32

From the movie series, it seems obvious that the civilization of Elves, once great and important, is declining. Their numbers keep reducing and they retreat into some remote islands and in general "their time is over".

Elves do not appear to have any serious weak spots; they can be friendly and cooperative, they can be brave, they can love. If anything they look much more like an improved version of humans.

What is exactly the problem?

Improve this question
7
  • 12
    "some remote islands", that's funny. They're going to Valinor, where the gods live!
    – Michael Borgwardt
    Commented Jul 6, 2014 at 14:23
  • 2
    Well, the Valar are more like angels... but it's all the same from the human perspective (though elves know the difference)
    – adam.r
    Commented Jul 7, 2014 at 1:06
  • 1
    @MichaelBorgwardt, it's across the sea, then up into the heavens, maybe even on another planet. I'd say that's pretty remote. Though if you're saying Valinor isn't an island, I guess I could see where you're coming from.
    – trysis
    Commented Jul 7, 2014 at 1:48
  • 2
    +0.5 for a good question, another +0.5 for "some remote islands"...
    – RicoRicochet
    Commented Jun 8, 2015 at 3:16
  • 2
    I feel – out of universe – that this is part of Tolkien’s typical pessimism: everything is flawed, gets worse, fades and decays, and the old is better and stronger than the new; he is reactionary in the sense of seeing most change as for the worse. Yet, of course, happiness and a worthwhile life remain very much possible. I have seen very little of the films, but I can imagine that this atmosphere is less clear there.
    – PJTraill
    Commented May 5, 2016 at 11:33

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
37

In short, the Elves don't breed fast enough and their woodland is being decimated by the encroachment of human farms and settlements.

They've been using advanced magic to arrest the decline of their civilisation, a decline that had been ongoing for millennia. They've even brought Middle-Earth to the brink of destruction by crafting magical rings in a vain attempt to block out the real world.

Galadriel (in LotR) makes it abundantly clear what they expect to happen if the One Ring is destroyed and their rings are de-powered :

"Yet if you succeed, then our power is diminished, and Lothlórien 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."

Tolkien echoed this sentiment in a letter to a fan

They [the elves] wanted to have their cake and eat it: to live in the mortal historical Middle-earth because they had become fond of it … and so tried to stop its change and history, stop its growth, keep it as a pleasaunce.”

Improve this answer
12
  • 9
    Like the West and our technology. Tolkien was quite the prophet. The Dwarves delving too deep into Moria and awakening a Balrog was obviously a warning about fracking.
    – Gaius
    Commented Jul 6, 2014 at 10:34
  • 10
    @Gaius - I personally read it as a warning again environmentalists trying to "freeze" the world into a verdant utopia that never really existed.
    – Valorum
    Commented Jul 6, 2014 at 10:41
  • 2
    If we give up our "magic", say nuclear power, we will surely decline. It is already happening.
    – Gaius
    Commented Jul 6, 2014 at 10:52
  • 4
    This answer leaves out that the Elves are literally fading into mere spirits, and the power of the Three was in large part to prevent that. In fact the Three also allowed them to communicate with the Elves that had already faded. See: middle-earth.xenite.org/2011/09/22/… With the Three gone, most of the Elves had to leave or they would essentially die.
    – Shamshiel
    Commented Jul 6, 2014 at 15:00
  • 4
    @Shamshiel - Galadriel's quote strongly suggests that there is a life for the Elves beyond the destruction of the One Ring but that they'll be mere oddities in a human-dominated world.
    – Valorum
    Commented Jul 6, 2014 at 15:23
17

This was the fate of Arda, dating back to the original Music of the Ainur, as described in the Silmarillion:

And some have said that the vision ceased ere the fulfilment of the Dominion of Men and the fading of the Firstborn...

Aragorn's coronation in Lord of the Rings is precisely this moment - the Dominion of Men - and Gandalf even uses these exact words when describing it (in The Steward and the King, Book 6 Chapter 5):

This is your realm, and the heart of the greater realm that shall be. The Third Age of the world is ended, and the new age is begun; and it is your task to order its beginning and to preserve what may be preserved. For though much has been saved, much must now pass away; and the power of the Three Rings also is ended. And all the lands that you see, and those that lie round about them, shall be dwellings of Men. For the time comes of the Dominion of Men, and the Elder Kindred shall fade or depart.

The nature of the Elves is to fade, and Tolkien describes the reason for this in a passage entitled "Of Death and the Severance of Fea and Hroa" among the Finwe and Miriel materials, published in Morgoth's Ring:

As ages passed the dominance of their fear (i.e spirits) ever increased, 'consuming' their bodies. The end of this process is their 'fading'...

So, during the Lord of the Rings time period, we have the Elves starting to fade, and the Dominion of Men beginning, which were both foretold from the creation of the world, and also due to the nature of the Elves as-designed.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    The role of Elves is to begin works, whereas the role of Men is to take them up and complete them; I don't have an exact citation for this but will add it to the answer when I find it. This is an interesting parallel to what Tolkien says elsewhere about Melkor and Manwe.
    – user8719
    Commented Jul 6, 2014 at 10:56
  • 2
    The "fading-ness" of the elves is perhaps their oldest defining characteristic, going all the way back to the original Book of Lost Tales, if not before (I think Kortirion Among The Trees may predate Lost Tales, if only slightly).
    – Matt Gutting
    Commented Jul 6, 2014 at 14:35
0

To paraphrase Star Wars, "Elves, it is your destiny. Mandos has foretold it, and Eru has decreed it."

That was the plan from before the creation of the world. As others have said some elves created the Three Rings to try to derail or delay that plan, but the Three Rings were not a total success.

but on the bright side from the Elven point of view, they did flourish on Middle-Earth for many thousands of years. The Three Rings lost their power on 25 March Third Age 3019, and the Second Age lasted for 3,441 years after the end of the Eldar Days. The Years of the Sun in the First Age lasted for about 600 years.

So the Elves had about 7,060 years after the Noldor returned to Middle-Earth before the Three Rings lost their power and the Time of Elves ended and the Time of Men began.

And if you want to know how many ages passed between the Awakening of the Elves and the Years of the Sun, you can check The Annals of Beleriand and the Annals of Aman, and count the thousands of Years of the Trees, then decide if a Year of the Trees was equal to ten Years of the Sun or to 144 Years of the Sun or to some other amount.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.