Elves
The Elves, one of the Free Peoples of Middle Earth, were the Firstborn, the Elder children of Iluvatar. They awoke in the starlight of the Sleep of Yavanna where they were visited by Orome and Melkor. The Orcs were once Elves, which were captured by Melkor at this time, and perverted.
During the First Age the Valar summoned the Elves to undertake the Great Journey. The elves who accepted the task became the Eldar; the ones who declined became the Silvan Elves. The Eldar could speak mind to mind. Morgoth destroyed the Eldarin realms of Belariand, so by the Second and Third Ages the Elves lived mostly in refuges, with the Eldarin ruling over the Silvans.
Elves were tall and graceful with acute hearing and sight. They loved to learn and to teach others, and in fact taught the Ents to talk. They lived an immortal life, subject only to being killed or dying of grief. When Elves died they went to the halls of Mandos.