the lord of the rings - What is Elrond's position/status, as compared to Galadriel's?

In the Lord of the Rings books, Galadriel of Lorien is even more exalted than in the movies. She is essentially a queen, and the deference shown to her far exceeds that shown to Elrond of Rivendell. Yet in the films, we see her trying to persuade Elrond to intervene in the battle of Helm's Deep by sending Elf troops to reinforce Theoden's forces. Eventually, Elrond relents, and orders the Elves into battle. But the troops in question are Galadriel's, not Elrond's - they are led by Haldir, one of Galadriel's guards; the trip from Rivendell to Helm's Deep (500 miles as the crow flies) is about 2 times longer than the trip from Lorien to Helm's Deep (250 miles as the crow flies), far too long for the reinforcements to arrive in time. But then Haldir greets Theoden of Rohan by saying he has come bearing a message from Elrond - not Galadriel.

I bring word from Lord Elrond of Rivendell. An Alliance once existed between Elves and Men. Long ago we fought and died together. We come to honor that allegiance.

This seems odd for a few reasons. The troops are Galadriel's, not Elrond's, and they come from Lorien, not Rivendell. She clearly wanted to send them to Helm's Deep - she was cajoling, prodding, and guilt-tripping him into doing just that. She is also a queen, and could presumably order them into battle regardless of what Elrond says.

So why does she have to talk Elrond into letting her send her own troops into battle, especially when he is too far away to contribute manpower (elfpower) or materiel to the battle of Helm's Deep? Why not say, "I'm not going to sit here doing nothing while Saruman runs roughshod over Rohan; you can support me or not, Elrond, but if you aren't willing to help, you can at least get the hell out of the way"? Why does her aide Haldir "bring word from Elrond" when the troops - and the impetus for sending them - came from Galadriel, and Elrond resisted sending them out for as long as he could? And again, what is Elrond's official position/status/rank, and why would a queen need his permission to deploy her own troops?

Answer

As has been pointed out, no Elves fight at the battle of Helm's Deep in the book¹. However, there is a way of justifying this, and it comes down to the succession of the High Kingship of the Noldor^{2, 3}.

The most correct answer is that Elrond had been given special authority by the last High King, Gil-galad, following Sauron's expulsion from Eriador:

At this time the first Council was held, and it was there determined that an Elvish stronghold in the east of Eriador should be maintained at Imladris rather than in Eregion. At that time also Gil-galad gave Vilya, the Blue Ring, to Elrond, and appointed him to be his vice-regent in Eriador

^{Unfinished Tales Part 2: "The Second Age" Chapter IV: "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn"}

Of course, Lothlórien isn't actually in Eriador, so strictly speaking Elrond's authority shouldn't apply to Galadriel. However, this regency does make Elrond the closest thing we know of to Gil-galad's heir.

Another point to consider is that, following Gil-galad's death, Elrond has a stronger claim on the High Kingship than Galadriel.

The High King

The High King of the Noldor is the political leader of the Elves in Middle-earth⁴. Historically, the Kingship begins with Finwë, the first King of the Noldor. Finwë had three sons:

After Finwë's death, the kingship was claimed by Fëanor:

Fëanor appeared in [Tirion] and called on all to come to the high court of the King upon the summit of Túna. [...] He claimed now the kingship of all the Noldor, since Finwë was dead, and he scorned the decrees of the Valar.

^{The Silmarillion III Quenta Silmarillion Chapter 9: "Of the Flight of the Noldor"}

After Fëanor's death, the Kingship technically passed to his eldest son Maedhros, but Maedhros gave up his claim, and the claim of his entire family, after he was rescued from Thangorodrim by Fingon, and it passed to Fingolfin:

Maedhros begged forgiveness for the desertion in Araman; and he waived his claim to kingship over all the Noldor, saying to Fingolfin: 'If there lay no grievance between us, lord, still the kingship would rightly come to you, the eldest here of the house of Finwë, and not the least wise.' But to this his brothers did not all in their hearts agree.

