Ingwë

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The main part of this article relates to a version of Middle-earth's history that is considered canon by many Tolkien fans (see: Middle-earth canon); it may contradict parts of The Silmarillion or other texts. This subject's portrayal in other versions is discussed in the other versions of the legendarium section.

In the fictional universe of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, Ingwë is the leader of the first Kindred of Elves called the Vanyar and the uncle of Indis, wife of Finwë. He was reckoned as High King of all the Elves. His name means "first one" in Quenya.

Other versions of the legendarium

In early versions of Tolkien's mythology (see: The History of Middle-earth) this Elf's name was Inwë.

In that early writing Ingwë (or Ing) was instead the name of a mortal man, King of Lúthien or Leithian or Luthany, who was driven east over the sea by Ossë and became ruler among the ancestors of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians. Eventually the Angles, Saxon and Jutes return to Lúthien or Leithian or Luthany, now long renamed as Britain.

Tolkien was here adapting traditions about a Germanic ancestral figure named Ing/Ingio/Ingui/Yngvi. He is seen as an eponymous ancestor of the Ingvaeones/Ingaevones, a people mentioned by Tacitus in his Germania as one of the three divisions of the Germanic tribes. In Scandinavian mythology, was the mythological ancestor of the Swedish House of Ynglings and a name for the god Freyr. Like Ingwë, Freyr was the lord of the Elves in Álfheim.

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