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WHY THE AGE OF THE ELVES CAME TO AN END?
The elves did not disappear. At the end of the Third Age, many elves still lived in Middle-earth, but the time of the Firstborn was coming to an end. The Fourth Age would be the Age of Men.
The world was changing. The elves belonged to a Middle-earth filled with magic, wonders, and ancient memories. As the centuries passed, this world began to change. Tolkien described this process as a kind of diminishment. Little by little, the ancient greatness was fading away.
The Three Elven Rings lost their power. Rivendell and Lothlórien were preserved for centuries thanks to them, but with the destruction of the One Ring, the power of the Three also ended. The elven lands could no longer remain unchanged. That is why Galadriel, Elrond, Gandalf, and Bilbo departed to the West.
The Grey Havens were not only a farewell, but the closing of an entire age. On those ships departed some of the last representatives of the ancient world.
Valinor was the return. The elves are immortal, but Middle-earth was never the final destiny of many of them. Beyond the sea existed Valinor, the Blessed Realm. For many, leaving to the West was a return, not an exile.
The Age of Men began. Aragorn became king, Sauron was defeated, and the great kingdoms of Men returned to flourish. The fate of the world passed into the hands of Men.
Some elves remained. Not all left immediately. Legolas remained, Celeborn remained for some time, and others continued living in Middle-earth for many years. But slowly, their peoples faded.
The elves left so that our world could exist. For Tolkien, Middle-earth was a kind of mythical past of our own world. The Fourth Age marked the farewell of the enchanted world, and the world we know began to be born.
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