The Quendi

Introduction: Quenya is the language of the High Elves in Valinor, making it the native tongue of the Noldor who came to Middle Earth. However, when King Thingol of the Sindar heard of the kinslaying in Aqualondë against his brother’s people, he banned the language in Beleriand as retaliation. Whether or not this was a legitimate ban, many of the Noldor stopped speaking Quenya and the language was replaced by Sindarin Elvish (which had already existed in Middle Earth before the exiles arrived). By the Third Age, Quenya had become a dead language used for ceremonies and spoken almost exclusively by scholars. Let’s discuss! Part 1: legitimacy, reasoning, and impact (prior post) Part 2: perspective and world-building, concluding remarks, fun facts 1.) Perspective and world-building The language ban is presented as acceptable in The Silmarillion, and the Quenya names of places and people that were never in Middle Earth are almost always translated to Sindarin anyway. For example, Arafinwë ...

 Introduction: Quenya is the language of the High Elves in Valinor, making it the native tongue of the Noldor who came to Middle Earth. However, when King Thingol of the Sindar heard of the kinslaying in Aqualondë against his brother’s people, he banned the language in Beleriand as retaliation. Whether or not this was a legitimate ban, many of the Noldor stopped speaking Quenya and the language was replaced by Sindarin Elvish (which had already existed in Middle Earth before the exiles arrived).  By the Third Age, Quenya had become a dead language used for ceremonies and spoken almost exclusively by scholars. Let’s discuss! Part 1: legitimacy, reasoning, and impact Part 2: perspective and world-building, concluding remarks, fun facts (coming soon) 1.) Was it legitimate? Thingol is king of the Sindar, not the Noldor, but he justifies the ban through his claim of lordship over all Beleriand (Western Middle Earth). When he first claims this lordship, the Noldor basically laugh at...