<P> Then Eärendil the Mariner, a half - elf from the House of Finwë, sailed to Valinor to ask the Valar for help . Then the Ban of the Noldor was lifted, and the Valar started the War of Wrath, in which Morgoth was finally overcome . </P> <P> After the War of Wrath, the Valar tried to summon the Elves back to Valinor . Many complied, but some stayed . During the Second Age they founded the Realms of Lindon, Eregion and Mirkwood . Sauron, Morgoth's former servant, made war upon them, but with the aid of the Númenóreans they defeated him . </P> <P> During the Second and Third Age, they held some protected realms with the aid of the Rings of Power, but after the War of the Ring they waned further, and most Elves left Middle - earth for Valinor . Tolkien's published writings give somewhat contradictory hints as to what happened to the Elves of Middle - earth after the One Ring was destroyed at the end of the Third Age . </P> <P> After the destruction of the One Ring, the power of the Three Rings of the Elves would also end and the Age of Men would begin . Elves that remained in Middle - earth were doomed to a slow decline until, in the words of Galadriel, they faded and became a "rustic folk of dell and cave," and were greatly diminished from their ancient power and nobility . While the power of the remaining Noldor would be immediately lessened, the "fading" of all Elvenkind was a phenomenon that would play out over hundreds and even thousands of years; until, in fact, our own times, when occasional glimpses of rustic Elves would fuel our folktales and fantasies . </P>

Where did the elves go after middle earth