Eldar of the West

	Eldar
Vanyar	Noldor	Teleri
	Falmari	Sindar	Nandor

Though all the Eldar (by definition) set out on the Great Journey, many of them fell away from it and remained in Middle-earth. Names shown in bold in this chart represent those peoples who crossed the Great Sea and became Eldar of the West.

Those Elves who departed from Cuiviénen on the Great Journey became collectively known as the Eldar, but not all of these Eldar completed the Journey and made their way to the Blessed Realm beyond the Sea. Many fell away from the Journey as it proceeded, including those who founded the Silvan realms in Rhovanion, and also those who settled in Beleriand as the Sindar.

The peoples of the Vanyar and the Noldor found their way to the western shores of Middle-earth. There they stepped onto the Lonely Isle, and were drawn across the Great Sea to their new home in the West. Later many of the Teleri (people who shared a heritage with the Sindar) were also taken across the Sea. Together these three peoples formed the Eldar of the West, and they dwelt with the Valar and the Maiar in Aman, bathed in the Light of the Two Trees. They remained there for millennia, but not all of them stayed in the West.

After Fëanor's rebellion, many of the Noldor followed him back eastward into Middle-earth, where they fought a centuries-long war against the Dark Lord Melkor. Some of these Eldar survived to the end of the Third Age (Galadriel, for example, was originally an Elda of the West). After the War of the Ring most of those that remained - including Galadriel - made their way back across the ocean to their ancient home in the Blessed Realm.