Character Rehab: Elrond | Lord of the Rings Adaptations

foreign [Music] [Music] hey Squad welcome back to character rehab where I take a character who's been misrepresented by the fans the adaptations or pop culture in general and try to reconstruct what Tolkien wrote about them today I'll be taking a look at elrond who is probably my single favorite character in all of Middle Earth so of course I've been eagerly planning this video for a long time however I realized that for many people dedicating an entire video to different portrayals of his character might seem like an odd Choice it's not that people don't think elrond is important he's an iconic character and tends to be prominently represented in filmed adaptations even the very Abridged ones and in games radio plays and parodies it's also not the case that he's been dramatically maligned barring some quibbles about the nature of his involvement in his daughter's engagement most people have a generally positive impression of him it's more that at least at first glance there doesn't seem to be much more to elrond than the roles he plays in the main narratives roles that are mainly supportive and therefore by definition a bit limited it is well known by both the characters and the readers that elrond is an elf Lord of great power and nobility in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings he represents a link to the distant legendary past as one of the half Elven he is the son of elwing and arendil and a descendant of Baron and luthien among several other notable figures this association means that his character naturally takes on a more passive role in Tales centered on the events of the late third age in one letter Tolkien noted elrond symbolizes throughout the ancient wisdom and his house represents lore the preservation in reverent memory of all tradition concerning the good wise and beautiful it is not a scene of action but of reflection thus it is a place visited on the way to all Deeds or Adventures this puts elrond firmly in the role of experienced Hospital Mentor a role in which by all accounts he excels but this very suitability to a defined role lessens the impact of his major observable character traits his kindness strength acceptance and wisdom although justly renowned among all peoples are also exactly what one would expect from The Lord of Rivendell another byproduct of his symbolic role is that he never really gets to be a protagonist even during the most colorful episodes of his early life elrond is the descendant of legendary figures but not himself the main subject of any Legends his brother elrose's choice to sail to numenor found a civilization and then accept the gift of men is contrasted with elrond's decision to not do that he's present at the climactic battle that ends the war of the last Alliance but doesn't actually get to suplex Saron himself nor for that matter is he the one who ends up making the important decisions about the ring and by the start of the third age the wiser elves which certainly includes elrond have realized that the time of their active participation in Middle Earth's history is waning the closest we get to a story centered on elrondes in the tale of Aragorn and Darwin but even here his illustrious lineage determines how his involvement will be framed this story is arguably the culmination of elrond's role as the bridge between the Elder days and the age of men a role that is now made literal since when Aragorn makes Arwen his queen as arwen's father elrond is the individual who physically connects the genes of the first age to the newly established mortal dynasty of the fourth as fitting as it is thematically that Aragorn and arwen's story should mirror the legend of Baron and luthien it means El Rondo most has to play the part of thingol the disapproving father who sets nigh insurmountable obstacles to the Fulfillment of true love even a cursory reading of the tale of Aragorn and Darwin shows that for all parties the story is quite a bit more complicated than that but laying aside Nuance it's emblematic of elrond's position in the larger legendarium that even in the tale centered on the links of the past that he uniquely represents irond lands not just in the antagonistic role but again in a supporting one this time acting as both mentor and foil to both the young lovers it's therefore all too easy for the character of elrond to be obscured by his various important but narrowly defined roles as Tolkien observed to a degree this is unavoidable given the nature of the stories and their setting writing about The Hobbit he noted elrond is an important character though his reverence High powers and lineage are toned down and not revealed in full for in effect The Hobbit is a study of simple ordinary man neither artistic nor Noble and heroic against the high setting while this simplification may be necessary in the context of the novels as a whole I don't think it means we should overlook elrond entirely there are many supporting characters who could be described as Noble wise powerful and compassionate to varying degrees who have some symbolic connection to a vanished age and who offer Refuge information and assistance to members of the fellowship at different points along their Journey off the top of my head I could list