Another thing...Why did the elves not fight?

[Lord of Angmar]

During the Second Age and certainly by the Third Age, it seems to me that Elves were coming round to a much fuller understanding that that which made them different from Men did not necessarily make them superior, no doubt prompted by an acknowledgement that their time was fading.

I agree entirely with this general trend.

Although I would still maintain that it is patronising for the Elves to grant to Men a part of the land which they had claimed for themselves but over which they in fact had no greater right save by dint of having got there first. And, while I do agree that Elves such as Luthien and Beleg came to regard individual Men as their equals, it does not necessarily follow that they regarded the entire race of Man on the same basis.

I still wouldn't call this necessarily patronising. After all, nobody really has any 'right' to land save by the order in which they appeared there and, sadly, by the military strength of the land 'owners' or desirers. I agree about your point about Elves such as Beleg and Luthien, in theory, though I do not see any proof readily available to support (or, I suppose, to controvert) it. Does that make our theses 'uncanonical?'

By the way, I seem to have fallen victim to the quote mark addiction as well.