Amroth was the son of Amdír, and an Elf Prince of Lothlórien. He was of Sindarin origin, but willingly adopted the customs of the Wood-elves and he dwelt on Cerin Amroth.

"Of old he was an Elven-king,
A lord of tree and glen,
When golden were the boughs in spring
In fair Lothlórien."

(from Legolas' Song of Nimrodel, The Lord of the Rings II 6, Lothlórien)

He fell in love with Nimrodel, who pledged that she would wed him only if he took her to a land of peace. Therefore, in the middle years of the Third Age, he decided to take a ship to the West with Nimrodel. He waited for her in the south, at the port of Edhellond, but she never came to him as she was lost in the crossing of the White Mountains.

When a storm broke the moorings of his ship, and hurled the boat far out to sea, Amroth dove into the raging waters in an attempt to reach the shore, and he was lost.

Several versions exist of Amroth's parentage. One tradition states that Amroth was the son of Celeborn and Galadriel, though Christopher Tolkien suggested that that idea post-dated the publication of The Lord of the Rings and was later rejected. In another version, his father was Malgalad, not Amdír.