#i haven't properly made a tolkien post in over a month and now i am back with this giant... long... monstrosity

[armenelols]

@secondageweek day 7 - Freeform

I dug into Elrond's history a bit - and by that I mean his origin as the figure he is in the story and his place in it rather than the happenings of his life.

Looking through Tolkien's books, I've noticed a mould - if one may call it as such - into which Elrond fits; by which I mean there are stable characteristics of him that remain through all the drafts.

Their son (Elrond) who is half-mortal and half-elfin,* a child, was saved however by Maidros. When later the Elves return to the West, bound by his mortal half he elects to stay on earth. Through him the blood of Húrin (his great-uncle) and of the Elves is yet among Men, and is seen yet in valour and in beauty and in poetry.

*sentence changed to '... who is part mortal and part elfin and part of the race of Valar'

- HoME 4th, The Shaping of Middle Earth

All of the early drafts of The Silmarillion (at least in the books I own) have several things in common:

Through all of them, Elrond is the son of Eärendil and Elwing

He is half-elven

He ends up with Maedhros and/or Maglor after losing his parents

The Choice of half-elves is a bit confusing: I am not entirely sure how early-on it is present, but it is a fairly old concept nonetheless (as for my uncertainty, it is either due to me misreading the text because of the language barrier, because I didn't read through the entire books so I might have missed something, or because Tolkien wasn't clear enough - but Elrond is said to be 'bound by his mortal half', so I am not sure if that means he chose to be mortal or was mortal without a choice)

However there are a few major differences, mainly in Elrond being mortal and in some versions being the first king of Númenor; as well as the obvious absence of Elros (referred to for example in the paragraphs beneath).

The new element is the appearance of Elrond as the minstrel and counsellor of Gil-galad (in FN II §2 Elrond was the first King of Númenor, and a mortal; a conception now of course abandoned, with the emergence of Elros his brother, V. 332, §28).

- HoME 6th, The Return of the Shadow

And here, together with some of the points mentioned above:

At this stage there is no mention of a first and founder king of Numenor. Elrond was still the only child of Earendel and Elwing; his brother Elros has appeared only in late additions to the text of Q (IV. 155), which were inserted after the Numenorean legend had begun to develop. In the oldest conception in the Sketch of the Mythology (IV. 38) Elrond 'bound by his mortal half elects to stay on earth' (i.e. in the Great Lands), and in Q (IV. 158) he 'elected to remain, being bound by his mortal blood in love of those of the younger race', see my remarks on the Choice of the Half-elven, IV. 70. Elrond is here, as it seems, a leader of the Elves of Beleriand, in alliance with Amroth, predecessor of Elendil. The Last Alliance leading to the overthrow of Thu is seen as the last intervention of the Elves in the affairs of the World of Men, in itself hastening their inevitable fading.

- HoME 5th, The Lost Road and Other Writings

From what I've gathered after searching for the mentions of Elrond in several books, I understand that the major change in his character came with The Hobbit and was further developed with LotR.

From The Hobbit are also derived the matter of the Dwarves, Durin their prime ancestor, and Moria; and Elrond. The passage in Ch. iii relating him to the Half-elven of the mythology was a fortunate accident, due to the difficulty of constantly inventing good names for new characters. I gave him the name Elrond casually, but as this came from the mythology (Elros and Elrond the two sons of Eärendel) I made him half-elven. Only in The Lord was he identified with the son of Eärendel, and so the great-grandson of Lúthien and Beren, a great power and a Ringholder.

- The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien

What I find interesting is that despite using Elrond's name and some of his defining traits in The Hobbit, he still remains a different character to the one we know from later on - and just how many of those descriptions remain in The Hobbit even after Tolkien edits it to fit into his wider mythology.

For comparison:

The master of the house was an elf-friend—one of those people whos fathers came into strange stories before the beginning of History, the wars of the evil goblins and the elves and the first men in the North. In those days of our tale there were still some people who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was their chief.

He was as noble and fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer. He comes into many tales, but his part in the story of Bilbo's great adventure is only a small one, though important, as you will see, if we ever get to the end of it.

- The Hobbit, A Short Rest

And here:

The master of the house was an elf-friend – one of those people whose fathers came into strange stories of the beginning of history and the wars of the Elves and goblins, and the brave men of the North. There were still some people in those days [who were >] who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was one. He was as good to look at (almost) 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 Christmas.

- The History of The Hobbit

(This point is nothing specifically Elrond-related, but I find it interesting that both descriptions talk about half-elves as if they used to be more common than they actually were)

He is called an elf-friend - which, if we look further into the books, isn't something elves are usually called. Thranduil names Bilbo an elf-friend and Gildor calls Frodo the same, and they are both hobbits; and there is also a quote by Elrond in which he specifically mentions only Men.

‘But it is a heavy burden. So heavy that none could lay it on another. I do not lay it on you. But if you take it freely, I will say that your choice is right; and though all the mighty Elf-friends of old, Hador, and Húrin, and Túrin, and Beren himself were assembled together, your seat should be among them.’

For Elrond to be called an elf-friend implies he himself is not an elf, rather associating him with mortals - which he is not, but once was and the remains of it still echo in the text.

The remaining part of the description is the most well-known one, and if one looks closer into it, there is a pattern to it: fair as an elf-lord. Strong as a warrior. Venerable as a king of dwarves. Wise as a wizard. But Elrond is not those things, is he?

Starting with the most obvious ones: king of dwarves, a wizard. He is specifically said to have qualities of people he is not. The next one is a bit of a stretch since Elrond fought in quite a few wars, but outside of this description, he is rarely referred to as a warrior. Herald, master of Rivendell, healer, loremaster; but not a warrior. It's not how Elrond sees himself; it's not like he presents himself. He is a warrior, but to him, it's less of an important part of himself and more as something he has to do from time to time so he can return to his usual interests. Even Boromir says the strength of Elrond lies in wisdom and not in arms - for all of Elrond's experience, he lacks both an army and an interest in participating in battle (though he does so if needed).

Then the most important part: He was as noble and fair in face as an elf-lord / He was as good to look at (almost) as an elf-lord. Both of these lines imply that he looks like an elf-lord (or very close to one) - but considering all of the other previously mentioned comparisons compared his traits to something he is not, it is fair to assume that's what's going on here as well. Not because he is not an elf-lord; but because at a time when the original version of the story was written, Elrond was still mortal - and even when that was changed, I presume Tolkien left it there due to his half-elven heritage. Elrond was never fully an elf.

Elrond is hardly ever grouped with other elves; instead, despite choosing to be of the Eldar, he is more often than not linked with Men (Númenoreans in particular) - and other than his heritage and obvious connection to them through Elros, I think that his previous state of mortality and being the king of Númenor in his brother's absence might be a remnant of that as well. A similar thing happens with Elladan and Elrohir, who are more often than not their own thing instead of Elves or Men.

If we look further into The Lord of the Rings, Elrond's connection with Men remains. There are quite a few examples of this: remarks by several characters, the closeness of him to Isildur's line, the connection between Elladan and Elrohir and the rangers.

'Would that Elrond were here, for he is the eldest of all our race, and has the greater power.'

This line is spoken by Aragorn in The Houses of Healing - and he speaks of Elrond as being of his race - Dúnedain, Númenoreans, Humans.