When marvelling upon Middle Earth’s fortresses and palaces amongst the realms of the Elves
one can easily wonder how all these grand places and their material cultures come into being.
Tolkien was a philologist, not an economist, but when reading between the pages of his works,
a semblance of economic life is present in its various cultures.
Indeed, Tolkien devoted a considerable amount of thought to the withertos and whyfors of everyday
life in his world, a phenomenon just waiting to be explored. In this latest video in our
series on the economies and societies of middle earth, we will explore the lives of the immortal,
first and eldest children of Ilúvatar, the Elves. There’s another dark lord stirring these days,
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As the first children on Ilúvatar, Elves were not subject to age nor illness, and consequently are
regarded as the fairest and wisest of the races living in Arda, often depicted as ethereal and
magical beings that operate outside the normal range of the other races in Middle-Earth.
However, despite their immortality, the Elves were still corporeal creatures who sought food,
shelter, happiness, comfort, and other such things that drive economic activity.
In the undying lands of Aman, the Valar allow the elves to live in eternal bliss,
free from the burdens of mortal want. As such, we will focus on the Elves who lived among the
mortal races on Middle-Earth. To that end, examining the early Sindar, a subgroup of
the Teleri who chose to stay in Beleriand and not journey to Aman, gives us some insight.
“The Sindar did not practice agriculture until long after the departure of the other Eldar.
Of the ‘economics’ of Valinor we know nothing except that initially good was provided for the
Eldar, not without all labour, in which they delighted and made it the occasion of song
and festivals. But the grain was self-sown and only needed gathering and scattering of 1/10th
the tithe of Yavanna of the seed on the field” . Despite being an ostensibly isolationist people,
it was not uncommon for the elves of Middle Earth to extend a hand of commerce out to their
neighbours. As we learnt in a previous episode, the Dwarves, dwelling in mountain homes of stone,
participated little in agrarian food production, which created an economic need which facilitated
trade with Elves such as the Sindar. “The Kingdom of Doriath was a woodland realm, and had only a
little open ground, except on its east borders where they kept some small kine and sheep. Beyond
the Girdle of Melian (eastward) there was much open land - prairie of wide extent. The Sindar,
not under the rule of Thingol dwelt and practiced not only cattle-rearing and sheep-farming,
but also grain-growing and other food crops; on which they prospered because both Doriath west
and the Dwarves east were ready to buy what they could. ” Thus some Elves traded crops
and livestock, while gaining in return the riches and skilled labour of the Dwarves.
“Flax was grown in Doriath; and the Sindar there were adepts in spinning and weaving it.
They knew some metallurgy and had good weapons on the Great Journey owing to the teaching of Oromë.
For long on the Great Journey they had depended on the arms and swords, spears, bows, etc. made
in their first home; or during their sojourns – if they could then find metals. In Beleriand
they were eventually aided by the Dwarves, who assisted (very willingly!) in search for metals.
Iron was found in the Gorgoroth! ” Oromë was the Vala responsible for hunting who
aided the Elves greatly upon their Great Journey to Aman, while Gorgoroth is the
northwestern part of Mordor south of Mount Doom. The trade relations between the Elves and Dwarves
led to some of the greatest works of Middle-Earth such as the construction of Menegroth,
a the city built for the Elven king of the First Age, Thingol. “Therefore the Naugrim laboured long
and gladly for Thingol, and devised for him mansions after the fashion of their people,
delved deep in the earth. Where the Esgalduin flowed down, and parted Neldoreth from Region,
there rose in the midst of the forest a rocky hill, and the river ran at its feet. There they
made the gates of the hall of Thingol” . Moreover, even after building the city of Menegroth,
Dwarves continued to travel to the Elven city for work quite frequently. “They traveled the
ancient road to Doriath; for their skill in the working of metal and stone was very great,
and there was much need of their craft in the halls of Menegroth. But they came now no longer
in small parties as aforetime, but in great companies well armed for their protection in
the perilous lands between Aros and Gelion; and they dwelt in Menegroth at such times in chambers
and smithies set apart for them” . Ultimately, what began as a relationship built upon trade
flourished into a symbiotic partnership involving the exchanging of knowledge and skills.
This relationship would be damaged by the battle of a thousand caves , when the Dwarves of Nogrod
fought the Elves of Menegroth for possession of the Nauglamir. This resulted in the subsequent
blood feud between Elves and Dwarves. It is on this sombre note that we should move on towards
the third age, and how the Elven economies evolved in the era leading up to the War of the Ring.
During the third age there emerged four great realms of the Elves: Rivendell,
Lothlórien, Lindon and the Woodland Realm. These realms were isolated, self-sustainable,
and for the most part, lived off the land with little need for cultivation of farmland.
As a rule, Elves do not require as much sustenance as the other races, and produce light fare. This
is exemplified when Frodo encounters the company of Gildor Inglorion, who shares
with the hobbits “bread, surpassing the savour of a fair white loaf to one who is starving;
and fruits sweet as wildberries and richer than the tended fruits of gardens” . Moreover, Elven
crafts in the third era appeared to be as light and ascetic as their foods. Galadriel’s gifts,
bequeathed upon the fellowship of the ring, are examples of such crafts: “To Legolas she
gave a bow such as the Galadhrim used, longer and stouter than the bows of Mirkwood, and strung with
a string of elf-hair. With it went a quiver of arrows. ” The Galadhrim bow alongside other crafts
like Lothlorien ropes made out of hithlain and the famous lembas bread indicate Elves
craft goods minimally, using only what nature provides. Yet as small as Elven populations are,
such minimal cultivation could not possibly cover all their basic needs, so how did they survive?
