What exactly happened to the Noldor?

Question

The Noldor were numerous and powerful, yet by the time of the events of The Lord of the Rings they are few and far between. Why did this once great group of Elves all but vanish by then?

Answer 1

In short, pride and the mistake of following Fëanor. Also, they only "vanished" from Middle-Earth.

The Noldor were the Second Clan, and thus second in size to the Vanyar. They were crafty and proud, leading to the defining events of the Silmarillion. Fëanor rebelled against his brother Fingolfin, and was banished; his brother remained High King of the Noldor. Then, Fëanor created the Silmarils, which made Melkor, the original bad-guy, extremely envious. He stole them and fled to Beleriand, upon which Fëanor swore an oath to get them back. He pursued Melkor, and the Noldor were divided. Although they held Fingolfin to be their actual High King, the greater majority of the Noldor followed Fëanor across the sea. Some remained in Valinor under Fingolfin.

In order to leave Valinor, the Noldor asked to use the ships of the Teleri. The Teleri elves refused, and the Noldor elves under Fëanor committed the first Kinslaying. A messenger of the Valor pronounced a Doom upon them, that if they should continue they would be unsuccessful in recovering the Silmarils, and they would all die or be tormented by grief. Some of the group who committed the Kinslaying repented and returned to the Valar, who forgave them and allowed them to remain in Valinor. The others, led by Fëanor, continued across the sea in their stolen ships, which they burned upon arrival.

Unfortunately, this started a feud in the Royal Houses of the Noldor. When Fingolfin heard about all this, he took the only possible route to Middle-Earth - going north and crossing the Helcaraxë, or the Grinding Ice. This was a bad move and killed a lot of the Noldor who had stayed with Fingolfin. Shortly thereafter, Fëanor was killed after being attacked by Balrogs, and the feud between the Royal Houses was settled.

The Noldor hung around Beleriand for a while, embroiled in a war with Melkor/Morgoth and creating alliances with the Sindar elves and the first tribes of Men. After Fëanor's death, Fingolfin reigned again as High King in Hithlum, and his son Turgon built Gondolin, the hidden city. Nargothrond also belonged to them. They fought multiple battles against Morgoth, including the Dagor Aglareb and the Siege of Angband and the Battle of Sudden Flame, when Morgoth broke the siege. Fingolfin challenged Morgoth to single combat and though he dealt him many wounds, was killed. His son Fingon became High King.

The upshot of all this is that it led to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. The Noldor were betrayed by the Easterings and utterly defeated, along with their allies. They were scattered, as their strongholds continued to fall. Morgoth defeated Nargothrond soon after, and Gondolin was betrayed. Turgon managed to help many of his people escape, but had no heirs himself, so the last son of Fingolfin, Gil-galad, became High King. Very soon after this, the Valar came to Middle-Earth to deal with Melkor/Morgoth and cast him out, sinking Beleriand in the process.

Most of the Noldor sailed back to Valinor after this, although some remained in Middle-Earth for various reasons. Galadriel and Celebrimbor refused the Valar's pardon and remained. Gil-galad founded his kingdom in Middle-Earth and reigned during the Second Age. When Gil-galad perished during the Last Alliance, the High Kingship of the Noldor passed out of Middle-Earth and went to Finarfin, who was among the Noldor that had never left Valinor.

So by the time of the events of the Lord of the Rings, the reason that there are so few Noldor around is that most of them have gone back to Valinor after being pardoned. Indeed the last elves to leave Middle-Earth are Noldor (Galadriel and Elrond). Yes, a lot of them were killed in the wars with Morgoth, but they didn't so much vanish as sail back across the sea to be reunited with the rest of their kin.

Disclaimer: I haven't read the Silmarillion in a while, so I used the Wiki page to help me make sure I had events in the appropriate order and names correct (although I remembered some of the strange ones perfectly, like Helcaraxë) See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noldor

*Also, remember that elves don't die in the traditional sense. They go to the Halls of Mandos and come back after a time if I remember correctly. So once again, they're in Valinor and not necessarily vanished.

Answer 2

Not all the Noldor returned to Middle-Earth with Fëanor. Of those that did, most were killed in the sackings of Gondolin and Nargothrond, and in the great battles against Morgoth, especially the Nírnaeth Arnoediad and the final War of Wrath.

Edited As requested by Keen, here's some more explanation. This is all from the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, although I haven't got them in front of me to give exact references.

In the First Age, Fëanor and his sons rebelled against the Valar (basically, the Gods) and returned to Middle-Earth in pursuit of Morgoth, who had stolen the Silmarils - great jewels that Fëanor had made. Many of the Noldor followed them. However, the initial battles were of mixed success and Fëanor was killed, leading the various populations led by his sons to eventually retreat into fortified cities. One of these was Nargothrond, which was an underground city by a river - heavily fortified and hidden, although its general area was known. The other was Gondolin, whose location was a complete mystery - it was in a hidden mountain vale, the people did not leave, and anyone who found it by accident was forced to remain.

Various battles followed over the next couple of hundred years, the most devastating of which was the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. Later, Nargothrond was destroyed, thanks to the rash actions of Turín Turambar and the betrayal caused by the dragon Glaurung. Separately, Gondolin was destroyed, betrayed by Maeglin, nephew of its king, Turgon.

The First Age ended with the climactic War of Wrath, in which the Valar finally came to the aid of the Elves and Men. Morgoth was defeated, but at great cost, both in lives and in damage: in fact most of the land of Beleriand, where all these events took place, sank beneath the sea.

Answer 3

This is covered in The Silmarillion.

The Noldor all went to Valinor in the first age. Some returned (following Fëanor) to regain the Silmarils from Morgoth and in the ensuing wars many of these died. After the first age many returned; by the time of Lord of the Rings (third age) only the last few remain.

There is a decent summary of the history of the Noldor on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noldor