Obligatory reminder that:
- It didn’t happen that way in the book
- The power of the Ring was such that nobody, not even Elrond, stood a chance of intentionally acting to destroy it. Elrond couldn’t have pushed Isildur if he tried. Frodo and Gollum only managed to get the ring into the lava because they were fighting to keep it for themselves and went over the edge accidentally.
Video going into “nerdy detail:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P68HWtN4zG8
I’m sure that would have looked great to all the gathered men who were still alive.
“oh yeah, the elves showed up and one of them went up to the crack of doom with Isildur after his father died, and the elf came back alone and wouldn’t tell us what happened inside. Something’s fucky. We better prepare for an attack from the elves.”
Whether anyone actually threw hands immediately or not, men and elves would have a far shittier relationship after that.
The question is, did more suffering occur because Elrond didnt do this? We can’t know.
(but probably)
and the elf came back alone and wouldn’t tell us what happened inside
I mean he could just say a Balrog attacked them and Isildur died a hero.
A balrog? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Located entirely within the confines of the walkway leading from the crack of doom?
The minds of men are easily corrupted. Elrond could show video footage of everything that unfolded, and they’d still try to lynch him.
Boring movie series then.
…and Gandalf the Grey spent 3 weeks drinking and smoking and setting off fireworks with the Hobbits, remembering his old friend Bilbo who died some years earlier after an average hobbit lifespan with his nephew Frodo…
THE END
remembering his old friend Bilbo who died some years earlier after an average hobbit lifespan horribly in a cave after being captured by goblins…
Would goblins/orcs still have endured without the lingering evil of Sauron?
They weren’t naturally occurring (yes they bred but they were made to be a breeding army for evil and I’m pretty sure Tolkien alluded them to dying out quickly after the ring was destroyed) in Tolkien’s lore I’m pretty sure and were interchangable terms for the same species in his lore even though they’re different in others.
remembering his old friend Bilbo who died some years earlier after an average hobbit lifespan horribly after encountering giant spiders in mirkwood…
Gandalf wouldn’t even still be there, since he was only there to aid in the fight against Sauron. He’d have gone off to Valinor shortly after Sauron’s defeat, together with the rest of the elves. And there’d be no Aragorn to be a good pal and extend the good lifespans of the realms of Men, so Gondor would never get a new king and the realms of Men would likely fall to evil a bit into the third age.
I could totally see Gandalf still being in middle Earth. He cared about his mission because he fell in love with middle Earth. Had he not been elevated to Gandalf the White explicitly to compete his task reminding him he doesn’t belong there, I could very much see him having gone the way of Radagast, being a force for good in middle Earth for a long time.
Saruman, for all his faults, was correct, Gandalf’s love of the haflings and the good of middle earth was making him complacent.
Obligatory this is Arda!
Quality content.
