Hi, I know you'll get lots more informative & detailed answers than this, but, just to start. The Ringbearers & the Elves are going to Valinor, the Undying Lands, ruled by the Valar, kind of gods/Archangels, who rule the world under the authority of God, called by the elves Illuvatar . The Elves in the First age were invited to leave Middle Earth & live in Valinor. Some of them rebelled & left after a Melkor, the original Dark Lord, killed the Two Trees which gave Light to the world before the Sun & Moon, & stole the Silmarils, 3 jewels created by the elf Feanor, which he had made. The wars of the Elves against Melkor is the subject of the Silmarillion.
So at the end of the Lord of the rings, you have the belves, including some of the ones., like Galadriel, who left thousands of years before, & thought they could never return, going back, as a reward for what they did in the war of the ring. Its kind of circular - at the begining, the Elves leave 'Paradise' - Valinor - come into Middle earth, fight wars & go through terrible sufferings, & then return home.
The age that follows is the age of mankind. As I say, that's the short version.
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