[Boromir88]

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).~Formendacil

Slowly but surely I'm catching up! While this is a lengthy chapter, it reads fairly quickly, as we hear the stories of what brings everyone to this council.

I didn't think much about it before but there are more similarities between this chapter and "The Shadow of the Past". Both chapters end with an eavesdropping Sam Gamgee becoming Frodo's first companion. It's a clear statement that these two hobbits are meant to see this journey, together, until the very end. Sam is caught in Shadow of the Past by Gandalf, and he is embarrassed at being called an eavesdropper (afraid of Gandalf possibly turning him into something unnatural). In this Chapter, he's called out by Elrond, but isn't embarrassed to be around all these elf-lords, wizards, and great men anymore. Sam's not the same hobbit that was compared to a "dog being taken for a walk" at the idea of getting to see Elves.

"No indeed!" said Elrond, turning towards him with a smile. "You at least shall go with him. It is hardly possible to separate you from him, even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not."

There was a lot of previous discussion over whether Gandalf and Elrond guided this council to the right decision. Gandalf knows Sam's an eavesdropper and it just made me think, Sam may have specifically not been invited, because they knew he would be secretly listening in anyway! I'm thinking this more likely too considering he was invited to the dinner the previous night.

...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.~Form

What stuck out to me reading the chapter this time, is how relatively little Elrond and Gandalf discuss the big elephant in the room. Most of Gandalf's dialogue is the telling of his story and imprisonment. Elrond fills in some back story and history, fills in some missing details about Bombadil and his many names. But both characters really do leave the actual decision to destroy the ring up to the others. Erestor, Glorfindel, and Galdor do most of the talking about giving it to Tom, hiding it, sending it to the sea..etc, Boromir adds his Gondor-centric spiel to use it as a weapon, but Gandalf and Elrond stay relatively silent during the "decision making." It's only after Frodo volunteers that Elrond sneakily chimes in "yep, if all these stories tell me one thing Frodo, this is a moment where small hands do them, because they must." And Elrond all but admits, Frodo taking the Ring was all part of the plan:

"But it is a heavy burden. So heavy that non could lay it on another. I do not lay it on you. But if you take it freely, I will say that your choice is right..."

"Since you volunteered, I will say you made the right choice."

The crux of the story, isn't this is a battle of all these good people vs. all these evil people. It's a story about hope vs. despair:

"Thus we return once more to the destroying of the Ring," said Erestor, "and yet we come no nearer. What strength have we for the finding of the Fire in which it was made? That is the path of despair. Of folly, I would say, if the long wisdom of Elrond did not forbid me."

"Despair, or folly?" said Gandalf. "It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope..."

But even "good people" will fall to despair.

It's interesting the chief counselor of Elrond's house who says to destroy it looks like the path of despair, and he would say it's folly if Elrond didn't forbit it! Gandalf again, the constant reminder of the "Fool's Hope" and to seek to destroy the ring isn't despair, because no one can claim to know the end (I mean wasn't Erestor listening to Gandalf's story about Saruman? ). It might be folly, but only to those who cling to "false hope" (which is different from the "fool's hope"). "False hope" is Boromir's hope that to use the ring as a weapon would save Gondor.