The Laiquendi are the remnant of the Nandor (originally part of the host of the Teleri) who remained east of the Misty Mountains.

They were separated from the rest of the Nandor when Lenwë's son Denethor I set out westward, and led some of the Nandor across the Misty Mountains and the Blue Mountains, settling at last in Ossiriand.

Denethor I and his followers were soon beset by Morgoth's Orcs. After that many of Denethor's people left Ossiriand for the guarded forests of Doriath. Those few that remained took up a secretive existence, camouflaging themselves in green.

From that time, they were known as the Green-elves, or Laiquendi in the Elvish tongue. They were excellent woodsmen and protectors of the forests and they lived reclusive lives under the protection of Ulmo.

The hidden people of the Green-elves played little part in history after the First Battle of the Battles of Beleriand. But significantly, they lent their aid to Beren and Dior Eluchil (who dwelt on Tol Galen in the far south of their land).

After the loss of their ancient ally Thingol at the hands of the Dwarves, they went with Beren to avenge him. Much later, after the deaths of Beren and Lúthien, one of their lords took up the Silmaril that Lúthien had borne, and brought it to Dior Eluchil in Menegroth.

After the end of the First Age, their fate is not clearly known. Some at least seem to have removed to Eriador, as a note in the Unfinished Tales mentions Green-elves living on the shores of Lake Nenuial during the Second Age.