Tom Bombadil Galadriel Treebeard Baden and faramir as examples yet despite their shared traits and narrative functions these are all obviously distinct characters and I think most people would agree that carefully examining the subtleties of their personalities is worthwhile and rewarding If there really were nothing more to elrond than middle Earth's top-rated Airbnb host it might not make sense to extend the same scrutiny to him but as it turns out there is much more to elrond than just his reputation and genealogy describing elrond as wise is accurate but also an understatement the breadth of his knowledge borders on the laughable characters who are themselves well supplied with their own wisdom invoke him as an authority on everything from healing techniques to the history of the Rings to the precise wording of the original lay of Lathan and it's not just Elven matters he's acquainted with but Manish and even Dwarven ones he safeguards the heirlooms of the line of isildor and he can identify the moon runes on thwar's map moreover elrond has a reputation for giving wise counsel even in distant lands like Erebor and Gondor the famous Council of elrond was not actually planned by elrond at all rather it was the product of so many people from different lands all urgently arriving to ask elrond's advice all at the same time Boromir can't even find anyone who knows if images still exists much less how to find it but even in Gondor it is still apparently said that the might of elrond is in wisdom not in weapons while it's not surprising that elrond and elford of tremendous experience should be wise it's very surprised Rising that he should be so widely known for his willingness to share relevant wisdom as Frodo pointedly tells gildora the unhelpfulness of seeking advice from elves is actually proverbial and far from denying this guild war defends it elves seldom give unguarded advice for advice is a dangerous gift even from the wise to the wise and all courses may run ill the elves have their own labor and their own sorrows and they are a little concerned with the ways of Hobbits or of any other creatures upon Earth our paths cross there seldom this has been the case since the end of the second age the fabled last Alliance of elves and Men is famous for being the last of its kind for a reason and yet for the past three thousand years elrond has continued working closely with the northern Dunedin even sending forces to support them in their Wars against angmar and personally fostering generations of their heirs after the collapse of arnor his own Sons spend a lot of time riding out with the Rangers and in the war of the Ring they actually come South with the gray company bringing Aragorn more good advice from Dad Beyond this alliance with the Dunedin elrond has a policy of hospitality and Aid to all manner of Travelers in the final years of the third age Rivendell like all Realms must be well hidden from Evil things but it is accessible in a way the entirely secluded enclaves of merkwood and lorian are not just as elrond is famous for his wisdom so is Rivendell renowned for its Hospitality in The Hobbit it is recorded that his house was perfect whether you liked food or sleep or work or storytelling or singing or just sitting and thinking best or a pleasant mixture of them all all of them the ponies as well grew refreshed and strong in a few days there their clothes were mended as well as their bruises their tempers and their hopes their bags were filled with food and Provisions light to carry but strong to bring them over the mountain passes their plans were improved with the best advice Bilbo eventually chooses Rivendell for his retirement and he seems confident that all he needs to do is show up and announce he'll be staying indefinitely honestly that seems to have worked out for him as soon as Frodo recovers from his wraith wound the whole household immediately starts preparations for a celebratory Feast Sam Mary and Pippin are made guests of honor and Frodo is not only seated at the high table but he had a suitable chair and was raised upon several cushions other Realms and characters display Hospitality of course the rohiram offer guests a ceremonial farewell drink the March wardens of lothlorian let the fellowship spend the night safely up in the talons while they decide whether to let them go further even denethor has chairs and snacks brought for Gandalf and Pippin but Rivendell is designed to accommodate the needs and preferences of all kinds of guests down to the smallest details elrond might not be personally involved in every nice thing his guests experience but Rivendell is his house after all so he must be one of the forces responsible for making it as welcoming as possible this exacting attention to others Comfort also shows up in elrond's special prowess and healing as a loremaster descended from melian the Maya Who wields one of the Elven Rings it's natural that elrond should excel in medicine but the way he heals Frodo for example isn't with a blast of magic power or an ancient technique but by carefully tending him for four days and three nights until he can locate and remove the Mortal Shard after Frodo starts to improve elrond warns Gandalf against worrying him with too much news and talk even though it's hard to imagine