Lindon (Middle-earth) - Third Age and The Passing of The Elves

Third Age and The Passing of The Elves

In the Third Age Lindon was ruled by Gil-galad's ally, the Sindarin elf Círdan the Shipwright, master of Mithlond. Círdan's task was to build ships for the Elves departing Middle-earth to sail to the West. By the end of the Third Age, the majority of Lindon's population resided in or around the harbour of the Grey Havens, while the rest settled along the shores of the Gulf of Lune. Lindon was one of the few populated areas of northwestern Middle-earth that remained untouched by the War of the Ring. Sauron never achieved the strength and reach he had in the Second Age and he was unable to make a direct assault, even though the realm was a strategically important location populated by his enemies.

During the Fourth Age, it was one of the last Elven havens as the remaining Elves of Rivendell and Lothlórien left Middle-earth. In the beginning of the first century, Fourth Age, it experienced a population growth as migrants from the east came to Mithlond. Not all Elves left Middle-earth immediately, many of the migrants made long-term temporary settlements.

Aside from Elves, Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins also went to Valinor from the Grey Havens, and a family tradition held that Samwise Gamgee, having been himself a Ring-bearer, albeit briefly, did likewise, in the year 1482 of the Shire Reckoning, Fourth Age 61. It was also told in the Red Book of Westmarch, that after Aragorn's death Legolas built a grey ship and left Middle-earth to go to Valinor, and that Gimli went with him.

Círdan stayed in Mithlond into the Fourth Age until as he said, "the last ship sails" and the remaining Eldar passed into the West. A small Elven community may have remained for quite some time. It is unclear just what the fate of the Elves of Middle-earth was in the early Fourth Age or how long Círdan and his remaining folk dwelled at the Havens and continued to build the great ships that carried the Elves to the Undying Lands.