Arwen was born 111 years after her brothers Elladan and Elrohir. I wouldn’t call that strong evidence against your theory. But we don’t have exact birth dates for many elves.
To expand a bit on a couple of the answers…
- You may see Tolkien geeks talking about “sub-creation”. There’s a mythic (as opposed to “mystical”) element to the highest craftsmanship in Tolkien’s stories. The act of crafting is an echo of Eru Ilúvatar’s creation of the world, a soft repetition of a theme in the Music of the Ainur. Master crafters could imbue an echo of their own song into their works, giving them purpose and a semblance of life and will that could persist beyond the lives of their makers.
Perhaps this was most common among elves simply because elves had the most skilled crafters, or perhaps it was because they were closer to the original song, and their echoes were stronger, but crafters of other races with the skill and the will could lend them to their works as well.
- It’s not just the password in Elvish. The runes on the door are signed: “I, Celebrimbor of Hollin, drew these signs.” Celebrimbor was a prince, ruler of Eregion, which was the elven domain the gates faced toward. He was also the smith who forged the Three, the rings of the elves. Not only were the dwarves of Khazad-dûm friendly with the elves, they were on such good terms that a major elvish bigshot came to help them move in. There was historical bad blood between the races, but these particular sets were close at the time; I would speculate that a mutual love of fine craftsmanship was part of that bond.
I genuinely don’t understand what you mean here. “Kin” is just “family” where I’m from.
Yeah, that makes sense. A thousand years of practice would produce a really accurate archer. Which makes Aragorn’s skill as an archer even more impressive, at least in the movies, as he seems to be second only to Legolas in skill.
Right, family. So how are they related? Cousins? Uncle and nephew? Both of those require Elwe to have parents, don’t they?
I thought Aragorn was a toddler when he first met her.
Gandalf and the other wizards are primordial spirits, therefore as old as time. However in corporeal form, they are “only” a little over 2000 years old, having come in around TA1000. And “Gandalf” is probably younger, as he was Olórin for a time, then probably Mithrandir before Gandalf. Not sure when he started paling around with men.
LOTR isn’t as explicitly religious as Narnia. No doubt there are analogues to religion (though as others noted, Melkor is the big bad), but it’s not intended as allegory for Christianity.
From the Tale of Years in Appendix B:
Celeborn could have been a great*-grandchild of Thingol. Are you saying you wouldn’t call that relationship “kin”?
The Firstborn couldn’t have any cousins (or parents or grandparents or uncles or aunts) obviously, but they could certainly be uncles and aunts themselves and have nephews and nieces etc
1.Well, the Elves dont understand what the Hobbits mean by “magic” but at least yes, Legolas’s bow would be considered magic by most. Unbreakable bow string, never misses. I’d say +5 in D&D terms, at least.
2.They are powerful items, bane weapons for goblins. Sting was pushed by a geriatric hobbit deeply into a wood beam with no effort, and it hurt the cave troll when Boromir’s sword just bounced off. And Sting wasn’t even considered powerful next to Glamdring.
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That entrance was used to trade with the local Elves.
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Only in the film.
Either Treebeard or Tom, likely Tom.
Gandalf is a type of Angel. Aragorn is a Numenorean, they have advanced stats. In the books, Legolas was not shown as strong.
*Their *swords. Boromir’s sword already just bounced off a Cave troll.
Mellon is Elvish.
Yes, but all those Elves have crossed the sea. Likely Tom.
And to elaborate, she’s just spent 500+ years in Lothlorien before she meets him, IIRC. So no, she didn’t see him as a toddler or squalling baby or such before. 
How do you be an uncle if you have no brother or sister?? 
Maybe the Firstborn are all considered brothers and sisters to each other?
Gandalf was always Olórin the Maia, and thus predates Arda. The Elves in Middle-Earth called him Mithrandir, the Dwarves Tharkûn, and he had many other names as he wandered in his restricted guise as a grey pilgrim human man. He doesn’t come to Middle-Earth until about the thousandth year of the Third Age, and that’s nigh on 2000 years before the events of The Hobbit
Very few, I think, knew his true nature at the beginning of LotR:
Saruman and Radagast (and the two Blue Wizards, if they are still around)
Cirdan, Elrond, Galadriel, Celeborn
Elrond’s three children, and probably the other High Elves that still lived in Rivendell
Sauron (but not perhaps at the time The Hobbit is set at)
Treebeard, maybe
Bombadil ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Aragorn, eventually
Denethor, Boromir, Faramir and Prince Imrahil - there’d be a couple of educated guesses there at any rate
Just wanted to say thanks again for all the responses; it’s a fascinating mythology, and I think I’m just beginning to really appreciate the level of depth and detail that is there in the books. I’ll have to try again to read through, though honestly last time it felt like trying to find out who begat whom in Chronicles in the bible.
Olwe and Elwe are specifically noted as being brothers. The awakening at Cuivenien wasn’t an Adam and Eve type thing - it was a long-planned first generation that sprung fully into being, siblings and all.
(and yes, I know that Tolkien played around with the idea quite a bit)
If he didn’t already know beforehand, he almost certainly realized it during the period when Bilbo and the dwarves were in Mirkwood, because Gandalf’s “business away to the south” was the White Council attack on Dol Goldur, which forced Sauron to retreat to Mordor. (I strongly suspect he knew the nature of the Wizards before that, however.)