Elrond

Elrond (Sind. Star-dome), also known as Mater Elrond and Elrond Half-elven, was the eldest son of Elwing and Earendil. At the end of the First Age, he chose the fate of an Elf, and so he and his brother Elros were sundered, for Elros chose the fate of a mortal man and became the founder of the dynasty of Numenorean kings.

Elrond remained in Middle-earth, and in the Second Age he defended Eregion from the black armies of Mordor. When Eregion was overrun, Elrond took up his abode in Imladris (Rivendell) to the west of the Misty Mountains. He wed Celebrian, daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn, and of this union three children were born: Arwen Evenstar, Elladan and Elrohir.

In the days of the Last Alliance of Men and Elves, Elrond and his kin fought in the army of Gil-galad on the ash-strewn slopes of Mount Doom. Elrond witnessed the death of Elendil and Gil-galad himself, as well as the fall of Sauron and Isildur's claiming the One Ring for himself.

In the Third Age, Elrond remained in Middle-earth with his daughter. His haven, also called The Last Homely House, became one of the last refuges for the Elves and one of the few strongholds which stood against the tide of darkness from Mordor. Many of the Rangers of the North, in whom the blood of the Westernesse was still strong, were raised in Rivendell; Aragorn, who Elrond brought up as his son, was one of them.

Elrond possessed one of the Elven Rings, Vilya, the Ring of Air, which was given to him by Gil-galad. For a long time this Ring surrounded Rivendell with a veil holding back the darkness, and gave the Elves protection and strength; but when the One Ring was destroyed, Elrond too departed into the West, for the time of the Great Rings in Middle-earth had passed.

Elrond was fair in face and tall in stature; he was a skilled healer and a minstrel of no ordinary merit. He alone knew many of the ancient Lays of Beleriand that no one else could recount.