a situation where discussion could be more urgently called for since the fate of the world is on the line here another manifestation of elrond's kindness is his approachability thrandula is occasionally hot tempered and forbidding and even in her most grounded moments Galadriel can be unearthly and even unnerving by comparison elrond is downright easy going Bilbo isn't afraid to level a decent amount of sass in his Direction when elrond wakes him after the feast wake up indeed he said cocking an eye at elrond wake up I was not asleep master elrond if you want to know you have all come out from your feast too soon and you have Disturbed me in the middle of making up a song this is much less the proper mode of address for an elf Lord of unfathomable age and Prestige and closer how you'd talk to a trusted friend who's not afraid to engage in banter elrond is frequently noted to be smiling or even laughing and despite having only a handful of lines in the books he gets a couple of good quips in himself during his very important counsel he tells Bilbo if you have not yet cast your story into verse you may tell it in plain words the briefer the sooner shall you be refreshed and while he's probably not the sort to be singing tralali and making snide comments about Dwarven beards himself we ought to remember that he does at least tolerate the sort of shenanigans from the people he lives with in analyzing elrond we find ourselves paradoxically at risk of overlooking his most pronounced character traits because of how famous he is for them he's extraordinarily wise witty and welcoming but none of our narrators are much surprised to observe this because well of course he's that way everyone knows elrons just like that after all as well as living up to his reputation elrond demonstrates two other important traits worth noting the first is the considerable mismatch between his observable personality and the tremendous amount of violence loss and disappointment he has experienced in his nearly 7 000 years of life I mentioned earlier how elrond's role as a surviving witness to the great events of the distant past means that while he's involved in historic events he generally ends up cast in a supporting role almost by necessity this being Tolkien it should come as no surprise that most of the stories in which elrond was a secondary character and in Doom or tragedy of one kind or another he's endured painful separations from his parents his oath bedeviled primary caregiver his only brother the king he served closely for three Millennia his wife and all the now deceased Mortals he's made a point of aiding and befriending over the years at least one of his children is seriously considering a choice that will result in the same Severance his childhood home on the river Syrian was wrecked in the third kinslaying the very continent he was born on sank into the sea during the war of Wrath he witnessed the ruin of Aragon and the dwindling of Linden he has seen sauron's treachery and cruelty up close and he's watched successive generations of his brother's descendants squander numenor's Legacy one could excuse him for being mistrustful or even just a touch bitter after all this suffering and yet he continues to pursue as far as is possible in active participation in the broader Affairs of Middle Earth that's based on trust cooperation and Hospitality admittedly the mismatch between elrond's magnanimity and his ludicrously angst written past is probably partly accidental given that many of the details of his history were solidified after he'd already appeared as a friendly character in The Hobbit but in so far as it is an accident it's a fortunate one since it adds nuance and depth to a character whose appearances in the text are limited elrond is far from naive his persistent kindness therefore seems much much more the result of a conscious choice the second thing it's important to recognize is that despite his unelvish willingness to advise and counsel elrond seems almost allergic to coercing anyone into a decision no matter how deeply he may disagree with their choices this is a trait generally shared by the wise Galadriel and Gandalf show a similar reluctance to interfere with the choices of others but elrond really gets more uh opportunities to practice this skill than anyone else as early as his appearance in The Hobbit he is placed in the position of helping thorin's company despite doubting the wisdom of their Quest he points out obstacles to the romance between Aragorn and Arwen but doesn't actively prevent them from pursuing it he tries to persuade isildor to destroy the ring but doesn't attempt any leverage or retaliation when asilder decides to keep it and since elrond was harboring seildur's wife and youngest son at the time he was certainly in a position to put some pressure on him simply by withdrawing his Aid even though he personally seems convinced that Frodo is destined to take the ring to Mount Doom he he lets the silence at the council stretch uncomfortably long rather than hint at that conviction to allow Frodo to make the decision himself if I understand to write all that I have heard he said I think that this task is appointed for you Frodo and that if you do not find a way no one will 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 