In The Silmarillion, we are told that Morgoth was the first to realize that the Elves were awake, and that Elves who wandered alone or in small groups occasionally disappeared, and that this went on for "some years ere the coming of Oromë" to Cuiviénen. Oromë was the first of the true Valar to see the Elves, of course - he just happened to be out hunting and came upon the Elves by chance - and this is how the Valar came to realize that the Elves were up and about.

According to the excellent site Tolkien Gateway, about 35 years passed between the awakening of the Elves and their discovery by Oromë.

But we are also told that Manwë used Eagles and other birds to see what was going on in Arda, so it seems surprising that the Valar remained unaware of the Elves for so long.

Is there any explanation for this puzzling state of affairs?

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    @Lexible I used Valar in every case because every use was plural. I'm not sure why you said that - explain, please. Also note that I said "true Valar", reflecting the fact that the Valar themselves considered Melkor/Morgoth to be cast out of the order, and no longer one of them. "Melkor is counted no longer among the Valar" - Silmarillion, Valaquenta page 24. – Wad Cheber Jun 12 '15 at 5:49
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    You should be a lawyer Wad ;) – Yohann V. Jun 12 '15 at 13:07
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    @YohannV. Maybe he is :-) – Matt Gutting Jun 12 '15 at 15:18
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    @WadCheber Yep on the plural/singular, you are correct. OTOH Melkor is a Vala (not sure where "true vala" enters that, since Tolkien didn't refer to such). – Lexible Jun 12 '15 at 15:59
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    RIP - Christopher Lee. If you want to raise a memorial post, there's a meta topic here – Valorum Jun 12 '15 at 22:40

Because the Valar did not know the (exact) time or place of the awakening of the Children, and they dwelt almost a continent and ocean away.


(Silmarillion, of the Coming if the Elves)

'Within this age' is not exactly what you'd call precise.

They first awoke just as Varda finished creating the stars.



The Eagles had also only just come into existence:



Keeping in mind that Middle-Earth is a big, big place, the Eagles dwelt in the mountains and there was in the beginning a much smaller number of Elves, it's no surprise that the Valar did not know for some time that the Elves had awakened. Also, it was dark. :) Only Oromë and Yavanna seemed to visit Middle-Earth at all:



And of course, it was Oromë who came upon the Elves as though by chance. And indeed, Oromë appears to have discovered the Elves before they had even left the place of their awakening, although it's clear quite some time has passed.

In the changes of the world the shapes of lands and of seas have been broken and remade; rivers have not kept their courses, neither have mountains remained steadfast; and to Cuiviénen there is no returning. But it is said among the Elves that it lay far off in the east of Middle-earth, and northward, and it was a bay in the Inland Sea of Helcar; and that sea stood where aforetime the roots of the mountain of Illuin had been before Melkor overthrew it Many waters flowed down thither from heights in the east, and the first sound that was heard by the Elves was the sound of water flowing, and the sound of water falling over stone.



So there was only a small number of Elves to find who were pretty much all bunched up together (save some wanderers Morgoth's servants caught) on a vast continent visited only by two of the Valar on occasion. And for beings literally older than time, years go by in a blink of an eye.

  • Awesome answer as always, Shamshiel. I was under the impression that Manwë was able to watch most/all of Middle-earth, and my reading of the text led me to believe that Yavanna was pretty sure that the Elves would wake up sooner rather than later. And if the Valar were as concerned about the safety of the Elves as they appear to have been, it still seems strange that they took an approach that amounted to "Meh, it'll work itself out". I also may have been confused by the fact that Manwë's birds were mentioned long before the Elves woke up, which made me think the birds came first. – Wad Cheber Jun 12 '15 at 20:57
  • I probably figured that the Eagles and other birds being mentioned so much earlier than the awakening of the Elves meant that the birds were around long before the Elves did their thing. And the text does say that the birds watch over all of Arda and report everything they see to Manwë. – Wad Cheber Jun 12 '15 at 21:00
  • This didn't work so well when they killed the two trees. – Oldcat Jun 12 '15 at 23:47

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