By Oshun
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Twin sons Elrohir and Elladan were born to Celebrían and Elrond, the Lord and Lady of Rivendell, in year 130 of the Third Age. The first of three siblings, their younger sister Arwen Undómiel was born some 111 years later in 241 T.A. Their lineage includes many of the most significant characters among the Elves and Men whose tales are told in The Silmarillion and continued in The Lord of Rings. Their bloodlines include the highest in status and most narratively important of the characters whose deeds make up Tolkien’s Histories of Middle-earth. Their antecedents reach back into the royal houses of the Noldor and the Vanyar in Aman and earlier, as well as to the Sindar in Middle-earth and the Teleri in Alqualondë. They also claim ancestry within all three houses of the Edain: Hador, Haleth, and Bëor.1
Tolkien discusses the choice and meaning of their names in his much-read letter to Rhona Beare, written in 1958 in response to her correspondence raising a series of very specific questions:
Elrohir, Elladan: these names, given to his sons by Elrond, refer to the fact that they were ‘half-elven’ (III 314): they had mortal as well as Elvish ancestors on both sides; Tuor on their father’s side, Beren on their mother’s. 2 Both signify elf+man. Elrohir might be translated ‘Elf-knight’; rohir being a later form (III 391) of rochir ‘horse-lord’ from roch ‘horse’+hir ‘master’: Prim. Elvish rokkō and khēr or kherū: High-elven rocco, hēr (hĕru). Elladan might be translated ‘Elf-Númenórean’. Adan (pl. Edain) was the Sindarin form of the name given to the ‘fathers of men’, the members of the Three Houses of Elf-friends, whose survivors afterwards became the Númenóreans, or Dún-edain. 4
Their maternal grandmother is Galadriel, the only daughter of Finarfin and Eärwen, through whom she is connected to the Noldorin, Vanyarin, and Telerin royal houses in Aman. Elladan and Elrohir’s great-grandfather Olwë was the younger brother of Elwë, leader of the original Teleri in Middle-earth (better known in The Silmarillion as Thingol, Sindarin King of Doriath, and the father of the incomparable Lúthien).
Two lords they had, for their numbers were very great: Elwë Singollo, which signifies Greymantle, and Olwë his brother. The hair of Olwë was long and white, and his eyes were blue; but the hair of Elwë was grey as silver, and his eyes were as stars; he was the tallest of all the Elven-folk. 4
The Finwë connection means that, depending upon one’s method for calculating cousinhood, Elladan and Elrohir are even Fëanor’s half-cousins twice removed. Meanwhile, although Elrond and Celebrían share some roots, the twins’ Maiarin roots come from Elrond alone through his great-grandmother Lúthien, daughter of Melian the Maia and Thingol King of the Sindar. Of course, Elrond’s connection to Noldorin royalty also can be traced back to Finwë. His father Eärendil was the only child of Idril, who had Noldorin and Vanyarin royal blood through her grandparents Finwë and Indis, respectively. So, Elladan and Elrohir are related to Vanyarin royalty not only through Idril on Elrond’s side, but on Celebrían’s side as well: Indis was her great-grandmother. Indis is identified as a kinswoman of Ingwë, possibly even his sister. 5
Elladan and Elrohir’s maternal grandfather Celeborn is described, in the most widely accepted account, as a prince of the Sindar, 6 a kinsman of Thingol, King of Doriath: "Celeborn Elf of Doriath, kinsman of Thingol; wedded Galadriel and with her remained in Middle-earth after the end of the First Age." 7 One version of Celeborn’s lineage states that he is the grandson of a brother of Thingol named Elmo, who is not mentioned anywhere else. 8 The bottom line of the twins’ legacy on the maternal side is that it is one hundred percent pure Elven royal blood. Elrond, however, brings a hybrid heritage, both higher and lower than that of Celebrían (stretching from Melian, an angelic being who, alone of all the Ainur, wedded an Elf, through the ranks of the most illustrious of the Quendi on both sides of the Great Sea to mere Mortals first encountered in the First Age roaming the forests of Middle-earth).