he also makes a point of telling the rest of the fellowship that they are under no obligation to accompany Frodo for any longer than they choose when Gimli suggests that maybe something more binding is appropriate to the occasion elrond replies that since none of them can possibly know what they're getting into they shouldn't be forced to make a commitment they might end up unable to keep many readers have suggested that elrond's close personal association with the catastrophic effects of binding Oaths are detectable in this stance and I admit that is a compelling reading but regardless of its cause this tendency is pronounced enough that it again suggests in intentionality certainly elrond would not be oblivious to the fact that his advice so famous for its wisdom and so frequently sought could be very influential but one of the central tenets of The Lord of the Rings is that exerting influence over others can lead down a ruinous path of corruption Gandalf and Galadriel both make the point that if they were to use the Ring's power to pursue their own basically beneficent goals they would eventually end up as Sinister and debased as Sauron himself due to his influential status as well as the borrowed authority of his illustrious ancestors elrond apparently needed to develop some caution about wielding the same kind of corruptive undue influence not only through the power of rings but through his own position of Honor elrond's literary character then can't simply be reduced to his role in The Narrative it's not just that he's particularly Noble wise and compassionate he's shown these virtues so often and so thoroughly in his dealings with others that his very name has practically become synonymous with them the slightest bit of reflection on the numerous recorded adversities he's faced suggests that he's put some conscious effort into cultivating these traits rather than becoming embittered or cold-hearted finally he also seems to have enough self-awareness to take care lest his advice and Aid themselves become a means of controlling others now while I think all these characteristics are well supported by the main texts expecting an adaptation to somehow cram in so much Nuance is not very realistic the process of adaptation necessarily involves changes including decisions about which aspects of the original to emphasize which to amend and which to Omit tolkien's works are somewhat Infamous for their expansive castes and complex plots so generally speaking allotting elrond enough screen time to illustrate every subtle element of his character might not be a good artistic Choice even so it's still possible to evaluate which adaptive choices were successful and which were less so elrond being such a familiar character from tolkien's works as well as such a long-lived one means that it's very common for him to be featured in all kinds of adaptations lacking the time and knowledge base to usefully discuss all of them I have focused on three official English language films Tolkien adaptations frankenbass is The Hobbit from 1977 the 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings and the new line trilogies of the early 2000s I believe these are likely to be the most widely recognized and the most influential not only on the public imagination but on future adaptations the most immediately observable artistic Choice across all of these is the character's visual design on occasion tolkien's physical descriptions of his characters can be frustratingly vague we still don't know poor legolas's hair color after all but he goes into some depth on elrond the description from The Hobbit emphasizes the Impressions his appearance gives rather than specific details he was as 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 in The Fellowship of the Ring many of these same themes are repeated and expanded upon the face of elrond was ageless neither old nor young though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful his hair was dark as the shadows of Twilight and upon it was set a circlet of silver his eyes were gray as a clear evening and in them was a light like the light of stars venerable he seemed as a king crowned with many Winters and yet hail as a tried warrior in the fullness of his strength he was the Lord of Rivendell and mighty among both elves and men in case the passage itself doesn't Hammer home the point the context of this description is elrond's appearance while seated between gorfindel who embodies the youthful exuberance of elves in the early days of Arda and Gandalf whose description here represents the wisdom of age without physical Decay elrond is literally positioned between these two embodying both physical Vigor and ancient knowledge the goal here it seems to me is not merely to create a detailed mental image but to emphasize aspects of elrond's character that might not be revealed otherwise he's somewhere between old and young an elf but an elf still firmly engaged with the Present Moment undiminished by age but bearing the marks of time in fact an elf whose appearance almost seems Manish in the same way that certain humans from the same Kindred suggest a certain elvishness more concretely he has the shadowy dark hair and piercing gray eyes characteristic of his line traits shared by many of his nildoran