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Originally Posted by mhagain
The Silmarillion also states that Finrod was the first of the Eldar met by Men, but this might be one of those cases where Tolkien had something more specific in mind, in this case maybe "Eldar in Beleriand" rather than "Eldar of the March".
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My memory is that the Silm generally takes the Valinorean position of using "Eldar" specifically to refer to the Calaquendi + Sindar, so this would still fit.
Another thought which has occurred: if the idea that the Sea of Rhun is the north-western remnant of the Inland Sea of Helcar is correct, then Dorwinion would be the point where the Great March finally stopped following the coastline. That seems like a really plausible place for some of the Teleri to drop out.
Alternately: this is the Silm's description of the War for the Sake of the Elves:
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Originally Posted by Silm
the Quendi knew nothing of the great Battle of the Powers, save that the Earth shook and groaned beneath them, and the waters were moved
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Given that the Valar were in the habit of making and breaking mountains in their wars, I wonder whether "the waters were moved" is a reference to the breaking of the Inland Sea of Helcar. If Morgoth's defences included raising Orodruin and the mountains of Mordor in the middle of that sea (HoME XII says he created the volcano during the long First Age), then what the Eldar marched past following the war could have been the dried-up coastline of the Sea. The Sea of Rhun would have been a glorious return to the coastlines of their first home, and one which some of them would have hated to give up again.
(Possible supporting evidence: Silm says that before they reached Anduin, the Eldar passed "through a forest". This could imply that they previously
hadn't been through many forests - which lends some support to the idea of a landscape still recovering from a War of the Powers.)
hS