Why are the elves leaving Rivendell?

Hi ppl...been watching LOTR:TTT for awhile...but still confused over why Elrond is leaving along with the rest of the elves?

He said something about their time on middle earth ending...but I thought they were immortal?

Sorry if I sound ignorant...cos I did not read the books...only got hooked onto LOTR due to the movies... 🙂

elves are immortal, they do not die of old age

but after spending a few millennia (for some its more for others it's less) on middle earth. They go to the Grey Havens where they take ships to the west towards a land from which none ever return 🙂

carbunche read the books, they have so much more cool info

So you are saying that they just felt like leaving? Erm...dun really catch the meaning...yea I know...the books have a lot of info...but its like information overload for me...I've always had a simplistic mind 😛 hehe

Hmm...but in the show...it seems like a mass exodus of the elves towards the Grey Havens...

And I do recall Elrond saying that he foresaw that Aragorn is going to die?

Lord Elrond has the gift of forsight don't really know how that works exactly, but I think he can sense the future as it will unfold itself from that moment on, but seeing as the future is always in motion it can change quite fast, anywayz I dunno really

ask Ush or Britt they are the experts

I think the elves are leaving in mass because they feel their time is over, too much trouble in middle earth.

its because, as fire pointed out,they have been in middle earth for a long ,long time. All their great lords from the second age have died, "the blood of Numeror is spent" as Elrond says in the fellowship.so now they have no strenght left-they have fought their battles and its now up to men.so they go to the grey havens to be at peace and let the 3rd age come to an end. i hope that makes sense🙂

hmm I always thought numenor was a human royal bloodline

oh really? we may need to consult an expert lol its just that elrond said it,but he may have been talking about men

numenor were the ancestors of gondor hence human. it is pretty complicated question as to why the elves are leaving middle earth. the way i understand it long ago the elves were called to valinor (where they are all leaving for, home of the gods) most took the voyage and lived with them for ages. well one of the gods stole some jewels that were very precious to the elves (or atleast one of them) plus many elves desired realms of their own such as galadriel. so there was a great exodus back to middle earth to battle the evil powers that be. well back to LOTR those evil powers are about to achieve final victory or the ultimate defeat, so one of the main puposes to the elves being there is about at an end and they are being called back to valinor. basically this is the way i get it. theres a lot more to it, but i have dumbed it down to keep this post from running on forever and i hope that some of the info isnt distorted in the effort, 🙂

its cos their times are the times of the rings thats why

Spoiler:
gandalf has to go to and frodo and bilbo

isnt it?

maybe katie

nice post turin

Honestly, I think the elves were leaving in case the quest failed and Sauron regained the ring. Like pointy eared rats deserting a sinking ship.

no there not abandoning everybody. the movies make it look like they all left during the war of the ring when actually in the books the main host of elves leave once the war is over (elrond, galadriel, legolas, etc...)

indeed, in fact the elves were ready to do their part
they just couldn't handle it on their own and they already proved themselves against sauron 3000 years earlier

true, someone mentioned it earlier but in the books all the realms of the elves were also under assult. its just tolkien focused on mankind.

yea, but they saved the ass of middle earth by forging the last alliance with mankind

you know what i dont get is why people cant come back from valinor or grey havens? (Ive read the first two books last year and saving ROTK for after the movie so it gives me a better picture in the books, not to bright ya know)

they saw that it was mainly the human's war so they won't have a big part in it. plus they don't want to be around when evil takes over do they? and probably the gods won't let them cuz they've already seen too much and spill valinor's secrets to others.

Whoa...thanks alot for the replies guys!

Seems like LOTR has sorta like a rich background/history to it...like the heritage of a culture....

I have learnt so much from you guys! 🙂

Carbunclee READ THE BOOKS, ALL OF THEM THERE ARE TONS OF BOOKS ABOU Middle Earth, ALL HAVE INTERESTING FACTS