relations as well as by luthien and also seen in his daughter Arwen and many of the Dunedin particularly Aragorn to look at elrond is to see the connection between the past and the future such economy is even more important in visual media where time may be more limited but paragraphs worth of information about a character's emotions symbolism history and culture can be transmitted in a single image in the 1977 Hobbit we see an elrond who seems both vigorous and venerable the twinkly crown of stars around his head is certainly a choice I suppose it's meant to visually signal his status and possibly his Supernatural power it might even be a reference to his name's meaning stardome if we consider the dome in question to be his skull in addition to a lovely beard he seems to have silvery gray hair and some worry lines on his brow which gives him a more aged mortal appearance than would later be suggested assuming The Hobbit was the only source text for the film this does make sense the conception of elrond along with that of all of Middle Earth changed significantly in the Years between the publication of The Hobbit and the completion of The Lord of the Rings thus in The Hobbit elrandis described almost as more a man with Elven ancestry than the converse so while it might not function as well in an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings in this context his appearance Works while elrond looks much more ethereal than the men of Laketown and he has those distinctive pointed ears he looks far more human than the elves of merkwood this isn't saying much as I have pulled things out of my drains that look more human than Rankin bass 1977 wood elves but if you imagined a cross between someone like Bard and one of these leggy reptilian nightmares you might conceivably end up with something kind of like elrond the most important suggestion here is not his specific genetic makeup but the fact that elrond is a character positioned between two extremes something I think the film demonstrates successfully in The Lord of the Rings while the visual extravagance has been toned down a similar principle applies elrond is shown as beardless and dark-haired and he appears neither particularly old nor young he's not glowing off the screen like overtly Elfie characters such as Legolas and Galadriel do his hair and clothes seem to remind people of a costume party version of a Roman Senator and given that most of the Mortal or Mortal coded characters are stuck in some kind of medieval Pastiche that's actually not a bad comparison to evoke elrond is an anachronistic remnant of a realm that once United the entire continent its power now vanished but its cultural Legacy still strong the degree to which this implication was intentional on the part of the filmmakers can never be fully determined of course but hey if it works it works so far we have seen elrond's design straddling the line between human and Elven he's certainly not a mundane man but neither does he seem exactly Elvish in the 2001 Fellowship of the Ring there is a definite shift elrond is very Elven his very first appearance is at the head of Linden's Army in the last Alliance barking orders in cinderen his pointed ears which despite limited textual support have become the preferred Mark of non-humanity in fantasy generally are on full display he lovingly rolls the RS in Mordor and uses cinderen in his private conversations overall this depiction is probably the closest to what the text describes for all his affiliation with men elrond did choose to be an elf and he's lived as an L for the past six thousand or so years one of my biggest nitpicks about this film Trilogy is the degree to which all elves are lumped together visually culturally linguistically and politically I suppose it's understandable but that doesn't mean I have to like it and it does have consequences for character and World building which we'll get into later however I will grudgingly admit that elrond shows more of the effects of the passage of time than other elves do for one thing actor Hugo weaving is around 10 years older than Kate Blanchett and 17 years older than Liv Tyler and Orlando Bloom this gives him more gravitas a more grounded appearance and honestly more dad energy than other elves in the film there's also those famous eyebrows making him look comparatively care worn and even a bit World weary so while it's subtle there are visual gestures to the idea that in some respects elrond's relationship to history is more akin to a mortal one than might be expected unfortunately when weaving later reprized his role for The Hobbit films the impacts of his relative age become somewhat blunted naturally all the returning actors had continued to age at the usual rate before filming began on a prequel that was meant to be set some 60 years before their character's first appearances in Fellowship of the Ring setting that aside the character design itself is pretty consistent and while there's a lot to criticize about the shifts in visual style between the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies one thing I'd consider an improvement is that there's more visual distinctions among specific Elven characters and among the different Elvish populations in general alarond looks more like the Lord of Rivendell