Tolkien's T.C.B.S discussion

The awakening of the Elves.

A late story, “Cuivienyarna”, by Tolkien describes a “legend of the Elves”, where three male and three female elves awakened first, and collected the other newly awakened elves into their tribes. In this version of the story, Ingwë, Finwë and Elwë are not the kings/leaders of their tribes, but only the ambassadors who visited the Blessed Lands.
We find in very stylized that the three pairs of first elves automatically knew to become husbands and wives.
All the Firstborn awoke in adult bodies, so technically did not have a “childhood”. But, since they had no previous experiences, their new life was, in some sense, a “childhood”, and everything was new for them.
There is some resemblance to Athena, who sprang from her father Zeus' head as a full grown adult.
Tolkien's themes are often influenced by his studies of world mythologies. On the other hand, he would have been concerned to keep things compatible with his Catholic sensibilities, and his respectable reputation as a professor at Oxford. Two World Wars would color his outlook as well. Then son Christopher added another layer of editing.
No matter which version of the story Tolkien himself preferred, the Silmarillion version is now so well know that it would take considerable effort to replace it in people's minds. (The Ingwë and Olwë of Fellowship of the Fourth Age prefer the Silmarillion version anyway.)