgs. 405-6
  7. The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch. XVI: "Of Maeglin"

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Amharic ዓቫሪ
Arabic افاري
Armenian Ավարի
Assamese আভাৰী
Belarusian Cyrillic Авары
Bengali আভারী
Bhojpuri अवरी
Bulgarian Cyrillic Авари
Chinese (Hong Kong) 亞維瑞
Dogri अवरी
Georgian ავარები
Greek Άβαρι
Gujarati અવારી
Hebrew אוארי
Hindi अवारी
Japanese アヴァリ
Kannada ಅವರಿ
Kazakh Аварі (Cyrillic) Avari (Latin)
Korean 아 바리
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Авари
Macedonian Cyrillic Авари
Marathi आवरि
Mongolian Cyrillic Авари
Nepalese अवारी
Pashto اواری
Persian آواری
Punjabi ਅਵਾਰੀ
Russian Авари
Sanskrit आवरि
Serbian Авари (Cyrillic) Avari (Latin)
Sinhalese ආවරි
Tajik Cyrillic Авари
Tamil அவரி
Telugu అవారి
Thai อวาริ
Ukrainian Cyrillic Авари
Urdu آواری
Yiddish אַוואַרי
The People of Middle-earth

Edain | Dúnedain | Númenóreans | Haradrim | Easterlings | Variags | Northmen | Dunlendings | Drúedain | Lossoth

Vanyar | Ñoldor | Teleri | Sindar | Nandor | Avari

Durin's Folk | Firebeards | Broadbeams | Ironfists | Blacklocks | Stonefoots | Stiffbeards

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