and not just Anne elf Lord plus having elrond appear in the same kind of criss-crossy armor shown on the elves during the last Alliance is a neat way to remind the audience that this guy's been around the block more than a few times now that we've evaluated the kind of information conveyed by the visual design of the character in some of the high-profile adaptations we can turn to the character's actual personality or in the case of the animated adaptations at least what little of it there is in pretty much every case his basic character is assumed to be relatively authoritative wise and if not outright kind then at least benevolent after all these are the traits he is best known for they are the most crucial to his narrative role of helpful mentor and provider of hospitality and they seem to be dominant forces in his personality so in the broad sense all of these adaptations are as successful as they are interchangeable The Hobbit film reproduces most of elrond's dialogue from the book pretty Faithfully but since there's only a page or so of it to begin with that's not saying very much in the 1978 Lord of the Rings the Council of elrond is so come impressed and chaotic that even people who are already familiar with the story might lose track of what's going on but as far as elrond is concerned this compression makes his info dumping seem high-handed and domineering the conclusion to send the ring to Mordor does not emerge naturally after many hours of debate elrond just declares that it's the only possibility and then yells at Boromir when he dares to question this admittedly foolhardy plan another minor point is that in this version as in the book Frodo is advised from the outset to head toward Rivendell to ask elrond's advice the 2001 film shows Frodo's Journey mainly directed by the active pursuit of the nazuel when he leaves the Shire his plan is to meet up with Gandalf and Brie it's Aragorn who later decides to make for Rivendell obviously this isn't a huge change but the original version which the older film retains is another example of just how widely known elrond and Rivendell are and how natural a choice he is for anyone needing counsel and refuge even Sam recognizes Rivendell as the center of Elven Society in the millennial Lord of the Rings films we see a comparatively tremendous amount of elrond much more than we see of him in the novels but while they take the fewest Liberties in terms of their visual depiction there are two significant shifts at play in the plot of the new land Lord of the Rings trilogy where elrond is concerned the first which I've already alluded to is how strongly the film identifies elrond with elves generally holding him up as a representative specimen of what it means to be Elvish despite the fact that many of his important traits attitudes and decisions are surprising deviations from what an elf might be expected to do more often than not these intriguing qualities are minimized to make room for more stereotypically Elvish ones the other big change lies in the emerging centrality of Aragorn and arwen's romance which is now woven into the main plot setting aside for the moment my slavish Devotion to hot single elf dads wearing velvet there are definite benefits to this approach even Tolkien wished he could have devoted more space to their story commenting I regard the tale of Arwen and Aragorn as the most important of the appendices it is part of the essential story and is only placed so because it could not be worked into the main narrative without destroying its structure the decision to spend more time showing this relationship also gives the characters space to develop the dynamic arcs that were so highly valued in the making of this particular adaptation but even necessary changes can have unforeseen consequences some of the tweaks made to the story of aragorna Darwin create confusing implications about how Elven longevity Works some of the plots most visible and logically questionable deviations from Canon like the arrival of a company of archers from lothlorian at helmsdeep and elrond's own appearance in Rohan later on are connected to this subplot on top of that the conflation of elrond with all elves everywhere means that his personal anxieties about his daughter's unorthodox choices are now framed as a microcosm of the relationship between elves and Men there is plenty of possible reasons elrond might have some mixed feelings about his daughter choosing a destiny that will irrevocably Sunder them but for the purposes of the films elrond's main flaw the limiting belief he has to overcome is his distrust of men the film further suggests that this is rooted in asildor's Failure to destroy the ring at the end of the second age now this is an attitude that some Elves canonically hold particularly after that whole business of the battle of unnumbered Tears back in the first stage but this Trilogy really loves to emphasize this idea as a major element in Elven Society often to the exclusion of more subtle themes like the elves own history of ambitious hubris and the ruin it left in its wake or the multi-headed nature of the conflict with Saron while it's largely dramatized through elrond's character Evolution this distorting emphasis bleeds into other characters stories as well instead of