Sure, Professor Tolkien is actually writing those words yet in the voice of Elrond who for some reason has the moniker “The Wise”. Cirdan was wise. Gandalf was wise. Gil-Galad was brilliant - he knew exactly when and what to do with the Three and it was his charisma that made the Last Alliance possible as Sauron was pretty much at his peak of power.
Unfortunately, Gil-Galad and his good friend Elendil were clobbered by Sauron in a melee fight. Only Fingolfin and Beren had ever “won” a fight against Sauron and he was only Morgoth’s Lt. at the time and those were one-on-one long before Sauron was The Dark Lord with a massive army and Nine powerful lieutenant’s backing him.
To say that “Gil-Galad and Elendil were no more” really does a dis-service considering Elrond never accomplished half of what his father and brother did.
And Isildur was ambushed and “slain” many years later by a roving band of Orcs because the Ring hadn’t corrupted him sufficiently enough for its liking and decided to slip off.
Argh, missed the edit window…
I Got my Fin’s mixed up. It was Finrod Felagund who took on Werewolf Sauron and Fingolfin only dueled with Morgoth. Neither fight went well. Sauron was tough. Fingolfin probably had the better chance.
Finrod died killing one of Sauron’s werewolves, thus saving Beren’s life. Shortly after, the great Hound Huan defeated Sauron (in werewolf form) shortly after Luthien lured him out of his tower. Huan let Sauron flee with his life (this time in bat form) in exchange for the keys to his tower so that they could save Beren.
(My daughter gave me the Beren and Luthien book for Christmas; it’s very interesting to see how the story changed over the years. In the original version, Beren is an elf and Sauron does not appear; Beren is held captive by Tevildo, the Prince of Cats in Morgoth’s kitchens.)
Thank you for the corrections and extra infos. I knew I had made mistakes with my lore regarding Finrod and Fingolfin. It is surprising how much Sauron is in all the old works. His oath/speech in “Lay of Leithian” itself part of “Lays of Beleriand” is the stuff of a splenid character and master author:
(it begins)
Whom do ye serve, Light or Mirk?
Who is the maker of mightiest work?
I was just looking at the Wiki on Elrond:
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First age he was born and the only thing notable is he was captured along with Elros by the sons of Fëanor yet Maedhros and Maglor took a liking to them and did not kill them.
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Second Age Gil-Galad sends Elrond and an army to defend Eregion against Sauron. Sauron’s army promptly destroys Eregion and surrounds Elrond’s army. Fortunately, Durin and the Elf-King of Lorien Amroth attack Sauron’s rearguard and distract him such that Elrond can run away and establish Rivendell.
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Third Age / Last Alliance: Elrond and Círdan are somewhat in the vicinity of the battle between Sauron, Gil-Galad and Elendil. Apparently Isildur is even more in the vicinity and he is coached to toss The Ring into Orodruin. I don’t know what to make of Cirdan being there - certainly the Last Alliance could use whatever contribution of ships to attack Mordor that could be mustered - and Tolkien must have had his reasons. Elrond at least had the lineage to wield a sword yet what else he did besides watch his Captain go down is unknown.
I always got the impression that Elrond was the elven equivalent of a nerd. He was a loremaster, an expert on ancient history and artifacts. But he wasn’t much of a man of action.
When he established Rivendell and became an advisor on the Council of the Wise, that was when he shined. He wasn’t cut out for all that other heroic stuff. Not everyone can be a Glorfindel.
Elrond was Gil-galad’s herald, so…
mostly make sure there was sufficient contrast between the stars and field on his shield, if I know heralds. And I am one, so I do.
Yeah, that and the nerdy lore bit became his thing.
Yet in the 2nd age Gil-Galad made Elrond the leader of an army that failed miserably in saving Eregion from destruction by Sauron and would have been destroyed if not for Durin in Moria and Amroth in Lorien.
Then Gil-galad could have found a new herald and ME would be none the worse for another 4000 years.
I don’t think so-Wasn’t Mordor was just sending out “scouting armies,” in that the army hidden behind the Black Gate was much bigger than the one that hit Minas Tirith? If Sauron had sent all of his troops to Gondor I think it would have been over much more quickly.
Aragorn’s play on using the Palantir to make Sauron think Aragorn posessed The Ring and was about to conquer Sauron & Mordor, thus forcing Sauron’s hand in going ahead with the Battle of the Pelennor fields, which was not a total loss to Minas Tirith because of Gandalf, the Rohirrim and Eowyn slaying for real the Witch King.
So then Gondor and Rohan and the rest make a last desperate attempt to assault Mordor. It was all part of the ruse to make Sauron think Aragorn was coming with The Ring.
A lot depends on what exactly The Ring confers in terms of outright power (shooting laser beams) or even whether you get control of the Nine (or Eight at the last battle). What could Aragorn - perhaps the most powerful being (sans Gandalf and Galadriel) in ME have done with The One that would lead to at least a takeover of Mordor and replacing Sauron as the Dark Lord? I am sure Sauron, whether or not he actually fought in that battle, reckoned he’d win and end up with The Ring anyways. No thought in his mind that there’d be a plan to destroy his Precious yet clearly he had some concerns that Aragorn and Gandalf leveraged.
Naah. Many elves still in Middle Earth would be more powerful than him still (you can start with Glorfindel and work you way down from there). Also the other wizards, and some other Maiar.
And Tom Bombadil, of course.
hijack - is there any evidence that Aragorn and Bombadil have ever met? Ol’ Strider’s been traipsing around ME for decades, you’d think he’d have passed through the Old Forest a time or two, to check out the queerness if nothing else.
He seems familiar enough with him to refer to him as “old Bombadil” when he describes first encountering the hobbits coming out of the Downs (while hiding in a hedge - very kingly!).
Cool, I forgot that. I know it’s implied Farmer Maggot & Butterbur know (of) Bombadil, but they don’t have the perspective & knowledge base to realize how unique he is.
Tom Bombadil could certainly make The Ring shoot laser beams.
Glorfindel is replaced in the Bakshi film (by Legolas?!) and in Jackson’s by Arwen who was somewhat plausible. What do you do with a guy who killed a Balrog? He’d be way too noticeable in a fellowship that included a Wizard, Elendil’s heir. the son of Thranduil and Boromir, the bad-ass of Gondor. I reckon that is the logic applied at the council of Elrond and he instead goes off scouting somewhere.
So what if he gets the ring (probably by killing Frodo as is customary with this Ring) and somehow has the charisma to lead and command Men and Elves to taking on Mordor? He could crush thousands and thousands of Sauron’s army - and maybe he would command The Nine.
Actually, I reckon if all that happened Glorfindel would in fact become the New Dark Lord.
Yes, but it would just be for a laser light show to go with his songs.
Based on the poem, the power of the One Ring is “to rule”. That requires some interpretation, but I think it means bending others to the will of the bearer. And it’s what we see the Ring do.