Silvan Elves (wood elves) are an ethnic group of Elves in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, mainly the Elves of Mirkwood and Lothlórien. They live near the Blue Mountains.
In the First Age the Elves of Ossiriand, or Laiquendi, were also referred to as wood-elves.
Silvan Elves are a multicultural society; mainly Nandorin descent but also mixed with Avari, Sindar and Noldor and governed by Sindarin rulers. Examples of these rulers are Thranduil king of northern Mirkwood, Amdír, and his son, Amroth, the last Sindarin prince of Lórien before the rule of Galadriel and Celeborn (of Noldorin/Telerin and Sindarin descent, respectively).
Silvan Elves are described as being less wise than other Eldar, and some of them almost are indistinguishable from the Avari, those who never joined the Great Journey.
Read more about Silvan Elves: The War of The Last Alliance, Mirkwood, Lórien
Famous quotes containing the word elves:
“Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves,
And ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him
When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms,”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)