holding a council in response to several simultaneous but independent requests for help elrond now somehow has the authority to summon people in an effort to spearhead a sort of global response to the threat of Mordor characters like denethor and boromira are suspicious that this is an effort made by the elves conceived as a political and cultural monolith to limit men's access to the ring and their influence over its fate moreover they appear to believe that the elves are doing this because of an irrational prejudice against mankind that was based on isolated incidents from the distant past the problem is in this version of Middle Earth such suspicions are Justified even Aragorn is drawn into this dynamic in the novel he shows some understandable anxiety about his ability to successfully reclaim his throne and help defeat the forces of evil incarnate in the films he's shown to be a victim of what we might call internalized adenphobia doubting not just his ability but his own worthiness to even make the attempt but of course it's elrond who is most affected since this concept of prejudicial distrust of men becomes the center of his whole emotional Arc this not only obscures but outright contradicts some of his most distinctive traits his unique Heritage and his particular dedication to working alongside men in contrast to the majority of his more reserved Elven kin and on a more personal level elrond's seeming ability to hold a grudge against an entire people for two and a half thousand years makes him seem embittered resentful and even dare I say Petty recall that in the book even though elrond does have ample cause to show such traits his kindness has become axiomatic to the point where the characters scarcely consider it remarkable it's not that the film's version doesn't make any sense it does make sense but ironically one of the most impressive things about elrond is that his commitment to radical compassion and Hospitality doesn't make sense he persists in it despite having every conceivable reason not to these films are to be commended for showing elrond's sincere affection for his daughter when they could easily have made him entirely unsympathetic however he also becomes quite manipulative in his efforts to terminate her relationship with Aragorn again this is something is careful to avoid in the book despite his position of authority it also further supports the suggestion that men and dwarves are right to distrust the elves whose main representatives in the films are either overtly dismissive or subtly duplicitous there are several possible takeaways from this exploration and two of them relate to the process of critiquing adaptations in general first is the recognition that a particularly iconic or successful interpretation can often influence our understanding of a source text in ways that can be hard to consciously notice and trying to identify and challenge these assumptions is a useful exercise second is the principle that all changes have consequences in a cohesive story all characters even minor limited or flat ones contribute to the story's sub-creative framing so dismissing certain changes out of hand as trivial is a perilous proposition even with necessary or good changes where the payoff is well worth the sacrifice there's still something being sacrificed recognizing this exchange allows us to take a more rational approach in evaluating a given adaptation's success on its own terms and finally What elrond specifically shows is that the darker and edgier interpretation is not always the most interesting one a character with an unimaginably tragic backstory on the one hand and an impeccable reputation for sincerity decency and generosity on the other automatically generates attention and a Fascination that doesn't require a lot of conscious engineering to be compelling particularly in Middle Earth where staggering horror and loss coexist with moments of breathtaking Triumph and Beauty such characters should be noticed and valued if you enjoyed this rabid fan growing over a character who never gets a chance to do anything give the video a thumbs up each like will restore one tiny fragment of elrond's shattered heart if you made it to the end of this video you are almost certainly in my target audience so you might as well subscribe and sign up for notifications bonus content can be found on my patreon as well as some thoughts on elrond's appearance in the rings of powershow that I didn't have space to get into here I've made that one publicly available so you don't have to sign up to hear it just follow the link shout out to the artist CK goksoi who does fantastic work generally including this Nifty portrait of el rondai commissioned for this video his links will also be highlighted in the description thank you to everyone for watching especially my patrons including Marcel Ribeiro Nick rialo Chris Nichols Jeremy Buckingham bitsobongo dorwin gray Emperor Kane Alison kritzberg Gandalf the Gray John love Brendan Mooney e Rose B Frankie 12th string Louis maskel Tamara Saldana Luke Kevin gilstad Joel Bayonne Rogue Hot Pocket Karen and Michael Donahue a little thick goal and Jared Carver

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Length: 36min 5sec (2165 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 03 2023