Where do the elves come from?

Question

All Tolkien's books are set in Middle Earth, but where do the elves originate from? Where do they go when they flee Middle Earth? What's it called?

I'm in the middle of a really big argument with my flatmate over this so please someone confirm that I am ******* right! PS. I know we're pathetic, but this is what boredom does to you.

Answer 1

Tolkien originally conceived his Elves as more fairy-like than they afterwards became, he also based them on the god-like and human-sized ljósálfar of Norse mythology. His Elves were conceived as a race of beings similar in appearance to humans but fairer and wiser, with greater spiritual powers, keener senses, and a closer empathy with nature. They are great smiths and fierce warriors on the side of good. Tolkien's Elves of Middle-earth are immortal in the sense that they are not vulnerable to disease or the effects of old age. Although they can be killed in battle like humans and may alternately wither away from grief, their spirits only pass to the blessed land in the west called Valinor, whereas humans' souls leave the world entirely.

Answer 2

In Tolkien’s books, the elves have been created by some valar if I'm not mistaken. But the meaning of elves before Tolkien's books was different. They were something like dwarves, that small and with pointy ears and they always work. And they went to Valinor when the war was finished.

Answer 3

"In the beginning of days the Elves dwelt in Middle-earth. But the Valar, who lived on the Isle of Valinor, beyond the Great Sea, asked the Firstborn, as the Elves are known as, to settle with them on the Isle. Many did so, but quite a few also stayed in Middle-earth. These were allowed to come to Valinor, where there were no evil, in their own time."

"The story of the Elves’ departure from Middle-earth is a key part of the Third Age. They were leaving along the straight path to Tol Eressea, the Lonely Isle along the coast of Aman in the Undying West. The Elves were destined from the start to leave for Aman and Eressea, so that Men could gain dominion in Middle-earth. It is thus as part of this departure that Elrond, Galadriel, and other prominent Elves left upon the great ship with Frodo, Bilbo, and Gandalf. We learn of the Undying Lands in the Silmarillion. They are the lands of the Valar(for those that do not know, they are sort of a replacement of the mythological gods, though they serve a monotheistic God Eru). Picture the Undying Lands as a sort of paradise, inhabited by immortal beings and the land itself, the plants and animals, are equally longeval, which is why the Elves desire to come there. In mortal Middle-earth, they seem to fade and wither, as time passes faster than in the Undying Lands. (Immortal might be a bit too strong of word for the Elves, as they can die, but they are bound within the world until it ends as part of their nature)."

Answer 4

If you read the books which Christopher Tolkien has put together from his father's notes and drafts, there are several versions of the creation stories. There is a creator who creates and stays in the background, and a destructor who is manipulating. The elves are sung into existence. They love singing.

They go to the 'far eastern lands".

Answer 5

Read 'The Silmarillion':

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silmarillion-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0261102737/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt/202-6478175-2533469

Answer 6

i think they come from grace land as a famous elv came from there i think he was called elv is Presley .
thank you very much ill have Fry's with my squirrel burger

Answer 7

I think elves are like fairys they have there own little place where they live but you cant really see them but i think they are real and its a good thing to believe in thanks xx bethy

Answer 8

they go back to the library, and live in other books.
which, really, im affraid to say, is the only place they do live.

Answer 9

I know a lot of fairies come from Brighton.

Answer 10

oh its um...oh i know the place where they go to die....um...nope having a memory block....howabout elven heven?