The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - alves at the end of ROTK

The Elves went to Valinor, the Undying Lands. The Undying Lands started out as the land of the Ainur, or more specifically the Valar and the Maiar, who were sent down by Eru Iluvatar (the God or Creator in the Tolkien mythos) to protect Middle-earth. When the Elves, the Firstborn Children of Iluvatar, first appeared in Cuivenen, they were led by the Valar (Orome, specifically) on the quest to Valinor and Aman, there to live in bliss in a land without death, where the Two Trees Laurelin and Telperion grew and filled the land with light.

But there was one called Melkor, a fallen Valar who became the First Dark Lord, of whom Sauron was but a servant at the beginning. He, along with Ungoliant, darkened Valinor by killing the Two Trees. He also stole the Silmarils, the Holy Jewels which held in them the Light of the Trees, created by Curufinwe Feanor the Noldorin Elf, and fled from the Undying Lands to attempt to win a terrible dominion over Middle-earth. Feanor then swore a terrible oath to regain the Silmarils and kill all who stood in his path. He rebelled against the will of the Valar, slaughtering the Telerin Elves who would not grant him and his Noldorin host their ships for use to cross from Aman (the Undying Lands) to Middle-earth, and committing several other heinous acts en route to his arrival in Beleriand, where he was eventually killed by Gothmog Lord of Balrogs. Because of Feanor's rash actions and the Kinslaying of the Teleri, the Valar laid a curse and a doom upon the Noldor, that they should wither and fade in Middle-earth and that they should never again be allowed into the Undying Lands. After many thousands of years and wars with Morgoth and Sauron, the few Noldor who remained (for indeed a countless number of them had been killed in war, including all the High Kings) were allowed to return at last to the Undying Lands (which had been sundered from the rest of the world after the attack of Ar-Pharazon and the Numenoreans, but that is a different story). The ship that they took at the end of Return of the King is a ship to the Undying Lands.

Galadriel, a Noldo herself, finally returned to the land where she was raised. All the other Elves left Middle-earth at that time because they were weary of the mortal world, and sensed that the dominion of Men was at hand at last. Frodo and Bilbo were granted leave by the Valar to pass to the Undying Lands (along with, much later on, Sam Gamgee) because they bore the One Ring. Gandalf, a Maia (of a lesser class of Ainur similar to the Valar), passed to the Undying Lands because it was of old his home. Legolas and Gimli, too, eventually went to the Undying Lands, Legolas because he was of Elven-kind and Gimli because he was an Elf-friend who did great deeds in the War of the Ring. Although Frodo, Bilbo, Sam and Gimli were allowed to go to immortal lands, they did not themselves become immortal, but simply lived out the rest of their days in the Undying Lands with the Elves.

Sorry for the length and muddledness of this post, I hope it helps you more than it confuses you (though sadly I doubt that will be the case). You can go to the Barrow Downs Middle-earth FAQs section for more information, or pick up a copy of The Silmarillion, Tolkien's grand history of Arda.

As I wrote this a thought occurred to me: I can almost never decide when writing about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien whether to write in literary present-tense or historical past-tense, though I know the former is technically correct. [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 12:38 PM January 03, 2004: Message edited by: Lord of Angmar ]