Why Didn't the Elves do More in the LOTR? Middle-earth Explained

The Elves of Middle-earth were renowned for their deeds, powers and wisdom, but why did they not do more during the events of the Lord of the Rings? Today, we will take a look at that very question, and hopefully, find some answers! As always, a great thanks to the online artists whose visual works made this video possible! If you are one of the artists, please let me know and I will post your name and a link to your work in this description!

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[ImperatorPenguin]

As I said before, the Elves were stuck fighting against Sauron's forces in the North, and they didn't have enough manpower to lend direct aid to the South, in addition to fighting in their own lands. And the Elves returning to Valinor goes without saying.

[wulozhero]

The time of the Elves has passed, men will decide the fate of Middle Earth.

[orrointhewise]

"The time of the elves is over."

The elves had their time; they shaped the world and fought against evil long before men were ever born.
They needed to step aside for the most part in order for men to make their own way in the world. When a parent sees that a child needs help it's natural to want to help but ultimately they never learn their own way. Even when an older sibling sees the same test brought on to the younger ones, they let them forge their own way thru.
In learning you will teach and in teaching you will learn 😊

[maxmercer]

Glorfindel is a special case. He returned from Aman... with super powers. To not use Glorfindel in the climax is truly bizarre. Why return if he wasn't going to the confrontation in Mordor?

[timheanue]

I think the Elves had seen enough of war. So many had marched away in the Last Alliance, and not come home . That campaign had already been named "the Last Alliance", showing that the Elves knew that they would never march away to war again. Unless it was to defend their homes, the Elves could not go through that again. And during the war of the ring, it was the younger generation of Elves who left their homelands to fight. While Elrond and Thandruil did not leave their realms to fight, their sons (who to the best of our knowledge didn't fight in the Last Alliance) did.

[TheEnrieb]

The Elves did their part to end Sauron in the last alliance of Elves and Men, but then big brain Isildur decided to ignore the advice of Elrond to cast the ring into the fire and end Sauron forever. Thank’s Isildur

[shadowofchaos]

The Last Alliance against Sauron in the 2nd age was the Elves last stand against Morgoth and Sauron. Men were the leaders after in the 3rd age and dominant in the Fourth Age. Eru's children were completing the task of the first born.

[Aequitas_RJ]

Many talk about the elves as if they were meant to leave Middle Earth, but they often forget that the eldar were born IN Middle Earth; not even in Valinor, the far east reaches of the world.
Elves and men are both the children of Iluvatar, so they were meant to be together; to live side by side and learn from one another. Elves believed that their immortal lives afforded them the chance to learn everything there is to life, but they can only see through unchanging and unaging eyes.
Men saw the world a very different way and though the elves felt the loss of every human they once grew to love like siblings, they should have stayed in Middle Earth instead of taking heed of the Valars' summons. The Valar will one day come to see their actions with the elves and their avoidance of interaction with humans as their greatest mistake, even moreso than the release of Melkor, for one day humans will be gone and all they have to teach along with them.
3:00 HOLY SH!T, THAT ELF HAS A GIANT HAND WITH 6 FINGERS!!!

[logansfury]

Only having watched into a minute of this, my immediate reaction to the title of the video must be that the elves were almost spent. They spend the second age losing battle after brutal battle against Morgoth/Melkor until the Valar finally arrive upon Beleriand to take Melkor and put an end to his dominion. The elves were so diminished by death in the War of the Jewels, and furthermore by the vast number that took the Valor's pardon and returned to the Undying Lands, that they didn't even maintain the High Kingship and none wore the crown after Gil-Galad. They were reduced, diminished, scattered, and chose such havens as they could find or augment with what magic they had into the preservation of memory. Elrond clearly said Rivendell did not have the might to withstand and assault by Sauron. Only such supreme elves as the members of the White Council did heroic acts on their own or in small groups without the aid of armies.

Now to watch the video and see if our opinions on this match :D

[kscgcdm]

One major themes of TLOTR was that meekness defeats arrogance. The elves were not naturally meek. I think finally they themselves had to realize the limits of their own power and so chose to stay away unless it was to aid the meek. All other points about letting the other peoples of Middle Earth take charge and their own diminished numbers are really good, too. Tolkien doesn’t spell it out for us directly, but his writing gives hints of all these things. I wonder if it was subconsciously done on his part. I did not read his personal writings so I cannot say exactly, but sometimes I do wonder if, as he wrote his fiction, his philosophy and feelings came out without him even realizing it in terms of thesis.