Therefore even as Mandos foretold the House of Fëanor were called the Dispossessed, because the over-lordship passed from it, the elder, to the house of Fingolfin, both in Elendë and in Beleriand

^{The Silmarillion III Quenta Silmarillion Chapter 13: "Of the Return of the Noldor"}

From there, the crown went to Fingolfin's eldest son, Fingon. Fingon died childless, so the crown went to Fingolfin's second son, Turgon. Turgon had no sons, and Fingolfin had no surviving sons, so the crown passed to the heir of Fingolfin's brother (Finarfin, who stayed in Aman): his great-grandson Gil-galad^{5, 6}. Gil-galad died in the Last Alliance, and he died with no heirs. The High Kingship died with him.

So how do Elrond and Galadriel fit into this?

Of all the Elves who remained in Middle-earth into the Third Age, Elrond and Galadriel have the strongest claims to the High Kingship:

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  Elrond's grandmother, Idril, was the only child of Turgon (the second-to-last High King).

  
  


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  Galadriel, meanwhile, was the youngest child of Finarfin, Finwë's third son.

  
  

They both have very strong claims to the throne, but they are presumably ineligible to actually take up the mantle of High King (or Queen), because of Elvish succession rules: I'm not sure off hand if Tolkien has confirmed this, but based on the evidence it seems likely that the "female line" is not considered in line for the throne, at all.

However, Elrond's claim is slightly stronger. If we assumed that succession was able to pass through the female line, his father Eärendil would have succeeded Turgon as High King⁷, and Elrond would have succeeded him.

Galadriel, meanwhile, is further down the chain in this hypothetical. She would come after Gil-galad, who would have been much further down the succession chain in this scenario.

So what is Elrond's rank?

Aside from being Lord of Rivendell, he's officially the vice-regent of the High King of the Noldor. He's also pretty much the de facto High King, although he never claims the title.

What about Galadriel?

She's the Lady of Lothlórien; that's all. She's not a queen, just a very noble Elf-maid. In fact, Tolkien makes it a point to note that she didn't call herself a queen⁸:

After the disaster in Moria [in the year 1980] and the sorrows of Lórien, which was now left without a ruler (for Amroth was drowned in the sea in the Bay of Belfalas and left no heir), Celeborn and Galadriel returned to Lórien, and were welcomed by the people. There they dwelt while the Third Age lasted, but they took no title of King or Queen; for they said that they were only guardians of this small but fair realm, the last eastward outpost of the Elves.

^{Unfinished Tales Part 2: "The Second Age" Chapter IV: "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn"}

And specifically mentions in one of his Letters (in response to a proposed film treatment) that she was not a queen:

21 ff. 'A splendid sight. It is the home of Galadriel... an Elvenqueen.' (She is not in fact one.)

^{The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 210: To Forrest J. Ackerman (excerpt). June 1958}

What she is is one of a very small number of Elves in the Third Age who lived in Aman and beheld the light of the Two Trees of Valinor. Galadriel has been around for a long time, and is one of the oldest living beings in Middle-earth. People revere her and respect her opinion because of her wisdom, not her status.

Of course, it's also worth noting that Galadriel is a woman, who traditionally get treated a little differently in the mythic histories Tolkien was trying to mirror. Although I doubt he'd like the comparison, it's notable that characters in the Arthurian mythology tend to treat Queen Guinevere with more (or, at least, different) reverence than they do King Arthur.

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¹ Except for Legolas, of course.

² Warning: this post is going to have lots of names. You might find the Elvish family tree at LOTRProject.com helpful.

³ It's not important to understand who "the Noldor" are, except that they're the upper-class Elves. Although it's technically true that the High King of the Noldor doesn't have official authority over the "commoner" Elves (Sindar and Silvan Elves), in my experience that's less important than having authority over their rulers.

⁴ When I say "High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth", I really do mean "Middle-earth"; the Noldor who stayed in Aman were being ruled by Finarfin

⁵ Finarfin had three sons: Finrod, Angrod, and Aegnor. Finrod had no children, and had died by this point. Angrod was Gil-galad's grandfather. Aegnor, also childless, was also dead at this point.

⁶ Gil-galad's parentage is somewhat more complicated then I'm making out; I discuss Tolkien's shifting perspectives on the topic quite extensively over at What is the parentage of Gil-galad?

⁷ For the purposes of this thought experiment, we'll ignore the complication that Eärendil was seven years old when Turgon died.

⁸ Interestingly, Galadriel is called a Queen once: by Gimli, of all people, who is admittedly not an unbiased source of information where Galadriel is concerned.