Elrond

"He was noble and as fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer."

- -The Hobbit

Elrond Half-elven (ca. FA 532 - ?), Lord of Rivendell, was one of the mighty rulers of old that still remained during the Third Age of Middle-earth.

The son of Eärendil and Elwing, and a great-grandson of Lúthien, he was born in Beleriand late in the First Age, still making him well over 6,000 years old by the time of the War of the Ring. Elrond's twin brother was Elros Tar-Minyatur, the first King of Númenor. His wife is the Lady Celebrian of Rivendell, who bore him three children. The first two children were twin brothers Elladan and Elrohir, and the third was Arwen Undómiel, future Queen of Gondor. Through his wife Celebrian, Lord Celeborn of Lothlorien is his father-in-law, and Lady Galadriel of Lothlorien is his mother-in-law. His name means 'Star-dome'.

Elrond in the books
Born at the refuge of the Havens of Sirion soon before its destruction by the sons of Fëanor, Elrond and his twin brother, Elros were captured alive. This caused their parents to fear that they would be killed but instead they were taken up by the brothers Maedhros and Maglor. Maglor eventually released them, feeling sorry for them.

Elrond went to Lindon with the household of Gil-galad, the last High King of the Ñoldor when Beleriand was destroyed at the end of the First Age, choosing (like his parents but unlike his brother) to be counted among the elves when the option of kindreds was given to him.

In the Second Age, he was sent to Eregion by Gil-galad, and after the destruction of Eregion, he fled into Eriador, where he founded Rivendell within a steep-sided valley, one of the last remaining strongholds against Sauron, with the remaining Ñoldor of Eregion. Upon this occasion, Gil-galad entrusted Elrond with Vilya, one of the elvish Three Rings.

Near the end of the Second Age the Last Alliance of Elves and Men set out from Rivendell to Mordor with Gil-galad and Elrond in command of the Elven forces and Elendil and his sons in command of the forces of Men. The Army then traveled to Mordor and for several months fought the Battle of Dagorlad, (they were joined by Dwarven forces but they are never mentioned in the Trilogy); the end result of this seige/battle was that Saurons forces were defeated by the Last Alliance and Sauron himself was defeated by Isildur (eldest son of Elendil) at the gates of his own citadel and the One Ring was claimed by Isildur. Before discovering that Isildur had claimed the One Ring Elrond went to find Gil-galad and, upon finding him, Gil-galad confessed to Elrond that he was the keeper of one of the three Elven Rings, Vilya. Before he died Gil-galad gave Elrond the ring and told him to guard and keep watch over it. Then, having passed on the ring, Gil-galad passed away. After Elrond had received Vilya from Gil-galad Elrond went in search of Isildur. Upon finding him he tried to convince Isildur to throw the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom, but Isildur refused and Elrond said that he would not force the Ring from Isildur and so, for the moment, he left the problem to be dealt with by Men. After this was discussed the commanders, having defeated Sauron and the forces of Mordor, decided to head back to their own lands and see to their own affairs. Isildur was then named High King of Gondor and took his fathers throne, while Elrond returned to Rivendell at the end of the war. There were tremendous losses on both sides of this conflict; the Last Alliance in addition to losing Gil-galad also lost Elendil, his younger son Anarion and countless other lives were lost for both Elves and Men and the Orcs lost countless numbers (the official count has never been tallied).

In the year TA 109, he wed Celebrían, daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel. In the year TA 130, twins were born named Elladan and Elrohir, and in 241 a daughter, Arwen Undómiel. He helped Thorin Oakenshield's expedition to recover the Lonely Mountain by discovering and translating the Moon Writing on Thorin's map. On the 25th of October of the year TA 3018 he led the Council of Elrond, at which it was decided that the only choice of the peoples of Middle Earth was to destroy The One Ring.

Elrond remained in Rivendell until the destruction of the One Ring, and of Sauron, when he went to Minas Tirith to see his daughter Arwen wed Aragorn, King of the Reunited Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor. On 29 September, 3021, aged 6,520 years, Elrond left Middle-earth to go over the sea with the other Ring-bearers, never to return.

Appearances in the books

 * The Fellowship of the Ring
 * The Return of the King
 * The Hobbit
 * The Silmarillion

Elrond in the movies
In the movie trilogy by Peter Jackson, Elrond is played by Hugo Weaving, who has also played Agent Smith in the popular action thriller The Matrix series. Hugo Weaving has also voiced Megatron in the live-action Transformers film trilogy.

Elrond's personality is completely different in the movies; he even goes as far as to try to convince Arwen to go to Valinor. (There is also no indication that she is not an only child.) He seems to be bitter towards men, including Aragorn, in spite of some of his ancestors belonging to this race. This portrayal resembles Thingol, father of Lúthien.

This did not happen in the books and Elrond in fact raised Aragorn as his own son, for Aragorn's father Arathorn died (Though in the film Elrond does encourage Aragorn to become King). In the context of the books, Elrond's condition that Aragorn simply become King before marrying his daughter is a gracious gesture, especially in comparison to the extravagant demands of Thingol, and there is never any indication that he feels anything but love for his foster-son.

But it is also said that Elrond was very much like his character in the book, only that he feared for the fate of men more deeply in the films. In fact, it is also possible that Elrond feared the fate of men in the books, though not as scornfully as he was in the movies. The fate of men did, in fact, stand on the edge of a knife, and to show this, possibly, Peter Jackson had to make Elrond more hopeless and desperate.

Appearances in the movies

 * The Fellowship of the Ring
 * The Two Towers
 * The Return of the King

Elrond in The Lord of the Rings Online
Elrond makes his first appearance in the game if the player selects an Elf. Elrond is in the house with the player as the dwarves attack. He will give the character items that vary depending on their class type. After this, he brings the player to another room where the player's master/teacher is waiting. After a brief tutorial battle between the player and the teacher Elrond tells the pair to go out to confront the enemy while he hides the relics sought by the dwarves.

He next makes an appearance when the Player returns to the shrine, just before it collapses on their former master. Elrond is outside and tries to offer comfort to the player, saying that "you can blame his death on me". He remarks on what they have just witnessed before the screen fades black and the game advances in time by months.

Powers and Abilities
Elrond is an exceptionally gifted warrior in battle and has commanded various armies of the Free-Peoples well, including the Last Alliance. He is just as effective at leadership and gives much wise insight concerning various situations of Middle-earth, including the destruction of the Ring. He can use foresight to view lands and events far away from Rivendell. He is also adept at healing others, though whether this is through Athelas or Elven magic isn't exactly known (more likely the latter, though Battle for Middle-earth II employs both).

Elrond is one of the most incorruptible of leaders in the Middle-earth. Aragorn speculates that one of the few people capable of completely resisting Saruman's speech is Elrond, Galadriel, and Gandalf. He also opposed Sauron when Sauron offered partnership with the Elves.

His most powerful spell in the above game is a tornado that does massive damage to the enemy forces and structures.

External link

 * Elrond at Tolkien Gateway

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