The connection of Elladan and Elrohir to the Houses of the Edain is, of course, through Elrond. He and his brother Elros (also twins) were the only children born of the union between Elwing (descended of both Sindarin royalty and the mortal House of Bëor) and Eärendil (descended of Noldorin royalty and the mortal Houses of Hador and Haladin). 9 Thus, unique in Tolkien’s legendarium, Elrond’s descendants shared an ancestry including Noldorin, Sindarin, Telerin, Vanyarin, and Maiarin blood and the blood of all three Houses of the Edain.
The original Peredhil (Half-elven) pairing of Beren and Lúthien is one of paramount importance in the storyline of both The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. The decision Elladan and Elrohir face after the end of the Ring War is often referred to as the Choice of the Peredhil:
At the end of the First Age the Valar gave to the Half-elven an irrevocable choice to which kindred they would belong. Elrond chose to be of Elven-kind, and became a master of wisdom. To him therefore was granted the same grace as to those of the High Elves that still lingered in Middle-earth: that when weary at last of the mortal lands they could take ship from the Grey Havens and pass into the Uttermost West; and this grace continued after the change of the world. But to the children of Elrond a choice was also appointed: to pass with him from the circles of the world; or if they remained, to become mortal and die in Middle-earth. 10
(Spoilers: We are not told of their final choice. But this will be discussed further later in this biography.)
At the end of the First Age, the Edain, Elf-friends and leaders of Men, received the island of Númenor from the Valar as a reward for their sacrifices and loyalty to the Elves during the Wars of Beleriand against Morgoth. 11 After lifetimes of growth and glory on that island paradise, Sauron eventually seduced the last Númenórean king with promises of immortality. Ar-Pharazôn and much of his court had been won over to a dark religion established by Sauron and centered on the worship of Melkor. When Ar-Pharazôn built a great fleet and invaded the land of the Valar, Manwë called upon Eru for advice and succor. With a mighty wave, Eru himself destroyed the dark king’s armada and along with it the entire island. This was not done before those faithful to the Valar and to the Elves received a series of warnings that their doom was at hand and managed to escape to Middle-earth with a small number of heavily laden ships. 12
Descendants of the Men of Númenor who had returned to Middle-earth after the destruction of their Isle of Gift formed a close relationship with Elrond and Rivendell. These Númenórean exiles, specifically the direct heirs to ancient kingdom of Arnor through the line of Isildur, were to play an important role in the lives of Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen. Little is known of the doings of Elrond’s sons during their youth and young manhood. I would refer interested readers to a well-organized and concise essay by Tyellas, "The Elladan and Elrohir Factsheet," which contains a useful timeline and other relevant details from the texts. 13 Tyellas speculates that during this period "[p]resumably Elladan and Elrohir learn elf-man arts of battle and lore and become mature, skilled warriors." 14 One might add healing skills to Tyellas’ list, since we will note later that they assisted Aragorn with the surviving wounded after the Battle of Pelennor Fields.
The period between the War of the Last Alliance and the Ring War is punctuated by centuries of war and political strife, the rise and fall of the northern kingdoms of the Númenóreans--in which the infamous Witch King played no small part--and the eventual decline and isolation of Gondor. Meanwhile Elrond had remained close to the surviving Northern Dúnedain led now by a line of Chieftains tracing their lineage directly back to Isildur:
After Arvedui the North-kingdom ended, for the Dúnedain were now few and all the peoples of Eriador diminished. Yet the line of the kings was continued by the Chieftains of the Dúnedain, of whom Aranarth son of Arvedui was the first. Arahael his son was fostered in Rivendell, and so were all the sons of the chieftains after him; and there also were kept the heirlooms of their house: the ring of Barahir, the shards of Narsil, the star of Elendil, and the sceptre of Annúminas. ‘When the kingdom ended the Dúnedain passed into the shadows and became a secret and wandering people, and their deeds and labours were seldom sung or recorded.’ 15
Elrond did his part to preserve the line of the heirs of Isildur, who by then were the only surviving heirs of Elendil. He fostered generation after generation of the future Chieftains of the Dúnedain. (For more information about the decline and fall of the Kingdom of Arnor, see the Character of the Month Biography of Arvedui.16 ) The last and dearest of those to Elrond’s family was to be Aragorn.
