The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien (Harper Collins 1991) pp 203-09
The long miles of Eriador that seem for so long to have stretched out into an endless distance come to an end in a few moments of fear, anger, hatred and swift flight. Frodo clings to the mane of the horse of a great elven lord who is able to pass before the very faces of the Ringwraiths of Mordor and over the Fords of the Bruinen into the land of Rivendell.
The elven lord is Glorfindel and it is through his aid that Frodo is able to make his escape and, even then, only just. Glorfindel makes only the briefest of appearances in The Lord of the Rings. He appears at this crucial moment; he plays his part in the Council of Elrond; and he attends the wedding of Aragorn and Arwen in Minas Tirith. In fact, so brief is his appearance that Peter Jackson feels able to leave him out of his films altogether, while even Tolkien decides not to make him a part of the Fellowship of the Ring but to take Merry and Pippin instead. But more on the latter choice later when we will give ample space to the Council of Elrond and its deliberations. On the former Jackson wanted to make Arwen a character who would appear less passive than she appears in the book. I have written about this elsewhere (click on the tag regarding Arwen’s banner below) so here it is an opportunity to think about Glorfindel.
As the hobbits journey from the Shire to Rivendell word reaches Elrond from Gildor Inglorien of their plight, of the pursuit of the Nine, and of Gandalf’s mysterious absence. Elrond decides to send out his greatest lords to aid them in their peril, those that could “ride openly against the Nine”, and one of these is Glorfindel.
Indeed we might say that Glorfindel is Elrond’s greatest lord. He is one who has dwelt in Valinor itself, one of the Noldor who in great sadness but out of deep friendship accompanied Turgon, the Lord of Gondolin in the exile from the Undying Lands to Middle-earth, to Beleriand. Not all the elves who made the journey with Fëanor in pursuit of the Silmarils stolen by Morgoth took part in the kinslaying of Alqualondë but all were banned from ever returning to the Undying Lands.
Although the city of Gondolin was the one of the greatest works of the elves in Middle-earth eventually it fell to Morgoth’s armies and Glorfindel fell in battle against a Balrog, falling together with it into a deep abyss and so he died. And if this reminds you of the battle that Gandalf fought with a Balrog in Moria then so too does the rest of Glorfindel’s story. Thorondor, the greatest of the Eagles of Manwë rescued Glorfindel’s body while his spirit passed to the Halls of Mandos, of Waiting. In Tolkien’s legendarium, the Elves were reincarnated after a time of waiting but Glorfindel was rewarded for his bravery and goodness by being allowed to return swiftly to Valinor where he befriended Olórin, who in Middle-earth became known as Mithrandir or Gandalf. At different times both Gandalf and Glorfindel were sent by the Valar to give aid to the peoples of Middle-earth and at the Battle of Fornost in the year 1975 of the Third Age Glorfindel gave aid to Eärnur of Gondor in a battle against the armies of Angmar in a victory so complete “that not a man nor an orc of that realm remained west of the Mountains”. In that battle Glorfindel saved Eärnur from the Witch-king and had driven him from Eriador from that day onwards.
From that day until the time when the Witch-king led the Nine in their desperate search for the Ring Glorfindel dwelt in Rivendell playing his part in keeping Eriador as a place of comparative peace. And just as he had driven the Witch-king from Eriador at the Battle of Fornost so too does he enable Frodo to make his escape and in so doing he drives his ancient foe from the North once more. The Ring is kept from the grasp of Sauron, and Glorfindel drives the Nazgûl into the waters of the Bruinen that have risen in full flood to deny all foes entrance into the land of Rivendell.
The wonderful story of Glorfindel is in keeping with that of Gandalf and of Aragorn. A willingness to serve patiently in obscurity and a preparedness to lay down everything at a moments notice for the common good. The way of the true servants of the light.
Wisdom from The Lord of the Rings 
I really missed Glorfindel and how it was not portrayed in the movies. I also missed Frodo book verse in the movie portrayal.The missing line is “By Elbereth and LUthien the Fair, you shall neither the Ring nor me ” is so missed! Loved this post to talk about Glorfindel .
Thank you so much for your comment, Kal. I guess that Peter Jackson decided not to include a character who would only play a small part in just one film and to make Arwen’s part bigger. By comparison, Tolkien held the whole of his legendarium in his mind all the time and so Glorfindel arrives in the story with a complete history that Tolkien knows but doesn’t explain to us. I also wonder if the people of Minas Tirith had any idea that this person who had come to the wedding of their king had played such a role in the life of their last king before the age of the stewards.
Yes. It kind of left out the point for replacing him with Arwen. She was substantially and had less familiarity with the Valar, so it made less sense that she rode openly against the Riders (not to mention summoning the floods of the Ford of Bruinen and using Elven magic to keep Frodo from becoming a wraith so quickly, as Peter Jackson made happen).
I guess that we cannot blame Peter Jackson for not staying true to the depth of Tolkien’s imagination. In many ways I think that we ought to be grateful that he did as good a job as he did. Hopefully his films led many people to read the books for themselves for the first time.
That is probably correct.
Every time I watch the movies, it gauls me that they took the line “You Shall Have the Ring, Nor Me” away from Frodo. As a young boy reading the trilogy for the first time, that moment was so important to me, showing that someone so small could summon up enough courage towards something so evil as the Black Riders. It gave Frodo some gumption and showed there certainly was “more to him than meets the eye”. Why did PJ change this line and give it to Arwen (who shouldn’t have even been there in the first place) “If you want him, come and claim him” – Made no sense to me and still bothers me every time I see that part.
I suspect that Peter Jackson was so anxious to turn Arwen into a woman if action that he was prepared to sacrifice Frodo. My sadness is not just about Frodo but also that Jackson was not able to allow Arwen to be strong in an inward kind of a way.