The Lord of the Rings is full of mystical places, but the Undying Lands may be the most hallowed. Each individual that went there after the events of The Lord of the Rings movies had their own fascinating story and reason to do so. This special place was also called Valinor and was home to the Valar, the Vanyar Elves, and other Elves that hadn’t left or had eventually moved back from Middle-earth. It was the home built by the Valar after Morgoth destroyed their first Middle-earth home, Almaren. These demigods blessed the realm with beauty and healing powers, making its residents lucky.

But the realm saw tumult since the Valar first moved there. After the Kinslaying performed by Lord of the Rings’ Elves, the Noldor Elves were banned from the Undying Lands’ shores. The Noldor were eventually pardoned, but the Númenóreans were next to cause trouble for Valinor. Sauron persuaded Númenor’s leader to sail to Valinor with his army to challenge it, only for the Valar to naturally call on the help of their god, Eru Ilúvatar. Eru sank Númenor and removed Valinor from the Circles of the World, banning mortals forever. And yet, some exceptions were made.

5

Samwise Gamgee

Hobbit

Book readers will know what happened to Sam Gamgee after Lord of the Rings, but it wasn’t totally obvious in the movies. After all, Peter Jackson couldn’t cover every detail of J.R.R. Tolkien’s vast and sprawling story with three feature-length movies. Near the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Frodo sailed west with Gandalf and Bilbo, leaving Sam behind.

Just like the Warner Bros. movie franchise showed, Sam did go back to the Shire and marry Rosie Cotton. He also had 14 children with her, amazingly. But this wasn’t the end of his story. Torn between Rosie and his best friend, Frodo, Sam did eventually manage to reconcile the conflict. After leaving his children in safe care, he set out to join Frodo in the Undying Lands.

4

Gimli, Son Of Glóin

Dwarf

Gimli, as a Dwarf, is not the typical entrant to Valinor, but an exception was made for him. The Undying Lands were made for Lord of the Rings’ 15 Valar and Elves, and Dwarves did not have the best relationship with Elves over the years. Episodes like the Ruin of Doriath played a large part in this, with the Nauglamír necklace dividing the two species. However, Elf-Dwarf relations improved over the years.

Celebrimbor set up a strong working relationship with Dwarves in Lord of the Rings’ Second Age, their love of craft bringing them together. But Gimli’s friendship with Legolas is, by far, the best-known diplomatic Dwarf-Elf relationship in Middle-earth. The Fellowship of the Ring was as much a diplomatic mission as a military one. Legolas and Galadriel ensured Gimli’s pᴀssage to their realm after striking up a bond with him and after his outstanding work in defending Middle-earth from Sauron’s tyranny.

3

Legolas Greenleaf

Elf

Legolas, possibly the most famous Elf in Middle-earth, left for Valinor after the curtains had closed on The Lord of the Rings movies. While many Elves sailed west after the War of Wrath, Legolas was among those who did not. The Battles of Beleriand were among Morgoth’s worst crimes in Lord of the Rings, with the War of Wrath so cataclysmic that it sunk a whole area of Middle-earth, necessitating many Elves to leave the continent.

After Lord of the Rings’ Beleriand sank, most displaced Elves sailed to Valinor, but Mirkwood was located quite far to the east of this area. Legolas is, of course, the prince of the Woodland Realm of Mirkwood, run by his father, Thranduil. These Sindarin Elves remained for a long time, but even they migrated west eventually. Legolas stuck around with his friends from the Fellowship into the Fourth Age, but built a ship and sailed west with Gimli after Aragorn died.

2

Círdan The Shipwright

Elf

Círdan was the ruler of the Grey Havens, a First Age Elf around since at least the Years of the Trees, but he hung around in Middle-earth for far longer than most of his First Age friends. This Elf was so old, he had actually grown a beard, an impressive occurrence, considering Elves had immortality in Lord of the Rings akin to “limitless serial longevity.” Eventually, Círdan left the shores of Middle-earth for good.

Tolkien’s magnum opus, The Lord of the Rings novel, published in three parts between 1954 and 1955, confirmed that Círdan sailed to Middle-earth on the Last Ship going west in the Fourth Age. This is fair, as he was maintaining the port from which ships left Middle-earth for Valinor. In staying until the last, Círdan helped ensure that anyone who wanted to sail the Straight Road could do so safely.

1

Celeborn The Wise

Elf

Celeborn, Galadriel’s husband, appears to sail to Valinor with Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’s ending. Boarding the ship with Galadriel, Círdan, Elrond, Bilbo, Frodo, and Gandalf, Celeborn did leave Middle-earth in the end in the movie. In the books, Celeborn also left Middle-earth. However, he stayed for longer than the movies made it seem.

Celeborn actually stayed in Middle-earth after Galadriel had left, putting distance between the two. Galadriel had a yearning for Valinor, having spent many long years of her life there. Celeborn, in most versions of the story, was a Sindar Elf and, therefore, didn’t have the same connection to it. He loved Middle-earth and left it with Círdan, taking with him “the last living memory of the Elder Days.“

The Biggest Lord Of The Rings Characters Who Didn’t Go To The Undying Lands & Why

Some surprising characters never went to the Undying Lands, despite seeming like obvious candidates for an exception to the rules of the realm. Arwen and Aragorn stayed in Middle-earth, despite Aragorn being a member of the Fellowship of the Ring, like Sam and Frodo, and despite Arwen being his wife. They had to rule Gondor and Arnor, so they shouldn’t have left. Plus, neither were Ring-bearers like Frodo, Bilbo, and Sam.

Merry and Pippin also stayed behind, rather than setting sail for the Undying Lands, despite being Fellowship members. Like Aragorn, neither was a Ring-bearer. Like Aragorn, they also had obligations to their territories. They became important figures in the Shire and maintained a good relationship with Aragorn and his realm, raising the profile of Hobbits and increasing the opportunities available to them in The Lord of the Rings.