Amongst the Elven realms of the third age, Rivendell, Lothlórien and Lindon held something
the Woodland Realm did not, rings of power. Elrond held Vilya, Galadriel Nenya and Cirdan Narya . The
power of these three rings was explained by Elrond: “they were not made as weapons of war
or conquest: that is not their power. Those who made them did not desire strength or domination
or hoarded wealth, but understanding, making, and healing, to preserve all things unstained” .
The Silmarillion likewise tells us the nature of these artifacts, claiming that they “ward
off the decays of time and postpone the weariness of the world ”. As such, realms that held a ring
of power were magically preserved and their produce was so bountiful it sustained their
small elven populations. Galadriel admits to this reliance when she speaks to Frodo of her ring
“If you succeed then our power is diminished and lothlorien will fade and the tides of time will
sweep it away. We must depart into the west or dwindle to a rustic folk of dell and cave,
slowly to forget and to be forgotten ”. Galadriel also emphasises the power of this magic
when she gives Sam a farewell gift in Lothlorien “For you little gardener and lover of trees,’ she
said to Sam, ‘I have only a small gift.’ She put into his hand a little box of plain grey wood,
unadorned save for a single silver rune upon the lid. In this box there is earth from my orchard,
and such blessing as Galadriel has still to bestow is upon it. It will not keep you on your road,
nor defend you against any peril; but if you keep it and see your home again at last,
then perhaps it may reward you. Though you should find all barren and laid waste, there will be
few gardens in Middle-earth that will bloom like your garden, if you sprinkle this earth there. ”
Thus these three realms were blessed by the rings of power and had magically enhanced
harvests to support them, allowing them to live a minimalist, self-sustaining lifestyle. This,
however, leaves us with a follow up question. What of the Elven realm that did not hold such power?
In the Woodland Realm lies the Elvenking’s Hall, which during the third age was presided over by
Thranduil. The Silvan elves were more akin to the elves of Doriath before Beleriand sunk under the
sea as a result of the War between Morgoth and the Host of the West during the War of
Wrath. In the Hobbit we learn a bit about their lifestyle. “The subjects of the king
mostly lived and hunted in the open woods, and had houses or huts on the ground and in the branches.
The beeches were their favourite trees. The king's cave was his palace,
and the strong place of his treasure, and the fortress of his people against their enemies.
Companies of the Wood-elves, sometimes with the king at their head, would from time to time ride
out to hunt, or to other business in the woods and in the lands to the East” . From this passage,
we can discern that the wood elves hunted often, and ate wild meat. Further information is provided
by Beorn, the skin changing Beorning Chieftain, who tells us what food is foragable in Mirkwood
“Water is not easy to find there, nor food. The time is not yet come for nuts , and nuts are about
all that grows there fit for food; in there the wild things are dark, queer, and savage” . Perhaps
the Elves of the Woodland realm were able to sustain their own minimalistic lifestyle by
foraging and hunting, but there was more to it than that, for the production and import
of liquor also factored into their society. When Bilbo rescued the Dwarves from Elvenking’s
Hall he ran into some Elven guards who were drinking wine “ It must be potent wine to
make a wood-elf drowsy; but this wine, it would seem, was the heady vintage of the
great gardens of Dorwinion, not meant for his soldiers or his servants, but for the
king's feasts only” . Dorwinion is a land in the north-western shores of the Sea of Rhûn
quite a long way from Mirkwood. We also hear of other goods imported into the Elvenking’s Halls.
“Among them were several others which had been used for bringing other stuffs,butter, apples,
and all sorts of things, to the king's palace ”. It seems that trade brought a wide variety
of luxuries to the Woodland realm. As described by Bilbo, Elvenking’s Hall had a watergate.
“There stood barrels, and barrels, and barrels; for the Wood-elves, and especially their king,
were very fond of wine, though no vines grew in those parts. The wine, and other goods,
were brought from far away, from their kinsfolk in the South, or from the vineyards of Men in
distant lands. Bilbo discovered the trapdoors and their use, and lurking there, listening
to the talk of the king's servants, he learned how the wine and other goods came up the rivers,
or over land, to the Long Lake. From Lake-town the barrels were brought up the Forest River.
Often they were just tied together like big rafts and poled or rowed up the stream;
sometimes they were loaded onto flat boats” . We do not know exactly what the Elves traded
in return for such goods, but when we meet the Master of Lake-Town we are given some hints.
“The Master hesitated and looked from one to the other. The Elvenking was very powerful in
those parts and the Master wished for no enmity with him, nor did he think much of old songs,
giving his mind to trade and tolls, to cargoes and gold, to which habit he owed his position ”.
This implies the Elves were perhaps trading in gold. When Thranduil learns about Thorin’s quest
to reclaim the Lonely Mountain, he states “no treasure will come back through Mirkwood without
my having something to say in the matter” . Perhaps revenue from river-tolls allowed
the Elves to trade for goods they could not acquire from gathering or hunting in Mirkwood.
The Elves had minimalist lifestyles using what Ilúvatar had already created for them, Arda.
They traded when they needed things, but for the most part, they did only what they had to survive
long enough to one day make the great journey to Aman. We are going to talk about the economy of
Middle Earth in the coming weeks, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the bell button to
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