Q: Who Were the Lords of Tol Eressëa Who Visited Numenor?
ANSWER: In Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth there are references to lords of the Eldar who visited Numenor and in its later years retained a secret friendship with the Faithful Dunedain, who were led by the Lords of Andúnië. Readers occasionally ask if these Elven lords were ever named or had dwelt in Beleriand.
There is, to my knowledge, no list of Elven lords of Tol Eressëa. According to The Silmarillion Tol Eressëa had once been a larger island. Ulmo used it to transport the Vanyar and Noldor to Aman and later brought those of the Teleri who remained with Olwë to the Bay of Eldamar. At some point during these voyages the island broke apart and its eastern end (named thereafter the Isle of Balar) remained in the Bay of Balar near Beleriand.
Olwë and his people lived on Tol Eressëa for many years before Ulmo sent his vassal Ossë to teach them how to build ships. The Teleri of Aman (who were now known as the Falmari or “Sea-elves”) sailed to the shore of Eldamar and there built their great haven of Alqualondë. The isle of Tol Eressëa remained vacant until the end of the First Age of the Sun.
At that time many (perhaps most) of the surviving Noldor and Sindar of Beleriand sailed to Tol Eressëa and settled there. They built only one city, Avallonë, which stood upon the eastern shore of the island looking toward Numenor. The survivors of Beleriand seem to have included Elves from Hithlum, the Falas, Nargothrond, Gondolin, Ossiriand, and the March of Maedhros, for many Elves had been captured alive by Morgoth’s forces and enslaved in Angband. Tolkien does not say which of the Elves of Beleriand sailed over Sea but it is almost certain that a majority of the freed slaves would have sailed west to seek healing.
Cirdan, Lord of the Falas, had escaped with many of his people (the Falathrim, or Elves of the Coast) to establish a haven on Balar (perhaps joining a small haven Turgon had established there some years earlier). Gil-galad and other survivors from Nargothrond, Hithlum, Gondolin, and Doriath eventually settled on Balar. One is tempted to say that these Elves comprised the majority of those Eldar who chose to remain in Middle-earth after the First Age ended.
There are several references to princely families among the Elves of Beleriand who were not directly related to the High Kings (the so-called Elwëans and Finwëans, of whom only Cirdan, Gil-galad, Galadriel, Celeborn, Elrond, and Celebrimbor are named among the survivors). For example, Guilin was a prince of Nargothrond whose sons were Gwindor and Gelmir. There was another Gelmir, who with a companion Arminas, may have belonged to another princely family (they supposedly belonged to the folk of Angrod although that name might be a mistake for Aegnor). Glorfindel was a prince of Gondolin; Ecthelion may also have been a prince of Gondolin’s people. In the “Fall of Gondolin” (which is part of The Book of Lost Tales and therefore does not relate to Middle-earth) Glorfindel and Ecthelion were two of eleven “house lords” or princes who led divisions of Turgon’s people.
Voronwë son of Aranwë claimed to be related to both the Elwëans (through his mother, who was akin to Cirdan) and Finwëans (through his father, who was akin to Fingolfin). So far as is known Voronwë survived the Wars of Beleriand and eventually sailed to Valinor, possibly with Tuor and Idril. Tolkien was circumspect about the fate of Tuor; in one text he suggests Tuor would have remained mortal and died while in another he suggests that Tuor may have been admitted to the ranks of the Noldor in Aman.
In anecdotes about both Finrod and Glorfindel (who were both said to have been slain in Beleriand) Tolkien suggests they were eventually restored to life and allowed to live in Valinor. However, the Eldar who sailed west from the ruin of Beleriand early in the Second Age were required to settle on Tol Eressëa. Therefore we can suggest a few names for Eldarin lords who might have settled in Tol Eressëa: Voronwë, Gelmir, and Arminas.
However, the reader should not assume these were the only Elvish lords to survive the destruction of the Elven realms. For example, the Green-elves of Ossiriand appear to have retained some leaders although they took no kings after Denethor was slain. And Tolkien does not explain what happened to all of Cirdan’s relatives: in fact, only two (the mothers of Orodreth and Voronwë) are referred to, though not named. Tolkien need not have had any specific families in mind for the nameless lords of Tol Eressëa but he most likely envisoned ties between their families and the great families of Beleriand in much the same way he connected these lesser princes to those great princes.
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