Council of Elrond

Bilbo has certainly slowed down.

When we first encounter him again, he is having a nap, for example, but he's able to play an active role in the Council of Elrond and more.

This is 17 years later, remember.

It feels like he's just been ageing normally in that time.

Yeah.

In the Council of Elrond chapter when they spend like several pages talking about how they found Gollum and then trying to figure out stuff about the ring.

And I was just like, so they're going to make a movie about this.

And then in the end.

He may be secretive with less discreet people like dear Barliman, but to the hobbits he proudly tells them who he is and that he will be king.

When we get to the Council of Elrond, there is no angry confrontation with Legolas telling Boromir that Aragorn is his rightful king.

In fact, it's Bilbo getting a bit indignant that Boromir doesn't know who Aragorn is and Aragorn calmly just acknowledging who he is, even though he doesn't look particularly noble right then.

"Little," he says, "do I resemble the figures of Elendil and Isildur as they stand carven in their majesty in the halls of Denethor.

Aragorn had his reasons for not being open with the world about who he was, and it was nothing to do with him hiding from his destiny or duties.

Quite the opposite.

And it has to be said, from the Council of Elrond onward, that there seems little doubt that Aragorn fully embraces his identity and was proud of it, too.

When he is challenged by Éomer, he introduces himself with a dramatic flourish like this.

Where's the figs for your sets? What sets are you talking about? I

have the entire Council of Elrond in their chairs on Rivendell.

That set has the most perfect little spot to seat everybody in a circle.

So it's not cluttered.

And they're at the Council of Elrond.

You have no excuse to not put

them on that

mean? Like they're fighting.

So who is Legolas? He is introduced as a strange elf clad in green and brown, Legolas, a messenger from his father, Thranduil, the King of the Elves of Northern Mirkwood.

And sure enough, the only substantive contribution we have from him at the Council of Elrond was a brief account of how Gollum managed to escape imprisonment in Northern Mirkwood.

He was then selected by Elrond to be a part of the Fellowship to be a representative of the elves rather than because of any particular abilities over and above the other elves that he might have had.

So what made him appear strange to Frodo on first meeting him? Well, Frodo had met quite a few elves by that point, Gildor and his company in the Shire, Glorfindel, Elrond, and the denizens of Rivendell, most of whom were of Noldorin descent.

The elves of Mirkwood reappear in the story right before the main events of The Lord of the Rings.

Aragorn captures Gollum and leaves him in the care of the elves of Northern Mirkwood.

But Gollum escapes with the help of an orc raid, which is why Legolas is at the Council of Elrond in the first place, to report in that they have lost Gollum.

Of course, after that, Legolas becomes a part of the Fellowship, and from then on, Tolkien largely uses him as what he is, a representative of the elves.

I can probably quote you half

of the Council of Elrond chapter, which, by the way, the Council of Elrond chapter is my favorite chapter of second favorite chapter behind Baron and Luthien of anything Tolkien has written because it is 45 minutes of exposition.

And I love it so much.

That is that is

where

I eat.

Anyway, is it true that Tolkien didn't really decide where the book was going until he wrote the Council of Elrond chapter? Or is that a rumor?

There are various rumors as to what Tolkien had in mind after he wrote The Hobbit, but we do know that a lot of things came about naturally as he kept writing.

Yeah.

and so like in the books like frodo gets like rescued or whatever and then they go to rivendell anyway he like wakes up in rivendell but then there's a there's like a chapter in the it's the first chapter of the second book of fellowship of the ring which is called uh many meetings i believe um and like that's a pretty it's a pretty boring chapter like and then and then you have the council of elrond which is a super

long nice work was it okay thanks it was yeah

And so then after the first chapter of the second book of Fellowship, where everybody's just kind of like hanging out talking, we have like another chapter, which is the Council of Elrond, which is a super long chapter of everyone sitting around talking, right? Yeah,

bro.

It's a lot.

You never skip the

Elrond chapter.