By the way -- and I probably said so in this thread before but who can remember and I'm too lazy today to read it all again -- I agree. Elrond did not state this specifically in my opinion, but I agree that that is what he means. That is, I think it's the
more natural interpretation of the description within
The Lord of the Rings.
And let's say we are correct... for sake of argument
As far I recall Tolkien's refence to the Sons of Elrond staying behind [after Elrond sailed] was left out when the Epilogue to
The Lord of the Rings was dropped, but JRRT went on to add two references to this for the second, revised Edition...
... but again
if we are correct that this was the 'intended' interpretation, what would Tolkien himself think, I wonder, if he knew how much a letter of his [something he not only did not imagine would become public knowledge, but also would be so easily found on something called the world wide
web] was arguably influencing the variant interpretation that the choice of the Sons of Elrond could be extended
after Elrond sailed.
Well who can say, but I don't think Tolkien liked spiders in any case.
Apologies for the bad web 'joke'. I
wove it in nicely though
