Surely Elrond would have insisted on Merry and Pippin NOT going?

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by The Mouth of Sauron

But surely

At the risk of being pedantic, why 'surely'? If it's not what happens in the book, it's not what happens.

Elrond did express his misgivings of course, especially about Pippin: "My heart is against his going." And of course he also had the wisdom to see that there would be trouble in the Shire, but for all we know without the experience they gained in their further travels Merry and Pippin might not have been that useful in resisting Saruman anyway.

On a side note, this scene has what I would consider a very piercing example of Professor Tolkien's generally overlooked subtlety, just after Pippin's made the "send me home tied in a sack," joke.

'Let it be so then. You shall go,' said Elrond, and he sighed. 'Now the tale of Nine is filled. In seven days the Company must depart.'

Consider how much is conveyed in so few words.

Personally I do think it's a bit odd that Glorfindel doesn't do much after rescuing Frodo and co in Eriador. But given that Professor Tolkien considered including him in the Fellowship but later changed his mind (see the Histories) he probably just wasn't considered to be a character who could contribute that much to the narrative.