Lesson 1. Breakdown: what matters and what's interesting

A chapter about the coming of the Elves and the first great war fought for them. The Elves, the Firstborn, the Children of Ilúvatar, awaken by the waters of Cuiviénen under a starry sky that Varda kindled for them. Oromë the hunter is the first to find them. But Melkor knows of them too, and his dark servants carry some of the Elves off; from them, by a grim tradition, the race of Orcs is bred through corruption. To protect the Elves, the Valar go to war against Melkor: the Battle of the Powers. Utumno is destroyed, and Melkor is bound with the chain Angainor and imprisoned in Valinor for three ages. The Valar summon the Elves to the West, to the light of the Trees, and the Great Journey begins. On the way they divide: some reach Aman (the Calaquendi, Elves of the Light), others stay in Middle-earth (the Moriquendi, Elves of the Darkness). The three kindreds are the Vanyar, the Noldor, and the Teleri.

— Cuiviénen, “the Water of Awakening,” where the Elves first opened their eyes. — Quendi, “those who speak,” the Elves' own name for themselves. — Eldar, “People of the Stars”; this is what Oromë called those who answered the Valar's summons and set out on the Journey. — The three kindreds of the Eldar: Vanyar (“the Fair”), Noldor (“the Wise,” the craftsmen), Teleri (“the Last,” a people of mariners and singers). — Avari (“the Unwilling”), those who refused to go West. — Calaquendi / Moriquendi, “Elves of the Light” (who saw the light of the Trees) and “Elves of the Darkness” (who did not). The main idea: already here the Elves face a fork in their fate, to go toward the light or to stay. This fork foreshadows the whole later history, in which the choice between Aman and Middle-earth decides the heroes' lot.

— The origin of the Orcs from captured and mutilated Elves is one of the darkest ideas of the legendarium: in Tolkien, evil does not create anything of its own but only spoils what belongs to others (Melkor cannot create life, only twist it). This follows directly from the idea of the “Ainulindalë.” — Melkor's captivity for three ages looks like a victory, but he is not destroyed, only bound, and his later release will be the start of the great disasters. The Valar show a mercy that will turn into calamity. — The Battle of the Powers again breaks the shape of Middle-earth: victory over evil is won at the cost of ruining the world itself. — The division of the Elves sets the geography of the whole legendarium: the Noldor are the future exiles, heroes, and makers; the Teleri are those whose ships will later play a fateful part in the Kinslaying at Alqualondë; the Sindar (Thingol's people) will come from those Teleri who lingered in Beleriand.