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The Elves are the oldest species in Middle-Earth, and they factor into nearly every story before and during The Lord of the Rings. The events surrounding Frodo and his companions are only a small fraction of the Elves' long history. It's so long, in fact, that entire books can be (and have been) written about it.
While novels like The Silmarillion are beautiful works that any fantasy reader should have in their library, not everybody has the time to get through these wordy tomes. If you're in a hurry, here's the abridged history of the Elves in one thousand words.
Updated November 13, 2022 by Vaspaan Dastoor: Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series launched in 2022 and told of the forging of the Great Rings in the Second Age. The show picks up just after the battle in which Morgoth is defeated and the hunt for Sauron is on. While the events before this can be assumed to remain the same as in the books, the show changes a few aspects about this Age and builds on certain pivotal characters. This update adds a section about the Elves' journey to Middle-earth as illustrated in the TV show. You can find it under the Return To Middle-earth section.
The First Elves
When Middle-Earth's universe was created by the supreme being Eru Ilúvatar, two species were made directly by the creator-god: Elves and humans (called Men in Middle-Earth lore). The Elves were spread across the world in mated pairs, while humans were held back until a later time. The Elves awakened and wandered the land by starlight, as the Sun and Moon had not yet been created, eventually meeting each other and inventing music, language, and poetry — in that order.
These 144 original Elves settled in a place called Cuiviénen, living harmonious immortal lives, as the only things that will cause an Elf to die are violence and heartbreak, neither of which were present among them. The Elves' happiness caught the attention of Melkor, the first and most prideful of the Valar — lesser gods second only to Eru Ilúvatar. Melkor, who in his pride had already waged war once against the other Valar, was determined to corrupt the Elves.
The location of the Elves' awakening had not been disclosed to the Valar, and having found them first Melkor created a ruse. He set his spirits upon them in a form similar to that of his brother Oromë, expecting them to react with fear and terror when Oromë truly found them.
The deception worked, and the Elves scattered at Oromë's approach. In the chaos, Melkor captured some of the Elves and used dark magic to twist and transform them, creating the first Orcs. After this initial chaos, Oromë earned the Elves' trust and lived among them.
Aman, The Blessed Land
The Valar fought another war against Melkor, eventually defeating and capturing him. After the conflict, in which the Valar had been careful not to involve the Elves, Oromë came back to Cuiviénen and told them they should relocate to Aman, the continent to the west where the Valar had originally come from.
Unwilling to leave their home and fearful of the world beyond, the Elves appointed three of their number — Elwë, Finwë, and Ingwë — to go with Oromë and see what Aman was like. The trio returned home with tales of beauty and wonder, and most of the Elves decided to go there. A handful, however, feared becoming caught in the Valar's machinations and opted to remain in Middle-Earth. These became called the Avari — "unwilling" — and remained secluded in the forests. The Avari were seldom heard from again, and do not factor into any of the major events of The Lord of the Rings.
In Aman, Elven culture flourished. Each clan chose a place to settle, with Ingwë leading all the clans as High King of the Elves. For millennia — three full Ages of the world — the Elves refined their artistry and craftsmanship, living in even more splendor and harmony than they had known in Cuiviénen.
The Return Of Melkor
Eventually, Melkor served his period of exile and returned to Valinor claiming to be reformed. However, he now wanted to corrupt and destroy the Elves more than ever. Most of the Elves did not trust him, as they remembered the chaos he had sown at their first meeting (remember, Elves are immortal so most of them recalled the event personally). The Noldor, however, believed that Melkor, first of the Valar, had much to teach them.
Melkor shared secrets with the Noldor that the other Valar had not — namely, that Middle-Earth would one day be inherited by humans. Several prideful Noldor began to believe that the Valar had taken them away from Middle-earth to give that land to their short-lived cousins when it should have belonged to Elves.
Fëanor, son of Finwë and prince of the Noldor, was especially vocal about the Elves' right to rule Middle-earth. When an argument with his half-brother Fingolfin turned violent, Fëanor was summoned before the Valar to make his case as it was unlawful for the Elves to draw swords against one another. Fëanor's testimony exposed Melkor's deception, and the Dark Lord — bearing a new name, Morgoth, attacked with the monstrous Ungoliant, the spider-mother whose descendant, Shelob would come to reside in Mordor. Morgoth and Ungoliant destroyed the Two Trees of Valinor, killed Finwë, and stole the Silmarils, then fled across the sea to Middle-earth.
Return To Middle-earth
Fëanor called upon his clan to sail to Middle-earth and exact revenge against Morgoth for the death of his father their King. As Fëanor and his followers would not listen to the Valar and insisted on going to war, they were banished from Aman. For hundreds of years Fëanor and his clan fought against Morgoth wherever and however they could, occasionally supported by Elven adventurers who traveled to Middle-earth to aid their kin.
The Elves found a natural ally in the humans, who by this time had been placed in the world, and even intermarried with them. Eventually, the many long-lived Elves grew weary of war and returned to Aman to ask forgiveness from the Valar. Those that stayed in Middle-earth founded kingdoms of their own.
Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV Series
Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, launched in 2022, told of the forging of the Great Rings and the major characters during the Second Age. However, the producers didn't stick strictly to Tolkien's version. While the events that led up to the show are assumed to be the same, The Rings of Power picks up after Morgoth is defeated.
After Morgoth's defeat, the Elves remained in Middle-earth for two reasons — to remain vigilant over the Men whose ancestors aided Morgoth and to hunt down his servant Sauron. The latter had not been seen in years, and many believed he was no longer a threat. Hence, Gil-galad ordered the return of all Elves to Valinor, as they had fulfilled the task they had set out to complete in Middle-earth. However, Galadriel, then a commander in the Elven army, was not convinced that Sauron had been truly defeated. She is also driven by the fact that her brother was slain in the battle against the Dark Lord in Middle-earth. It is here that the show picks up.
The Rings Of Power
After more centuries passed, a visitor from the Valar named Annatar visited the Elves offering knowledge. Celebrimbor, lord of Eregion and the last of Fëanor's descendants, accepted — against the advice of his kinsman Gil-Galad. Annatar taught Celebrimbor to create sixteen Rings Of Power, but Celebrimbor made three on his own for the Elves without his patron's help.
Annatar was in truth Sauron, a longtime servant of Morgoth, and he forged the One Ring to control the wearers of the others. When Sauron's deception was revealed, a war was fought and the human prince Isildur defeated Sauron by cutting the One Ring from his hand, beginning the story of The Lord of the Rings.
Departure
Over the following centuries the Elves fell into decline, and after the War of the Ring opted to return to Aman forever. Only Arwen remained in Middle-earth, having married Aragorn.