[Amarinth]

interesting discussion. i agree that elrond was never called king nor held its title simply because by the third age the elven kingdoms had diminished (and continued to diminish) significantly, to the point that holdover realms such as rivendell and lorien were fading out of knowledge or being perceived by many with mystery or magic. also, noldo population was on a steady decline because of the open road to the west. it would have been impractical for elrond to wield kingship under these circumstances.

there was also a different form of civilization more dominant in middle-earth by the third age, one that was dominated by the kingdoms of men. its so much like european history in a way, the diminished state of aristocracy when the dominion of once world powers like england, spain and portugal receded with the rapid growth of democratic republics, a new world order. in the third age the position of high-elven king had become somewhat irrelevant because men increased their numbers and the affairs of their kingdoms dominated middle-earth. it was more in the context of political development, rather than ancestry, that elrond's kingship was not wielded as had his previous ancestors.

peace, fellow downers [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]