How powerful was Elrond?

how powerful was elrond he seemed to spend most of his time in rivendell rather than engaging directly with the enemy but what powers did he have hi everyone this is robert welcome to in deep geek if you'd like to see more videos about great fantasy stories like the lord of the rings a song of ice and fire and the witcher please click on the subscribe button in the bottom right of your screen and click on the bell icon elrond is one of the most recognizable and central characters in all of tolkien's legendarium he plays a key role in both the hobbit where he reads the secret runes on thraw's map of erebor so they know how to get into the lonely mountain and in the lord of the rings the council of elrond is clearly pivotal in both forming the fellowship and constructing the plan gandalf seems to defer to him in many ways wanting to wait until the ring was in rivendell and he had elrond's council before deciding on the next steps and we know how powerful gandalf is so how powerful is elrond well let's start with his heritage elrond was known as the half elven for although he had mostly elven heritage he was also part human counting such luminaries as beren and tour among his ancestors and he was also part maya his great great grandmother was melian the maya the maya are those spiritual angelic beings who serve or served the valar like gandalf or indeed sauron because of this at the end of the first age the valar gave elrond and his twin brother elros a choice whether to be counted among the elves or men elrond chose the elves his brother men el ross incidentally still lived a long life by human standards as the first king of numenor it's why his descendants as numenorean monarchs also lived long lives albeit shorter each generation much later aragorn's long life he lived to be 210 years old stems from this ancestry but back to elrond after his brother sailed for numenor he settled in linden in middle-earth with gil gallard the king of the naldor elves during this time he seems to have grown in wisdom and knowledge and particularly increased his skills in healing we know the story of when sauron disguised himself as anata the lord of gifts and worked with kelebrimbo to forge the rings of power but it's often overlooked how that wasn't where anata tried first first he tried to ingratiate himself with elrond and gil gellard but they refused him perhaps not knowing exactly who he was but sensing that all was not right and when it all went wrong and sauron's duplicity was revealed it was elrond who led the elven force to oppose his invasion founding the outpost of imladris in the process which became known as rivendell we often think of gandalf as having the role of chief opponents to sauron but compared to elrond gandalf was actually quite late on the scene elrond fought in the last alliance of elves and men against sauron was there when isildur cut the ring from sauron's hand and urged him to destroy it then and throughout the third age it was elrond who led the resistance front and center and rivendell the de facto home of the resistance to the shadow wherever it appeared he led the fight against the witch king of angmar in the north across several battles kept the shards of narcill safe for when they would be reforged and when the northern kingdom of arnold finally fell he kept the other symbols of numenorean kingship the scepter of a numinas and the ring of barahir safe too not only this but he took up the habit of fostering the heirs of isildur in rivendell generation after generation century after century so that each could grow to maturity and wisdom in safety in rivendell before heading out to the wilds as a ranger of the north this it has to be said was probably more than just the action of a good man elrond remember had a familial relationship to the numenoreans his twin brother had been the first king there and lindyl's heirs retained that heritage when the white council of the wise met to discuss how to oppose sauron it always involved elrond and usually met at rivendell he was part of the raid on dolgodur that finally pushed sauron into the open even during the story of the lord of the rings it's clear that elrond is directing events from behind the scenes it was he who chose the members of the fellowship gave the commission to frodo and got his smiths to reforge the sword that was broken he sent his sons to aid aragorn in the final battles encouraged him to pass through the paths of the dead releasing the dead men of dunharrow and even remotely supported the decision to lead an army on mordor as a distraction to buy frodo some more time his earlier decision to refuse permission for aragorn to marry arwen unless and until he was king of both gondor and arnold was also surely an important moment in aragorn embracing his own destiny yes the more you dig into it the more you see elrond's hands directing events throughout the last years of the third age is this power perhaps not as we might immediately think of it but the influence of his work behind the scenes across the entire continent is undeniable and elrond was personally powerful take healing for example gandalf describes him as a master of healing only he could save frodo from that mogul blade wound and when aragorn is in the halls of healing in ministerith about to fulfill the prophecy that the hands of the king are the hands of a healer amazing everyone with his skills he wishes elrond were there for elrond he said had the greater power elrond also has powers to protect and preserve rivendell this is at least in part due to him being the holder of vilya one of the three rings elrond had been given it by gil gallard and although we don't hear of any specific powers that it possesses it is mentioned as being the most powerful of the three it certainly seems to have had the ability to preserve rivendell and those in it against the ravages of time in the approaching shadow hiding it from sauron's gaze when the ring's power was ended with the destruction of the one ring rivendell was soon abandoned by the elves as they headed west as for other powers vilya as the ring of air surely did have some gandalf's ring gave him great powers over fire and galadriel's over water so it makes sense if elrond had some powers over air even if we don't see them first hand when the river bruinin rose up to wash away the nazgul outside rivendell that was elrund we read of elrond using telepathy to communicate with gandalf galadriel and kelleborne and there can be little doubt also that he had some quite impressive gifts of foresight at the council of elrond when frodo offers to take the ring elrond says that i think that this task is appointed for you frodo and that if you do not find a way no one will this is the hour of the shire folk when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and councils of the great prescient indeed so was elrond powerful yes very though he wore it lightly and probably crucially he did not seek power he did not covet ruling a huge realm but instead a simple valley on gil gallard's death elrond could probably have claimed the throne as hiking of the naldor but didn't instead turning his own home not into a palace but the last homely house a refuge for weary travellers a support for the rightful kings of arnold and a meeting point for all those opposed to sauron it's noticeable that despite everyone looking to him for counsel and wisdom he rarely commands people he advises he shares his knowledge and foresight and offers his protection but he doesn't demand people do as he says it is however telling that they do as he suggests almost all of the time elrond was powerful yes but his power was more in his influence than shows of magical prowess it is probably not overstating the case to say that without him the centuries-long struggle against sauron may well have been lost he left middle-earth a safer wiser and better place for his having been there and that is much closer to tolkien's understanding of true power than anything sauron could ever dream of if you'd like to see more lord of the rings videos please click on the link on the left of your screen or if you'd like to support the channel or get access to some content i produce exclusively for my patrons please click on the link on the right of your screen that's all for this time thanks for watching i'll see you again soon

Channel: In Deep Geek

Views: 465,033

Keywords: in deep geek, idg, deep geek, lord of the rings, lotr, the lord of the rings, tolkien, jrr tolkien, middle earth, rivendell, elrond, was elrond powerful, was elrond half human, was elrond, elros

Id: pCCbEvV_6yQ

Length: 9min 45sec (585 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 30 2021