Indis
Indis a Vanyarin Elf -maiden of Valinor and second wife of Finwë, King of the Ñoldor.
Indis a Vanyarin Elf-maiden of Valinor and second wife of Finwë, King of the Ñoldor.
She was the niece of Ingwë, King of the Vanyar and High King of the Elves, for her mother was his sister. Indis was known for her great beauty and was thus referred to as Indis the Fair.
Biography
In YT 1185, Indis married Finwë, High King of the Ñoldor, and was his second wife after the death of Míriel Serindë. She bore two sons, Fingolfin and Finarfin, and two daughters, Findis and Irimë. Through Finwë's first marriage, she was the stepmother to Fëanor, his first and only son to Míriel.
Unfortunately, Fëanor harbored very little love for her or her sons which probably contributed to his mistrust of Fingolfin when Melkor began spreading his poisonous lies amongst the Ñoldor.
After the death of Finwë and the rebellion of the Ñoldor, Indis and her eldest daughter Findis returned to their people of the Vanyar and dwelt there until Manwë restored Finwë to life. Their second daughter Irimë, however, went into exile with her brother Fingolfin.
Descendants
Through her elder son Fingolfin, Indis was the grandmother of Turgon, his second son; and thus she was the great-great-great grandmother of Elrond and Elros, and from Elros descended the Kings of the Dúnedain.
Through her younger son Finarfin, Indis was the grandmother of his only daughter the great Lady Galadriel of Lothlórien, thus adjoining Indis to Galadriel's daughter Celebrian as her great grandmother and once more to Celebrian's children, Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen Undómiel, as their great-great grandmother. Also, in being connected to Arwen in this way, Indis was distantly related to the Kings of Gondor, as Arwen married King Elessar of Gondor, and produced the heir to the throne, Eldarion.
House of Finwë
(*Father of Celebrimbor)
(**Father of Orodreth)
Other versions in the legendarium
In earlier texts, she was the sister of Ingwë and referred in The Silmarillion as his close relative.
In other versions, Indis bore five fair children to Finwë: two sons and three daughters (Findis, Faniel, and Finvain).