Vanyar

The Vanyar (Q.: "Fair Ones"), singular Vanya, also named the Fair-elves or Spear-elves, were the first and smallest of Three Kindreds of the Eldar. Under the leadership of Ingwë, the Vanyar were the first to set forth on the Great Journey and reach the shores of Belegaer; they sailed to Aman on the first voyage of Tol Eressëa and remained there permanently. Very few, if any, Vanyar remained in or returned to Middle-earth after the Great Journey. 
== History ==
Vanyar were descendants of Imin, the first Elf to awake at Cuiviénen, his wife Iminyë, and six other pairs of Elves who were awoken by them. Imin's companions, Tata and Enel, later awoke groups of nine and twelve pairs respectively, and Imin decided that since his group was the smallest and each group that he and his companions discovered was larger than the last, he then chose third rather than first in order to make up the numbers. However, only a further two groups were discovered, leaving Imin's group of fourteen by far the smallest of the three Elven clans.
When the Elves were discovered by Oromë, each clan chose an ambassador to return with him to Valinor to verify his claims of its greatness. The Minyar (Imin's companions) sent Ingwë. Upon his return, his people were swayed by his testimony and adopted him as their king, and he led them with Oromë to Aman. Ingwë was since reckoned the High King of all Elves, and became known as Ingwë Ingweron, the "Chief of Chieftains", and his people were known by the rest of the Eldar as the Vanyar. In Aman the Vanyar first dwelt in Tirion. Later, they came to love the full light of the Trees and wandered into Valinor or settled on Taniquetil. Ingwë dwelt with them on the slopes of Taniquetil, beneath the halls of Manwë.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter V: "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"
After arriving in Aman, the Vanyar were rarely seen even by other Elves. Very few individual Vanyar are named besides Imin, Ingwë, his sister (or possibly niece) Indis, and Amarië, who was in love with Finrod Felagund. Indis became the second wife of Finwë, the High King of the Ñoldor and the mother of both Fingolfin and Finarfin, the latter of which founded the only house of Ñoldorin Elves to sport golden Vanyarin hair.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter VI: "Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor" After her husband was killed by Melkor in his attack on Formenos to attain the Silmarils,The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter IX: "Of the Flight of the Noldor" she returned to her people with her daughter Findis.
Unlike the Ñoldor, the Vanyar loved the light of Valinor so much that they never choose to return to Middle-earth, save when many of the Vanyar marched in the War of Wrath with the Host of Valinor.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XXIV: "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath" Though they preferred the peaceful light of Valinor, the Vanyar were skilled in the arts of war and were known for their fashioning of spears, thus they no doubt fielded a formidable army in the war. Ingwë's son Ingwion led an armed host of his people from Valinor to fight in the War of Wrath. They returned to Aman, along with most of the Eldar living in the largely destroyed Beleriand, at the end of the First Age.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XXIV: "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath"
== Description ==
The Vanyar were the fairest of all the Elves, hence their name "Fair Elves". Unlike other kindreds attracted to the sea or the building and forging of things, the Vanyar culture seemed to revolve about the Valar and Valinor. This is probably the reason why they chose to stay in Valinor proper, centered around Taniquetil, the seat of the rulers of Arda, and loved the light of Valinor best of all the other places in Aman. They greatly valued the wisdom of the Valar and were thus favored by Manwë and Varda, and always distrusted by Melkor. They were known to have had the greatest skill in poetry of all Elves, likened to Manwë, who loved them for it. Their hair was golden, and their banners were white.
== Etymology ==
The name Vanyar means 'Fair-ones' in Quenya, referring to their golden hair. The Vanyar often called themselves by their ancient name Minyar (meaning "Firsts"; singular Minya; adjectival Minyarin). This name did not refer to the Avari who remained in Middle-earth, since all of the Vanyar heeded the call of the Valar to come to Valinor.
== Relations ==
Galadriel was the granddaughter of Indis. It was to her Vanyarin blood that Galadriel owed her famous silver-golden hair. 
== Other versions of the legendarium ==
In the earliest versions of J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology, two names used for the first tribe of the Elves were Teleri and subsequently Lindar. Both terms were later reused for the third tribe, initially called Solosimpi. Another term initially used for the Vanyar was Ingwi, as they were the people of Ingwë, High King of the Elves.The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, chapter I: "The Cottage of Lost Play"
==Gallery==
File:Indis the Fair by vigshane.jpg|Indis the Fair, the wife of Finwë, the first High King of the Ñoldor and Queen of the Ñoldor, by Marya Filatova
File:Amarie of the vanyar by Marya Filatova.jpg|Amarie, the love of Finrod, by Marya Filatova
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Amharic 	ቫኛር
Arabic 	فنيار
Armenian 	Վանյար
Assamese 	ভানয়াৰ
Belarusian Cyrillic	Ваньяр
Bengali 	বন্যার
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Ваняр
Catalan 	Vànyar
Chinese 	凡雅族
Dari 	وانیار
Georgian 	ვანიარები
Greek 	Βάνιαρ
Gujarati 	વાન્યાર
Hebrew 	ואניאר
Hindi 	वाञार
Japanese 	ヴァンヤール
Kannada 	ವೈನ್ಯಾರ್
Kazakh 	Ваняр (Cyrillic) Vanyar (Latin)
Konkani 	वान्यार
Korean 	바냐르
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Ваняр
Macedonian Cyrillic	Ванyар
Malayalam 	വന്യാർ
Marathi 	वन्यार
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Ваныар
Nepalese 	भान्यार
Pashto 	وانیار
Persian 	وانیار
Polish 	Vanyarowie
Punjabi 	ਵਨਯਾਰ
Russian 	Ваниар
Sanskrit 	वन्यर्
Serbian 	Вањари (Cyrillic) Vanjari (Latin)
Sinhalese 	වන්යාර්
Tajik Cyrillic 	Ванyар
Tamil 	வன்னியர்
Telugu 	వన్యార్
Thai 	วันยาร์
Urdu 	وانیر
Uzbek 	Ваняр (Cyrillic) Vanjari (Latin)
Yiddish 	וואַניאַר
==References==
Category:High Elves
 
Category:Elven kindreds & peoples
ca:Vànyar
de:Vanyar
es:Vanyar
fr:Vanyar
it:Vanyar
pl:Vanyarowie
ru:Ваньяр
sk:Minyar
Category:Quenya names & words