By the year T.A. 2509, a period of Watchful Peace, was drawing to a close. 17 The world of Elladan and Elrohir had always been a dangerous place, but they lived in the well-protected haven of Rivendell, a place of safety and security for its guests. It is likely that they had assisted their father in the mentoring of the successive heirs of Isildur whom Elrond had fostered there. Their life, however, was to change dramatically: "Although even before the Watchful Peace ended evil things again began to attack Eriador or to invade it secretly, the Chieftains for the most part lived out their long lives." 18 A devastating blow destroyed their personal happiness and harkened a coming struggle which would not be resolved until the end of Tolkien’s narrative.
In the days of Arahad I the Orcs, who had, as later appeared, long been secretly occupying strongholds in the Misty Mountains, so as to bar all the passes into Eriador, suddenly revealed themselves. In 2509 Celebrían wife of Elrond was journeying to Lórien when she was waylaid in the Redhorn Pass, and her escort being scattered by the sudden assault of the Orcs, she was seized and carried off. She was pursued and rescued by Elladan and Elrohir, but not before she had suffered torment and had received a poisoned wound. 19
It is not difficult to imagine the horror of the brothers at finding their mother under such circumstances and in such a condition. Tolkien leads us to believe that they are forever altered by their experience. There is no question that they saved her life and that must have brought some relief. But the rescue and return of their beloved mother to the safety of Rivendell, the boon of Elven healing, of which Elrond is a well-known practitioner, and the love of their family surrounding her is not enough. (Parenthetically, readers may discuss amongst themselves whether they choose to believe that Celebrían was raped or not. Tolkien does not tell us. In any case, given whatever tortures she did endure her actual condition could have not been much worse. They found her too late and the realization must have been haunting for her sons.)
She was brought back to Imladris, and though healed in body by Elrond, lost all delight in Middle-earth, and the next year went to the Havens and passed over Sea. And later in the days of Arassuil, Orcs, multiplying again in the Misty Mountains, began to ravage the lands, and the Dúnedain and the sons of Elrond fought with them. 20
Fanfiction writers have explored these events and their effects upon Elladan and Elrohir in countless stories. The concept that their questing for Orcs takes on a darker tenor after the events of the Redhorn Pass—no longer only defensive and strategic but acquires an obsessive and vengeful cast to it—is neither implausible or unlikely in my opinion. But when Tolkien writes of them and their deeds, their physical description, and their quest against the Orcs, they are presented as competent and reliable. In fact, the often resemble some sort of quasi-Arthurian knights single-mindedly fixed upon a goal. Jumping ahead of myself here, there is a mention in "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" of how in Aragorn’s young manhood Elladan and Elrohir take him with them on their missions to fight Orcs:"[W]hen Estel was only twenty years of age, it chanced that he returned to Rivendell after great deeds in the company of the sons of Elrond"21 (emphasis is my own). Those great deeds sound like nothing as much as language out of tales of knights in shining armor that I loved to read as a little girl. They conjure up visions of chivalry, quests, monsters, and brave and handsome knights.
One of the chronologically earliest descriptions of Elladan and Elrohir fits neatly within that romantic and chivalric style of storytelling. Although it did not make the final version of "The House of Eorl" in Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings, it does not contradict any that are found within the story there of the main events of the Ring War:
Riders came out of the North and broke upon the rear of the enemy. . . . In the forefront of the charge they saw two great horsemen, clad in grey, unlike all the others, and the Orcs fled before them; but when the battle was won they could not be found, and none knew whence they came or whither they went. But in Rivendell it was recorded that these were the sons of Elrond, Elladan and Elrohir. 22
Of course, more commonly, they are mentioned as riding against Orcs in the company of the beleaguered Northern Dúnedain. Arathorn, the father of Aragorn--one of those future leaders of the Dúnedain who had been fostered in Rivendell as a youth-- became a close friend of Elladan and Elrohir and often hunted with them. They did not hunt wild beasts, but pursued Orcs wherever they might be found, driven by the fate of their mother Celebrían. 23
Shortly after, Arathorn became Chieftain of the Dúnedain and his wife Gilraen bore him a son and heir: "But Aragorn was only two years old when Arathorn went riding against the Orcs with the sons of Elrond, and he was slain by an orc-arrow that pierced his eye." 24 The newest heir to Isildur and his mother came to live in Rivendell with Elladan and Elrohir and their family. Because of his age and the circumstances, the family gave him a new name Estel and his identity was hidden. One might speculate that he was more like a younger brother to Elladan and Elrohir than any of the Dúnedain fosterlings who had preceded him.
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