Board Thread:Lore/@comment-26272311-20150412005128/@comment-26298013-20150423013054

Gil-galad's power stems from the fact that he is a descendant of the (In fact he now IS) High King of the Noldor, and all the Noldor have greater power than the Sindar and Men. Elrond has in fact the best parts of every race, according to the Hobbit. But he is descended from a Maiar, and in Tolkien's world the inheritance of certain races means a lot-i.e. Aragorn's triple-lifespan granted to him even though he has very little Elven blood in him at this point. But I will admit that without their Rings Galadriel is the stronger Elf, this is directly stated near the end of the Silmarillion. With their Rings, well, I do not know. Celebrimbor gave two rings to Gil-galad as High King of the Noldor or something like that and Gil-galad gave one to Elrond for safekeeping when he went to war and one to Cirdan, while the other went to Galadriel...sometime. I need to look it up to be sure.

The Glorfindel the Hobbits are saved by may or may not be the Gondolin Glorfindel, but the text definitively says that he is an Elven-lord, directly stating that he has dwelled in both Aman and Middle Earth, and gained much power over both worlds (Seen/unseen). Much like Galadriel.

Man I love debates over lore! So much entertainment.