"But One and not the Greatest"

[Tuor of Gondolin]

Originally posted by Kuruharan
"conventionally speaking, the West had probably bought itself a respite of several weeks or even months by their victory at Pelennor."
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Exactly. I think Gandalf somewhat underestimated the relative strength of the West after the Pelennor Fields. Given some weeks a) Cair Andros would be cleared b) significant reinforcements would come from Rohan (remember the rushed mobilization and forces left in Rohan for protection) c) South Gondor forces would have arrived. Despite Tolkien's views that the Western forces could not have ultimately prevailed, assuming the Ring was still thought lost, sunk in the ocean by The Council, etc. was at least a "balance of power" all that impossible to conceive, given the defeat of the Corsairs, and repulse and/or standoffs in Eriador and Rhovannion? Gandalf pretty much cancels out the intimidation of the remaining nazgul, and the oliphaunts are pretty much shot as a new force (apparently handled in much the way Alexander the Great did with Darius's chariots).

Plus the concept of an at least limited offensive, somewhat stonger and more cautious and creative then that necessitated to help Frodo would seem to have been possible, given the significant cavalry advantage of the Western forces, perhaps even a semi-blockade of Mordor. (Echoes of Noldor First Age strategy, but without a curse hampering the good guys)?

[Mithalwen]

I would have thought that the Elven population would almost certainly have been dwindling through the third age....because of various factors.... elves are immortal so they don't have the same biological imperative to reproduce that mortals do...and by transmitting life they diminish themselves... so they have few children .... only the earliest elves had large (relatively) families - Feanor being quite exceptional with his 7 sons.

They avoid raising children in times of strife and if a spouse is killed they may not take another... And I always got the feeling that the longer they spent in Middle Earth and the wearier they got the less likely they were to reproduce ......immortality is a big thing to "inflict" on another in those circumstances - the elves still regard death as a gift... I mean there are no mentions of Elf-children at Rivendell or Lorien are there? I know that doesn't mean everything since you also get the impression that Arwen and Galadriel (and her maidens) are the only elf women left and that clearly can't be true ..... I always wondered if the fact that Elrond's children all being unmarried when it was usual for elves to marry almost on reaching adulthood was partly due to a lack of potential spouses in that generation..

Thranduil lost 2/3 of his army at the last alliance and there could not for the physiological reasons be a baby boom .... Even given that Thranduil's folk were least likely to pass over sea I don't think the numbers would have recovered quickly ..... and the battle of 5 armies also caused losses ... Elsewhere I think the populations would definitely have diminished .... Lindon never recovered from the Last Alliance - I never got the impression that the havens was much more than a small outpost - so many leave ..... and still there are smaller conflicts..

Not scientific but this is my reading - I think the elves disengagement from the wider world is partly due to diminishing numbers ..... 4 communities alone remain 2 of which are surely very small indeed.....

[Gil-Galad]

The biggest chance for Elves would Be Lorien and Mirkwood, seeing they have the biggest of the elvish population in ME, not to mention there probaly stronger, Sauron wanted to distract them...but it failed with Battle under the Trees where Celeborn and Thranduil met in battle...i wouldn't mind seeing that in the movies...