[Formendacil]

I love world-building, and watching Tolkien's world-building in particular, so "The Council of Elrond," like "The Shadow of the Past" before it, isn't something I've ever minded reading, but I'll admit that for its sheer length, it does still feel like a bit of a marathon. For all the faults of Peter Jackson's movies, I'll give it credit for managing to do an on-screen Council of Elrond that didn't feel too short (relative to what the books needed to convey) or too long (as a moviegoer).

It isn't a pure info-dump, though. Even though info is dumped--and by the truckload--there is actual *drama* right in front of the reader, taking place in this chapter. And I'm not even counting Gandalf's recitation of his adventures since leaving Frodo in June, which although it's a retelling, is the retelling of action.

In this chapter we get:

-Some muted Dwarf/Elf resentment, usually stemming from Glóin, which sets up the early stages of Legolas and Gimli's relationship.

-A much stronger dramatic encounter between Aragorn and Boromir. It actually always stops short of being the confrontation I expect--Boromir is far more deferential to the absurd possibility (as he probably sees it) that a King could return to Gondor than I expect, but this is still a forceful encounter of strong wills. And, I always forget, it's actually the moment where we, the readers, are directly told that Aragorn is Elendil's heir *and* get a sense of what inheritance means.

-Actually, this realisation on Frodo's part is dramatic: he immediately offers Aragorn the Ring, but Aragorn defuses the offer, which aligns him with Elrond and Gandalf as one of the Wise: their actions (abetted in the discussion by Glorfindel, which I find telling) are constantly to defer from a direct handling of the Ring: "I can't take it," "I won't take it," "we can't send it there", etc. The question is raised in the thread earlier about whether or not they knew what decision the council was going to make, and I think the answer is that they knew the decision it SHOULD make--the difference between them and, for example, Saruman, is that Gandalf and Elrond see their role as the Wise as being to guide others to that same decision. And, arguably, they guide the council in its constant denial of all other possibilities so that only one possibility remains: the Ring must go to Mordor--and Frodo must take it there.

-But, since they don't TELL Frodo he must do, there is drama in Frodo deciding to do it himself. They eliminate all the other options: it can't go to Valinor, it can't go to Bombadil, it can't go to the sea, it can't be used, it can't be handled by the powerful, the small must take it--no, not you, Bilbo. But Frodo has to volunteer. And while Gandalf may have known that he would, you do have to wonder what their backup plan was. Merry? Pippin? Sam? The least-Ranger-like Dúnadan they can find?