why didn't elrond help?

[The Dark Elf]

How come Elrond didn't help out with the Ring? He wasn't corrupted by it in any way. He could have been a real help out there. It's not like he left Middle Earth while Frodo made his way to Mount Doom. Or am I mistaken? Please correct me if I am.

[Leona]

No Dark Elf, Elrond did not leave Middle Earth while Frodo was on the quest. And the question you asked is a good one, and certainly food for thought. The only thing I can think of right off the top of my head, is what someone else said in another thread about Elrond being a higher elf, and so sauron might have spotted him and recognized him and his intention because of it. And since the fellowship was attempting to travel in secret, I suppose it wasn't the best idea to draw unneeded attention.

Something will hit me later and I will get back to you.

Later,
Leona

[Tarthang]

Elrond was the leader of the Elves who resided in Rivendell. As such, his
dutie and responsibilites lay in protecting and guiding the peoples of Rivendell against
Sauron's forces. Besides, the Fellowship
had Gandalf to lead the way, who was quite powerful in his own right and had no such
responsibilities to tie him down to any one
area.
Secondly, Elrond did help. He helped outfit and shelter the members of the Fellowship before they set out from Rivendell. He also sent out scouts to secure information in the lands around Rivendell, to help the Fellowship plan their initial route from Rivendell.
Furthermore, the Ring's presence over time would have had been a corrupting influence on him, it was Tom Bombadil whom the ring had no influence over.

[Morgul Queen]

One word; Vilya.

[Legolas]

Elrond sent the rush of water that overcame the Nazgul at the Ford of Bruinen. He healed Frodo upon his arrival to Rivendell. When Gandalf did not return from Orthanc, he sent out messengers that gave him news of the Nazgul in the region near the Shire and afterwards sent Glorfindel to search for Frodo.

`Good!' said Gandalf. `It is mending fast. You will soon be sound again. Elrond has cured you: he has tended you for days, ever since you were brought in.'
'...Elrond is a master of healing, but the weapons of our Enemy are deadly. To tell you the truth, I had very little hope; for I suspected that there was some fragment of the blade still in the closed wound. But it could not be found until last night. Then Elrond removed a splinter. It was deeply buried, and it was working inwards.'

`Who made the flood?' asked Frodo.
'Elrond commanded it,' answered Gandalf. `The river of this valley is under his power, and it will rise in anger when he has great need to bar the Ford. As soon as the captain of the Ringwraiths rode into the water the flood was released.'

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 1:43 PM January 10, 2004: Message edited by: Legolas ]

[Failivrin]

Elrond DID help. If he had not, the quest would have failed. If he had gone with the Fellowship, how could he have maintained Rivendell, the Last Homely House of the West? Where then would people draw their inspiration from?

[The Saucepan Man]

He wasn't corrupted by it in any way.

What makes you say that? Had he borne it, he would have been corrupted by it in the same way that Gandalf and Galadriel acknowledged that they would be.

[Knight of Gondor]

I was surprised no one mentioned that before! Who says Elrond wouldn't be corrupted? If Gandalf or Galadriel could be, why not him?