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crosspost: Elrond and Isildur
What do you think of 'Elrond should have pushed Isildur into the lava' debates? I mean obviously it's silly and people have posted all the different reasons why he wouldn't, but which was the main reason? That he wasn't inside the mountain, he and Círdan didn't know the Ring was that dangerous, they didn't want a fight between the Elves and the Númenórians, Isildur was his comrade, Isildur was his family? I'm curious what you think the characters were thinking (and also what about Círdan?)
I have no idea what Círdan thought, but imo the dominant note of Elrond’s relationship with Isildur—as far as we see—is that they consider each other family.
In particular, Isildur seems to trust Elrond more than anyone (with the possible exceptions of Elendil and Anárion) in a way that’s not so much man-to-Elf as man to virtuous paterfamilias. That’s there in the relationship between Elrond and Isildur’s heirs, too; Elrond treats them much less as allies than as far-flung members of the family, taking care to forge bonds with each new generation, over and over (and over and over and over and…). It’s not really like the tie between Gondor and Rohan, say, where friendship is real but followed from expedience.
I feel like Elrond’s tie to Elendil’s house in particular is often seen as wholly about Elros, but while that’s important, I think his relationship to them is also about them. He loved Elendil and Isildur and Anárion. He raised Aragorn to think of them with pride rather than shame(*cough*). It would be morally repugnant to turn on Isildur, certainly at such a moment—a kinslaying in more than blood. I don’t think it would ever have entered his head, so the other reasons just … would never have come into play.
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