Quote:
Originally Posted by Zigūr
It might be a recursive situation: did communication fail between the Eldar and Gondor because of the estrangement, or was the estrangement caused by the lack of communication?
I think a substantial reason might be that for the majority of the Third Age the threats appeared to be deriving from different sources: Arnor and the Elves were troubled by Angmar and Dol Guldur, while Gondor fought the Haradrim and the Easterlings. Gondor's wars were also largely Sauron's doing, but less openly.
The relationship between North and South seems to have failed after 1975 when Gondor and the Elves destroyed Angmar. Despite their victory, the North-kingdom had ceased to exist, which may have severely limited any existing relationship between Gondor and the allies of Arnor in the north. Although the Nazgūl conquered Minas Ithil in 2002, Sauron retreated from Dol Guldur in 2063 (a side effect, and possibly an unfortunate one, of Gandalf's investigation there). The Watchful Peace ensued. It seems possible to me that, with Arnor gone and the West at (uneasy) peace, the Men of Gondor had no apparent reason to maintain contact with the Elves, and thus lines of communication failed. Even for the Dśnedain the ensuing four hundred years of peace would have seen several generations of Men come and go. By the time Sauron returned to Dol Guldur in 2460 and the Nazgūl began attacking Osgiliath in 2475 the relationship between Gondor and the Elves may have been virtually nonexistent because they had not needed one for about four centuries.
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That's a good suggestion.
I still think, however, that the Elves could have tried to keep communications open, to the extent of sending regular intelligence reports. After all, Elrond and Galadriel were supposed to be extremely wise and farsighted people; so it would have been in their interests to do this.
