#elrondar

I cannot get over the little detail of Adar actually releasing Elrond's hand in that scene. (We can see some of it at the bottom left corner of the 1st gif, his grip is already loosening after Elrond drops his weapon; see the 2nd gif for comparison.)

My interpretation is that he is so sure of his greater strength and advantage, and that Elrond doesn't have the ability to fight back/no more knives up his sleeve (so to speak), that he lets Elrond have full autonomy of both of his hands. Mind you, Adar hasn't even lifted Elrond up yet and Elrond could have still fought back multiple ways (using his legs to struggle etc) at this point.

And then Adar proceeds to lift him up, hold him up, choke him and throw him aside like it is nothing. One-handed. Showcasing his physical strength but also retaining the ability to defend himself should Elrond suddenly manage to fight back.

Obviously, if a ship brings joy to your life then go for it! I love seeing all the artwork 🖤 but here are my reasons why I just can’t ship, sorry it’s long…

A lot of Tolkien’s work features strong platonic relationships. They are deep and meaningful. Frodo and Sam are an obvious example. I feel like in today’s society, we see connection, shared experiences, and immediately assign romance to it. Or sexuality. Sometimes this is correct and it’s great, but it’s always just slapped onto every relationship between any two characters now. You can be tender and not be in love. You can be kind and not romantically attached. You can be attracted to someone and compliment them without wanting to form any romantic attachment or be sexually motivated.

Whilst I find the idea of Sauron’s “exes” allying against him hilarious and am loving the memes, I don’t find the notion of Adar being in love with Sauron romantically at any point valid. Maybe as a saviour, a fellow victim of Morgoth’s sadism, a powerful ally, etc. then yes. I think being in love with people without it being romantic/sexual all the time isn’t explored enough, but Tolkien did explore it more.

I love all the interactions of Adar and Galadriel. He clearly thinks highly of her. She probably reminds him of his past elvish life and the light he turned away from. The last scene of them together was beautiful but I don’t believe it was romantic. It was two beings who had suffered at Sauron’s hands, who had been through the lies, manipulation, and pain coming to terms with one another; recognising the good in each other and wanting to unite that, whilst acknowledging their differences (Adar not wanting to become an elf again, choosing Uruk fatherhood). It was acceptance and understanding of a beautiful nature. I think Adar giving Nenya back was a proposal, just not a romantic one.

Elves mate for life (Finwë being the only exception I can think of and it didn’t end well for him…), so Galadriel would still be very much in love with Celeborn. It wouldn’t be crossing her mind to find someone else. If Celeborn wasn’t in the picture at all, I would be an Adariel shipper for sure though.

Adar telling Elrond he has the beauty of his forebear Melian was such a Tolkien way of doing things. It’s Adar showing he knows Elrond’s lineage. It’s not Adar flirting. Normalise male compliments being platonic.

Also Melian was Maia and so beautiful Thingol (who went on to marry her) just stared at her in a stupor for a looooong time. Mairon (Sauron) as a maia would have been objectively beautiful as well. So Adar was just recognising beauty as it existed, same way you’d call artwork beautiful. Which is a very elvish thing to do.

Adar could have stabbed him, he could have slit his throat, but no, he sheathed his sword, disarmed Elrond, gently released his arm and slowly lifted him by grabbing his throat and forgetting about personal space.

Hi anon :) - and no worries, I ship them too tbh! The pairing is slowly growing on me. (So it's great to know there are others out there lol - we aren't all that many but we exist!)

I mean they are both not quite like the other elves, with Adar's past and him now being uruk, and Elrond being the descendant on Melian and half-elven. Plus the whole herald vs warrior, not-yet-fully-realised-leader vs seasoned leader, light vs dark etc. Their dynamic is just really interesting (even platonically).

Good point about Adar not cutting off Elrond's air flow - though I am not entirely sure, I mean Elrond *does* faint after Adar throws him down, but you are right about him not breathing heavily, I didn't even notice that before!

Also overall yes I agree - Adar could have done way more damage to Elrond in their confrontation. Especially when we see what he does to Arondir just before - he really made sure Arondir wouldn't be able to continue fighting him. And it would have been safer for him to do the same to Elrond, too! Either he was really sure of his victory at that point, or he didn't see the point of hurting Elrond more than neccessary. (Or he was saving his strength, but then again, the fight was already over so why bother?)

Plus, at that point, he likely either knew or strongly suspected that Elrond had helped Galadriel escape. So he'd have a very strong reason to be pissed at him, *and* it would have been easy to take that out on him in that situation. Instead he seems to see how broken Elrond already is and only just does what is neccessary to get the ring. He even lectures Elrond, which could be seen as mocking - or genuine, well-meaning advice.

So, yes, I agree, in a way he was 'gentle' in how he handled him, or as gentle as an uruk in the middle of a battle can be I suppose. I feel like he almost felt a bit of pity - "I told you this would happen, and yet here we are". It's a very interesting scene for sure.