Why would elves care what happens to Middle Earth?

Question

During the events of Lord of the Rings, some elves like Elrond and Glorfindel clearly cared about what happens to Middle Earth, since they tried to help Frodo get the ring to Mount Doom.

Considering that they'll all have to leave Middle Earth for Valinor eventually, why do they care if Sauron conquers Middle Earth? Presumably they might feel the same way as a terminally ill person thinking about climate change: yes, it's a problem, but it's not their problem, since they're leaving soon anyway.

Curiously Gandalf expresses the same sentiment at the end of the Third Age (when he said the problems of the Fourth Age are not his concern). Gandalf necessarily had to care about Sauron since that's his mission, but presumably the elves didn't.

Answer 1

Galadriel says why. It is not for selfish reasons, but it's not quite altruistic either.

From The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter 7, "The Mirror of Galadriel:"

[Galadriel] ... Do you not see now wherefore your coming is to us as the footstep of Doom? For if you fail, then we are laid bare to the Enemy. Yet if you succeed, then our power is diminished, and Lothlorien will fade, and the tides of Time will sweep it away. We must depart into the West, or dwindle to a rustic folk of dell and cave, slowly to forget and to be forgotten.’

Frodo bent his head. ‘And what do you wish?’ he said at last.

‘That what should be shall be,’ she answered. ‘The love of the Elves for their land and their works is deeper than the deeps of the Sea, and their regret is undying and cannot ever wholly be assuaged. Yet they will cast all away rather than submit to Sauron: for they know him now. For the fate of Lothlorien you are not answerable, but only for the doing of your own task. Yet I could wish, were it of any avail, that the One Ring had never been wrought, or had remained for ever lost.'

Answer 2

Why does anyone care about anything, if they're going to die eventually? Why does Grandma care about keeping her apartment clean and her children safe?
Life just isn't that simple; people care.

Added to that, Elves are inherently good beings and therefore, it is in their nature to pursue good.

They care for the land they have lived in for so long, for the trees that grow there, and presumably also for the people they've met.

Moreover, they don't know how long they will remain in Middle-earth before sailing to Valinor. They probably don't want to spend the rest of their time in Sauron's kingdom. Not to mention that it could possibly prevent them from leaving if the elven realm falls under his control.

Answer 3

You say

Considering that they'll all have to leave Middle Earth for Valinor eventually, why do they care if Sauron conquers Middle Earth?

Galdor says at the Council of Elrond:

Only the waning might of Gondor stands now between [Sauron] and a march in power along the coasts into the North; and if he comes, assailing the White Towers and the Havens, hearafter the Elves may have no escape from the lengthening shadows of Middle-Earth.

If Sauron wins, there will be nowhere to sail from, effectively trapping Elves in Middle-Earth unless they are physically killed.

Elrond adds a moment later

The westward road [i.e., sending the Ring to Valinor] seems easiest. Therefore it must be shunned. It will be watched. Too often the Elves have fled that way.

This implies that it's already too late to sail away: any ships sailing west would likely be easily intercepted by Sauron's naval forces, and any ship thus intercepted isn't likely going to be allowed on its merry way simply because the Ring isn't found on board. The ship will be returned to port for a thorough search, and all hands on board will be captured for interrogation or killed.

Answer 4

There was a level of conscience about the future, expressed here by Gandalf, but no doubt shared by Elrond and Galadriel. Glorfindel may arguably have been asking a Dorothy Dixer:

‘Then,’ said Glorfindel, ‘let us cast it into the deeps, and so make the lies of Saruman come true. For it is clear now that even at the Council his feet were already on a crooked path. He knew that the Ring was not lost for ever, but wished us to think so; for he began to lust for it for himself. Yet oft in lies truth is hidden: in the Sea it would be safe.’

‘Not safe for ever,’ said Gandalf. ‘There are many things in the deep waters; and seas and lands may change. And it is not our part here to take thought only for a season, or for a few lives of Men, or for a passing age of the world. We should seek a final end of this menace, even if we do not hope to make one.’

—The Council of Elrond, Book 2, Lord of the Rings

Answer 5

1. Elrond and Galadriel still live in Middle Earth. It's harder to ignore what's going on around you.
2. Sauron never really stopped being an elf problem. They had come to Middle Earth to stop Morgoth (First Age) and then Sauron (Second Age).
3. It's entirely plausible Galadriel sensed the return of Sauron before anyone else. Tolkien had her be suspicious of Sauron in his Annatar version long before he betrayed everyone in the war of the Second Age. The Hobbit has a necromancer in Dol Guldur, which was Sauron. The Rings of Power (non-Tolkien) depicts Galadriel as driven to find Sauron in the Second Age (not an implausible take on the character). Galadriel would be less likely to leave if she knew Sauron might still be out there.

Answer 6

There have been three good answers (Lesser son, TGar, Machavity) which cover most of the ground, but I'd like to expand on one point: Gandalf's apparent disinterest in the problems of the 4th Age.

The Istari were sent to M-E to guide the people of M-E, but not to rule:

For which reason the Valar are to these kindreds [Men and Elves] rather their elders and their chieftains than their masters; and if ever in their dealings with Elves and Men the Ainur have endeavoured to force them when they would not be guided, seldom has this turned to good, howsoever good the intent.

So, the Istari

...came out of the Far West and were messengers sent to contest the power of Sauron, and to unite all those who had the will to resist him; but they were forbidden to match his power with power, or to seek to dominate Elves or Men by force and fear.

They had one specific task: To contest the power of Sauron, but only by inspiring Elves and Men, not by ruling them.

The fall of Sauron would not only mark the end of a great evil, but also the ending of Elves as a significant presence in M-E. All through the Third Age

Elves, who seldom walked in the Shire, could now be seen passing westward through the woods in the evening, passing and not returning; but they were leaving Middle-earth and were no longer concerned with its troubles.

It was part of the vision of the world seen by the Ainur before Arda was created, that eventually

...the Elves should pass into the twilight and the Dominion of Men begin.

Yet what happened during the Dominion of Men may not have been part of any vision:

And some have said that the vision ceased ere the fulfilment of the Dominion of Men and the fading of the Firstborn; wherefore, though the Music is over all, the Valar have not seen as with sight the Later Ages or the ending of the World.

It was evidently Eru Iluvatar's design to, finally, leave all Arda in the hands of Men, and He didn't even tell the Ainur his plans! It was none of their business. All the more reason for the Valar to avoid meddling directly!

Gandalf (all the Istari) were embodied and this embodiment limited them and muddied their memories of Aman and of the vision they had seen before the creation of the world. (Though what memories remained may be the source of Gandalf's amazing hunches about Gollum and Bilbo and Hobbits in general.)

Gandalf spent two millennia as a mortal, an old man (unnaturally vigorous, but still subject to the weariness of the body), limited in his power, limited to using only persuasion, restrained from taking leadership -- and yet responsible for the defeat of the most powerful being on M-E, a being who had no compunction about using domination.

'The Third Age was my age. I was the Enemy of Sauron; and my work is finished. I shall go soon. The burden must lie now upon you and your kindred.'

Gandalf was ready -- more than ready -- to return home and to regain his full being. He was ready, his appointed task was successfully completed and Eru Iluvatar Himself had decreed that Men were to be on their own in the Fourth Age.

All of Gandalf's motivations were aligned. It was time to leave.