The Last Elves in Middle-Earth - Did All Elves Leave Middle-Earth?

Tolkien's writing in 'Nature of Middle Earth' tell us that Elves bodies would eventually cease to exist and they would just remain as spirits in the World. Thanks for the great video!

I always pictured some elf going to the Shire to help with the Red Book, adding tales that Bilbo or Frodo may not have known about, before fading away . . .

I love Bilbo's poem of farewell. And I also love the final travel between the best of fellows, Legolas and Gimli.

You forgot about Elladan and Elrohir. It is stated that they stayed in Middle-Earth even after Elrond departed for Valinor, and that Celeborn came to stay with them before he too departed for the Grey Heavens. The brothers' final destiny is afaik unknown

Vision of last Elves leaving Middle-Earth is both very romantic and tragically sad at the same time; it's truly an end of an era!

Re the Tragedy of Arwen... She receives the Doom of Men - which is also the Gift of Men - so I would say her passing is no tragedy, though getting there may be a bitter journey given her grief. Her spirit will pass in the same way as all men - beyond the world to an unknown fate. If we think of this as Heaven - then she would perhaps be reunited with Aragorn.

Daeron and Maglor certainly stayed an dissolved, one turned into the whispers in the waters, the other the whispers in the woods.

Since this was Tolkien's original intent to write a legendarium about the Folklore of the Fae for the British Isles, and how they diminished over time, I suppose we can assume that elves stayed along with other elementals.

iirc there was a passage in the Silmarillion that said not all the elves left Middle Earth, but the ones who chose to remain were destined to lose their grace and become "a rustic folk of dell and cave..." I always found that poetic and sad.

There were likely thousands of elves still in Middle Earth for much or most of the 4th age. But they would always have the power and choice to just build a ship and sail West. They don't have to have Cirdan. just to build a ship.

I’ve always imagined that Arwen at LEAST stuck around until her children passed away and become a super beloved queen of the restored kingdoms of Arnor//Gondor and the free peoples as she has the great ancestors of both Elves & Men alike, The Houses Of The Edain, The Sindar elves, Ñoldor Elves, Vanyar Elves & so on! This is also why I feel we’ve grown over the years to have many different hair colours like them. Gold Vanyar, White Sindar, Brown/Black hair for Ñoldor, and whichever clan had red hair too etc.

I am sure some stayed. Tolkien told us --- in typically uncertain terms --- that there could have been a small settlement on the south side of the White Mountains, and there were some stragglers who wandered through the Shire, as Frodo and company met. We really don't know how long they remained, though they apparently intended to leave eventually. And I believe the reason why Legolas built a ship in Ithilien was because that was considerably less trouble than undertaking a long journey from there to the Grey Havens.

From what I got from Tolkiens text was the following: Most of the Calaquendi left middle earth, which would include Celeborn, Elladan, Elrohir and Cirdan. Thranduil is another matter, as he was a Sinda, but not from a line of Olwe, Elwe or Elmo. He may have left, but I think he stayed with his people in Mirkwood. The Noldor and Sindar leave and the last ship was Cirdans, who took with him the other two with "crowns." This could be Celeborn and Thranduil or someone else entirely. There is reason to believe that Celeborn left before Cirdan, because he left his new realm of East Lorien after a few years, stayed with Elladan and Elrohir and then departed to be with Galadriel. I guess that the other two rulers where Elladan and Elrohir, because they seemed to have inherited the rule over Imladris from Elrond and Celeborn went there to stay with them. Now to the other elves: We know that Lothlorien was deserted when Arwen went there after Aragorns death and most of its inhabitants went to East Lorien and lived there. Lindon was also inhabited by elves, as was Mirkwood and Ithilien. Most - if not all - of those elves where Moriquendi, so Nandor and their descendants, the Tawarwaith. They where described by Tolkien as being less wise, but more dangerous than the Noldor or Sindar and much more in tune with nature. We can assume that their fate was what Tolkien wrote in the Silmarillion - that they would fade and become spirits of nature and the woods, without form and body, but still there. The Nandor loved their woods more than anything and they never gave a toss about the sea. So they will of course stay and inevitably fade. At the end of the 3rd Age most elves already are on the move to leave, like Gildor and his company indicate. They keep the havens open for all who wish to leave. So this also means that some dont wish to leave as well. Galadriel decided to leave because she understood that Nenya would fade and she would not be able to keep time and her longing at bay anymore. Also she conquered her worst attribute - her pride - and was then accepted back into Valinor by the Valar. Arwen chose a human fate and death, so she is out of the picture. Elladan and Elrohir succeed Elrond in Imladris, Celeborn founds a new realm, Thranduil stays and rules his kingdom and Legolas even founds his own princedom as well. What happened to Maeglor, Daeron, Elured and Elurin is not secure so they are out of the picture for now. So we still see development from the elves, just not from the Calaquendi but from those who always stayed in middle earth. The Reunited kingdom of course would have a good relationship with them, as would Dale and Rohan or Erebor and the Iron Hills. I think elves where still a sight in the early fourth age, rare but still around but they would have kept to themselves and stayed inside their forests. Maybe their immortality also faded and when they "died" they became spirits of nature. With the rise of men also came the coming of industrialization. This of course would clash with the wood loving Nandor / Tawarwaith who still remained. I remember that Tolkien wrote in one of his letters to his wife that some of the creatures in his story are metaphors for the world - Tom Bombadil is the embodiment of the spirit of the countryside close to his house; unchanging and powerful. The elves are creatures out of the new world that comes after them and they will fade into that as something new - spirits and echos.

I’m sure Cirdan(Nelwë/Nowë) was one of the elves that succeeded in the original design of the elves. To remain and guide & teach/mentor mankind until they shift further into the “unseen realm”, and he may yet still have physical form to this day. And as it’s stated in the books: for those who are willing to seek them out and have the hearts and sensibilities to hear AND listen to them that man will have gained something oh so priceless.

Many Green and Sylvan Elves stayed in Middle Earth they have no connection to the High Elves who did indeed cross over to the sea.

Celeborn left lothlorien long before Arwen arrived. He went to Imladris to live with Elladan and Elrohir. Yet also in either the story of arwen and aragorn or some other place its said "none now walk in the gardens of Elrond" so they would have left Imladris at that time.

What I'd like to know is what happened to all the spirits trapped in the Dead Marshes? Were they eventually freed like the spirits of the dead under the mountain, or were they sufferred to exist as ghosts lighting little candles until the breaking of the world?

I sometimes tell my children stories of Arda, as if they were indeed ages long lost to time. So it is that I also tell them that elves do exist, though just not visible to us anymore. My daughter especially loves that :)

Great video! I always felt that a few of the Elves remained. Reading the appendices many times over it always seemed that Tolkien meant to convey that some stayed in Middle Earth feeling, as you state, the need to heal what they could of the lands after millennia of destruction.

I imagine most of the HIgh and Grey Elves left, but surely a contingent of Silvan Elves who never made it past the Misty Mountains and settled all along the Anduin stayed. Plus Avari who never even made it to the MM and stayed in the East, if there were any left, and were probably already well into their ultimate fate.