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

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

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.

While I'm by no means an HOME scholar, I recall Tolkien had earlier drafts of what became LOTR as being much more hobbit-centric. For example, the Strider character originally being a hobbit, and gthe overall tone of the first parts being much more lighthearted and closer to The Hobbit. The story changed, Strider becoming a Man and adopting a more ominous feel, but I wonder if Merry and Pippin couldn't at least partly have been a compensation for that, and a means for Tolkien, who admittedly had a great fondness for scenes involving hobbits, to justify writing a few more of them.