[risteard]

The elves were diminished and the answer was given by Elrond himself at the Council of Elrond. None of the elven realms were strong enough to stand against Sauron either alone or together.
Elrond: “I have not the strength and neither do they”.

[iraklhspetsas]

I feel like another reason elves didn't join the men in the fight against sauron is that with the raw strength of elves like Galadriel, Glorfindel, Elrond etc Sauron would be more careful. The victory is achieved because Sauron is too arrogant, so he believes that his armies will easily destroy the men thus he proceeds to empty his lands leaving empty space for Frodo to destroy the ring. If these strong elves took part in the fight he would probably keep a lot of the orcs as a back up which could jeopardize the secrecy of the destruction of the ring

[daniels]

The same question applies to the Istari. Five Maiar ought to have been enough to steamroll Sauron *if* they were allowed to use their full powers against him. But they weren't. The same restriction may have been imposed by the Valar, or even Eru Iluvatar, upon the Eldar. By this point the call to sail West was more than just sea longing. It had become a mandate. The Time of Men was dawning and the Elves were supposed to vacate Middle-earth. Especially since at least as many Men served Sauron as opposed him, the Valar (or Eru) might not have seen it the place of the Ainur or the Eldar to decide the matter on behalf of Men.

[neilbakshi]

I think it was three things that worked together and cannot really be separated: 1. They weren't all that concerned about other peoples, and were disenchanted with Middle-Earth anyway; 2. Their lives were too precious to waste, having been depleted by the wars of the First and Second Ages and being overwhelmingly past their child-rearing years; and 3. They weren't convinced the war would succeed, and were better off hiding or sailing away. I think we always need to remember the big picture in Tolkien's writing, and in this case it's that LOTR was written from the perspective of Hobbits (and humans) to whom the elves were mysterious and otherworldly. The more you see of someone, the less mysterious they are. (Case in point: Sauron may be the only villain in all of literature whose appearance is never described.)

[starkilr]

“Your kinsmen may not need to March to war. I fear war marches on their lands as well”

[robertcoplin]

I mostly agree. My take is that their numbers were diminishing. If you consider that the power of the Elves was supported by their numbers, then that may have been a reason. Also I recall that it has been suggested that the reason that Glorfindel did not joint the Fellowship was because his personal power would grabbed Sauron's attention pretty quickly. So with Elrond and Galadriel. I do wonder why some attempts at misdirection weren't pursued, excepting Aragorn's use of the Palantir and the march on Mordor's gate. The covert approach was the best method they had at hand.

[eolaspellor]

Early on in LotR, Sam says that the Elves are sailing into the West and not returning. The First night Frodo leaves Bag End, they encounter a troop of Elves heading to the Grey Havens. The time of the Elves was ending, and they all knew it. Rousing themselves to go to war might be what we want, but may well have been beyond them at that point.

[whiteknightcat]

Elves may be naturally immortal and powerful, but they were not the League of Superfriends. They were still subject to the same shortcomings and weaknesses as other beings, both in terms of character and physically. Also, as the song says, there is a season for all things under heav'n. Ages come and ages go, as do those who live through those ages. The Elves knew their time was at an and, that it was time for the dominion of Men, that they must fade away as their part in the story of the world drew to a close. So very simply, there were too few of them left by the end of Third Age, and they were not godlike in power. Time to pass the baton.

[simonmorris]

They were following Gandalf’s strategy of forcing Sauron to focus on several different areas outside and far away from Orodruin. The dwarves and men were drawing his attention and forces to Dale and the Lonely Mountain. The elves of Lothlorien and Mirkwood were drawing his attention to his fortress of Dol Guldur. The men of Gondor were drawing his attention to the Black Gate. Although not Canonical I suspect the elves of Rivendell were facing the orcs of Gundabad.

[johnrazler]

I think you forgot about Elrond's sons, who did go to war in the Grey Company of rangers from the north.