Editing Elf subraces (section)

==Tolkien==
[[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' books (and related stories, like ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[The Silmarillion]]'') included the following elf taxonomy:

* Quendi, aka "Elves"
** Eldar: those who left Cuivienen
*** Vanyar
*** Noldor
*** Teleri
**** Falmari (Teleri who made it to the Undying Lands)
**** Nandor (Teleri who got lost during the journey to the Undying Lands)
***** Silvan Elves
***** Laiquendi
**** Sindar (Teleri who made to the west coast of Middle-Earth but stayed behind when their king disappeared. Later rulers of the Silvan Elves)
** Avari, who stayed at Cuivienen
** The Half-elven, which are neither a race nor common, but the name is used for only one family (most well known of them is Elrond).

To keep things simple, the ones that matter most as far as the books are concerned are the Noldor and the Silvan elves. The rest only really come up in the Silmarillion during the First Age and earlier. Some terms that appear in later works originate with Tolkien, but are not used to describe distinct races so much as specific groups. "Dark Elf" is used as a pejorative for Avari, Silvan elves are sometimes called "Wood-elves", and the Sindar are also called the "Grey Elves". "High Elves" is used to describe those who had seen the light of the Two Trees of Valinor.