Were the Noldor exiled, or they chose to leave? Beacuse, that's how I remember it from Simarillion. Guess I'll just have to read it again. I have forgotten too much. But I do remember i thought it kind of 'not very nice' of the Valar to just ignore the Men and other races, and only invite the Elves to live with them.

apparently he turned up that age as an istari and left middle earth looking just the same.somebody in the tolkein society had a theory that he is mandos in discuise.

Merenwen wrote:
Were the Noldor exiled, or they chose to leave? Beacuse, that's how I remember it from Simarillion. Guess I'll just have to read it again. I have forgotten too much. But I do remember i thought it kind of 'not very nice' of the Valar to just ignore the Men and other races, and only invite the Elves to live with them.

Honestly, I'm not sure either Merenwen. It's been a while since I read it... But I'm sure it had something to do with the kinslaying in Alqualondë and the Oath of Feanor...
And yes about the Valar only letting the elves in... I thought about it too... why that is... but after all Men goes to the Halls of Mandos... maybe that's as good.... or maybe not...?

If I remeber correctly, the Valar made the Elves first, so maybe they had a special place with them.

Both Elves and Men were part of Heru's original plan. The Valar just liked the Elves better. And since they are sort of angels, I thought they shouldn't make the difference.(I guess this is my Christian upbringing talking)

Unless someone killed him ... But that would be too scary

"If [the Ring] is destroyed, then [Sauron] will fall; and his fall will be so low that none can foresee his arising ever again. For he will lose the best part of the strength that was native to him in his beginning, and all that was made or begun with that power will crumble, and he will be maimed for ever, becoming a mere spirit of malice that gnaws itself in the shadows, but cannot again grow or take shape. And so a great evil of this world will be removed." The Return of the King; Chapter IX: The Last Debate

In the beginning Eru, the One, who in the Elvish tongue is named Ilúvatar, made the Ainur of his thought; and they made a great Music before him [...] The Great among those spirits the Elves name the Valar, the Powers of Arda [...] With the Valar came other spirits whose being also began before the World, of the same order as the Valar but as less degree. These are the Maiar, the People of the Valar and their servants and helpers. Their number is not known to the Elves, and few have names in any of the tongues of the Children of Ilúvatar; for though it is otherwise in Aman, in Middle-earth the Maiar have seldom appeared in forms visible to Elves and Men [...] Wisest of the Maiar was Olórin. He too dwelt in Lórien, but his ways took him often to the house of Nienna, and of her he learned pity and patience. [...] Of Olórin that tale [the Quenta Silmarillion] does not speak; for though he loved the Elves, he walked among them unseen, or in forms as one of them, and they did not know whence came the fair visions or the promptings of wisdom that he put into their hearts. In later days he was the friend of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and took pity on their sorrows; and those who listened to him awoke from despair and put away the imaginations of darkness. - The Silmarillion

"It was these records that brought the Grey Pilgrim to us. I first saw him when I was a child, and he has been twice or thrice since then."
"The Grey Pilgrim?" said Frodo. "Had he a name?"
"Mithrandir we called him in elf-fashion," said Faramir, "and he was content. Many are my names in many countries, he said. Mithrandir among the Elves, Tharkûn to the Dwarves; Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf; to the East I go not."
The Two Towers: "The Window on the West," p. 278-79