Elrond, Middle-earth’s Sweet Precious Cinnamon Roll to Good for this World

If there is any character in Tolkien’s Legendarium who needs a hug, it’s Elrond. This is a character who loses both parents, is raised by the two elves partially responsible for him losing his parents, loses his twin brother when Elros chooses to be counted as a Man, is separated for centuries from his wife when she sails West after being captured by orcs, and then loses his daughter when she makes the same choice as his brother. All of these reasons are why I feel like this towards Elrond:

Seriously! For a good guy character, Elrond experiences far more misfortune than one would expect. And this is one of the reasons why I find him to be such a fascinating character. One of the many unanswered questions I have for Tolkien is why Elrond and Elros make the choice of kindreds that they did. We know that their father Eärendil wanted to be counted among Men but chose to be counted as an Elf for the sake of his wife Elwing, who chose the Elves since her grandmother Luthien had taken the choice of mortality. It’s a solid guess that their parents had no input into the twins’ choice of kindreds, since Eärendil was already enjoying his star-status and Elwing was living in her beach-house tower in Valinor, so what prompted their choices? Did Elros choose mortality for the sake of it being his father’s desired choice? Might have to revisit that question later.

I have wondered if part of the reason that Elrond chose the Elf-kindred was a desire or a hope that he would someday be reunited with them. He was five-ish years old when Maedhros and Maglor attacked the Havens in the Third Kinslaying, a terribly young age to suffer such as loss. Was it the longing for his parents that motivated him years later? Did the Elvish kindred seem to be the only choice that allowed him to see them again? If a reunion with his parents was what Elrond sought, I would argue that the Elvish kindred is the only choice he would feel safe making.

All the Elves know about the Gift of Men is that they go beyond the Circles of the World when they die. They don’t know what happens after that, and if Men will ever be seen again. If this fear of the unknown is behind Elrond’s choice, it makes sense. If he chooses the Elves, there is at least a chance that he will see his parents again. Who knows what will happen if he chooses Men?

The irony in Elrond choosing the Elves is that he ends up getting a good dose of humanity’s experience of death and loss. He sees his brother, his brother’s children, and then their children die. He sees his brother’s kingdom fall to ruin and evil before being destroyed. Jumping forward to the Third Age, Elrond loses his wife after Celebrian is captured by orcs, and by the end of The Lord of the Rings, he loses his daughter as well when Arwen chooses mortality and Aragorn. And since we know that Elrond became as a father to Aragorn after Arathorn’s death, he will eventually lose a son as well. Interestingly enough, Aragorn has almost the opposite of this problem- despite being mortal, because of his Numenorean ancestry, he outlives the majority of his friends. Case in point, it is technically possible that Boromir was at least born when Aragorn was finishing up his time as Thorongil. I’ve seen some great fanart depicting Echthelion with a tiddling Boromir and Thorongil somewhere, but this probability adds even more emotional turmoil to Boromir’s death at Amon Hen. Eomer, Faramir, Merry, and Pippin, Aragorn outlives them all and gets a taste of the Elvish experience of life through this.

But I have wandered from the path. It is because of his choices and losses that Elrond is somewhat of an enigma to me, a character who easily could have supplied enough story to fill of book of his own, and yet all the reader gets are tantalizing hints.

For all that The Rings of Power has, to put it nicely, caused discussion among the Tolkien community, one thing that I did enjoy about the first season was how they explored Elrond before he was “Lord Elrond”. True, it is speculation on their part, but it provided some fun rabbit holes to wander down. I am looking forward to Elrond in future seasons, though it is going to hurt knowing the griefs that still lie before him.