Those that were destroyed with Numenor were, chiefly, the fallen and bad-hearted of the Numenoreans. The survivors under Elendil were actually, as I remember, most of the island's inhabitants who still held on to the light. Thus the Valar spared them.
If I may add... do they then belong in Middle-Earth? Perhaps at first, but not now. It is too Men dominated, and the time of the Elves is over. Since Elves are mostly true-hearted and those that are left cannot really be evil, at least to nothing like the same extent we can, Valinor may well suit them better than Middle-Earth. When they had it to themselves things were different. The expansion and domination of Men was Eru's design, and so the Elves too must have their place; so it must be Valinor.
|