Middle-earth peoples
The fictional races and peoples that appear in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth include the seven listed in Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings: Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits, Ents, Orcs and Trolls, as well as spirits such as the Valar and Maiar. Other beings of Middle-earth are of unclear nature such as Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry.
Ainur
The Ainur are angelic spirits created by Eru Ilúvatar at the Beginning. The Ainur who subsequently enter the physical world of Middle-earth are the Valar, though that term primarily means the mightiest among them. Lesser spirits are called the Maiar. Most of the Valar and Maiar withdraw from Middle-earth to the Undying Lands of Valinor, though some of the Maiar assume mortal forms to help or hinder the peoples of Middle-earth, such as the Istari, Melian, Balrogs, and the Dark Lord Sauron.Wizards
The wizards of Middle-earth are Maiar: spirits of the same order as the Valar, but lesser in power. Outwardly resembling Men but possessing much greater physical and mental power, they are called Istari by the Elves. They are sent by the Valar to assist the people of Middle-earth to contest Sauron. The first three of these five wizards are known in the Mannish tongues of the Lord of the Rings series as Saruman "man of skill", Gandalf "elf of the staff", and Radagast "tender of beasts". Tolkien never provided non-Elvish names for the other two; one tradition gives their names in Valinor as Alatar and Pallando, and another as Morinehtar and Rómestámo in Middle-earth. Each wizard in the series has robes of a characteristic colour: white for Saruman, grey for Gandalf, brown for Radagast, and sea-blue for the remaining two, known consequently as the Blue Wizards. Gandalf and Saruman play important roles in The Lord of the Rings, while Radagast appears only briefly, innocently helping Saruman to deceive Gandalf, who believes Radagast since he is honest, and fortuitously alerting Gwaihir to rescue Gandalf again. The Blue Wizards do not feature in the story; they are said to have journeyed far into the east after their arrival in Middle-earth.As the Istari are Maiar, each one serves a Vala in some way. Saruman was the servant and helper of Aulë, and so learned much in the art of craftsmanship, mechanics, and metal-working, as was seen in the later Third Age. Gandalf was the servant of Manwë or Varda, but was a lover of the Gardens of Lórien, and so knew much of the hopes and dreams of Men and Elves. Radagast, servant of Yavanna, loved the things of nature, both animals and plants. As each of these Istari learned from their Vala, so they acted in Middle-earth.
Balrogs
Demonic creatures of fire and shadow, Balrogs are fallen Maiar, loyal to the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. They participated in the wars of the First Age of Middle-earth but are mostly destroyed during the War of Wrath which ended the Age. By the Third Age, the only remaining Balrog was "Durin's Bane," the Balrog of Moria, killed by Gandalf.Free peoples
The Free Peoples of Middle-earth are the four races that never fell under the sway of the evil spirits Morgoth or Sauron: Elves, Men, Dwarves and Ents. Strictly speaking, among Men it was only the Men of the West who are Free People, particularly the descendants of the Dúnedain of the Isle of Númenor, as most Men of the East and South of Middle-earth become servants of Morgoth and Sauron over the ages. The Ent Treebeard quotes lines from a traditional lay listing them:After encountering the hobbits Merry and Pippin, he consents that hobbits are a fifth free people, adding a fifth line, "Half-grown hobbits, the hole-dwellers".
Dwarves
The race of Dwarves prefers to live in mountains and caves, settling in places such as Erebor, the Iron Hills, the Blue Mountains, and Moria in the Misty Mountains. Aulë the Smith creates Dwarves; he invents the Dwarven language, known as Khuzdul. Dwarves mine and work precious metals throughout the mountains of Middle-earth. The seven different groups of Dwarf-folk originate in the locations where the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves first awoke before the First Age.Elves
The Elves, or Firstborn, are the first of Eru's Children to awaken. Born under the stars before the ascension of the Moon and the Sun, they retain a special love for light and an inner spirit endowed with unique gifts. They call themselves the Quendi, or "Speakers", for they are the first to utter words; and, even now, no race understands language and song like the Firstborn. Fair and fine-featured, brilliant and proud, immortal and strong, tall and agile, they are the most blessed of the Free Peoples. They can see as well under moon or starlight as a man at the height of day. They cannot become sick or scarred, but if an Elf should die, from violence or losing the will to live from grief, their spirit goes to the halls of Mandos, as they are bound to Arda and cannot leave until the world is broken and remade. Elven skill and agility is legendary: for instance, walking atop freshly fallen snow without leaving a trace of their passing. On a clear day they can see ten miles with perfect clarity and detail up to 100 miles. These gifts come at great cost, though: they are strongly bound to Fate and hated by Morgoth. No other race has been blessed and cursed more than the Quendi.The Quendi are sundered after the awakening and many sub-groups appear. The First Sundering occurs when some left Middle-earth to live in the blessed realm of Valinor, while others stayed behind. This produces the Eldar, who accept the call to come to Valinor, and the Avari, who refuse the great journey. Elves who stay in Middle-earth and never see the light of the trees become known as the Moriquendi or "Dark-elves". This does not imply that the Dark-elves are evil.
On the journey to Valinor, some of the Teleri abandon the main group, and those of them who did not mingle with the Moriquendi become the Laiquendi, the Sindar and the Nandor. These elves of the great journey who remain in Middle-earth are then called the Úmanyar. The Eldar who reach Valinor are eventually divided into three distinct groups: Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri. These three groups become known as the Calaquendi or "Light-elves" because they saw the light of the Two Trees of Valinor. Later some of the Noldor go back to Middle-earth in their quest for the Silmarils, while the Vanyar remain in Valinor.
The Silvan Elves, of Nandor and Avari descent, inhabited Mirkwood and Lothlórien.
In Tolkien's earliest writings, elves are variously named sprites, fays, brownies, pixies, or leprawns. By 1915, when Tolkien was writing his first elven poems, the words elf, fairy and gnome had many divergent and contradictory associations. Tolkien was gently warned against the term 'fairy', probably for its growing association with homosexuality. Tolkien eventually chose the term elf over fairy. In his 1939 essay On Fairy-Stories, Tolkien wrote that "English words such as elf have long been influenced by French ; but in later times, through their use in translation, fairy and elf have acquired much of the atmosphere of German, Scandinavian, and Celtic tales, and many characteristics of the huldu-fólk, the daoine-sithe, and the tylwyth-teg."