Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Jared’s choice of topic: the Avari, and the Elves who never completed the journey to Valinor. From the start of Tolkien’s legendarium, there was always a key factor in the story of the Elves, namely that not all of them followed the summons of the Valar to live in Valinor. While many, like Thingol’s people, were initially of a mind but found themselves unable to complete it, many others never chose to leave the area of their birth or else turned away at various points in the journey westward. Some eventually became part of the shattering tragedies of the First Age, but many others never were directly involved or else became part of larger struggles against Sauron and his servants in later ages and newer realms and kingdoms. Never featured as central characters in Tolkien’s work, they nonetheless remain a submerged but still present part of the whole story of Middle-earth, perhaps raising more questions than Tolkien ever provided definitive answers for. What was the relationship between these groups and the returned Noldorin exiles over the ages, and how did those perceptions shape their intertwined histories? What does it say about how Tolkien considered groups that could be called ‘fringe’ cultures, not part of any formally recognizable government or organized group and yet clearly possessed of a distinct culture and ethos? How does the story of the Avari and similar groups in contrast to those who journey to Valinor tie in to Tolkien’s thoughts about how the Valar’s good intentions may in fact have ultimately been grievous errors? And can we all talk about Jared’s lovely new cat? (She is quite beautiful.)