Few questions regarding LotR

Wanted to ask some questions regarding LotR:
- What are the fundamental, cultural, philosophical and genetic differences between the elves of the woodland, the elves of lorien and the elves of rivendale? For example - to me its always has seemed strange that the mirkwood elves would be willing to fight a war over smaug's treasure (in the hobbit) where as the elves of rivendale and lorien dont seem nearly as materialistic. any explaination of this and other differences?

- Who is erkenbrand (spelling), where does his army come from and what relationship does he have with rohan? I'm referring to the army that gandalf brought to helms deep to save rohan from despair.

thx in advance for any responses. I'm not a tolkein expert - so please excuse spelling errors and such.

My first ever post (BTW, why hasn't the name Ecthelion already been taken, or has it?)!
Regarding your post, Dealing with the Erkenbrand question first.
Erkenbrand was the general of Rohan's army. He and Theodred(Theoden's son) led the majority of Rohan's armed forces against Saruman's forces at the battle of the ford of Isen. Rohan lost this battle, Theodred was slain and the remaining forces were routed/scattered. When Gandalf left Theoden before the battle of Helm's Deep he had two tasks to perform: 1. Contact Treebeard and request the Huorns needed to ring the battle field. 2. Gather the scattered men from the battle of the ford and contact Erkenbrand. This isn't really given alot of time in the book but is in the appendixes.
As for your first question, others are bound to know the answer better than I. My responce none the less. At the time of LoTR there are essentially four places in middle-earth where elves dwell. They are Lindon(Grey Havens and west), Rivendell, Lothlorien and northern Mirkwood.
Thranduil was king of the N.Mirkwood elves. What differentiates them from the others is that they are Sindar(grey elves) and as such never made the great journey to Aman. For want of a better word they could be considered less 'civilizied' than other elves (thats not to say they are savages, but they never saw the light of the trees or the Valar).
Lothlorien elves were also Sindar(I think, help please?) but Galadriel wasn't (since she was if the Noldor, who all went to Aman... and came back).
Most of the elves west of the Misty Mountains were presumebly of Noldor stock. In writng this, I am suddenly struck by the fact that I can't think of anything that distinquishes the settlements of the elves, only which seperates them racially (Noldor from Teleri etc). Sorry.

[littlemanpoet]

Genetic differences? None.

Cultural? It isn't so much a matter of being from Mirkwood or Lorien or Rivendell, as whether the Elves in question were ever in Valinor, or Beleriand, or never got that far. The Elves who never got beyond the shores of Third Age Middle Earth are called the Moriquendi, the Dark Elves - not because of skin color, but because they never drew closer to the Light of Valinor than the shores of Middle Earth.

The Elves who went as far as Beleriand or Valinor differ from the Moriquendi in that they are the High Elves, having learned much from the Valar; those of Beleriand learned from Melian the Maia, as well as from the Noldor who returned from Valinor.

The High Elves are the Noldor, the Teleri, and the Vanyar. The Vanyar all went to Valinor. The Teleri are divided between those who went oversea and those who didn't, and the Noldor are divided between those who stayed in Valinor, and those who came back. Galadriel is a Noldo who came back. In fact, she is the last surviving pure Noldo who came back. Elrond and Arwen are mixed Noldor and Teleri (I think), as well as being half-elven.

To sum up, those Elves who are known as Elves of the Light, the High Elves, the Valaquendi, reached greater heights of wisdom, craft, valor, etc., than their woodland Moriquendi counterparts. Most of the Elves of Lorien are Moriquendi. Notice, of course, that there is little physical difference between Celeborn and Lindir. It's all a matter of where they've been what their history is.

I think that 'cultural' and 'fundamental' are basically the same thing, the way Tolkien set it up.

Philosophical? I'm not sure what you mean. I don't think of Elves as dealing much in philosophy, per se, though they definitely had great wisdom.

Hope that helps and doesn't overload/confuse.

[ January 08, 2003: Message edited by: littlemanpoet ]

[doug*platypus]

Ecthelion, I'm as confused as you are that the name hasn't been taken yet, it's a great one! I, also, didn't have any problem with my name being taken. You can imagine my surprise.

fredonia, for many a dastardly tale of Elven materialism, take up the nearest copy of The Silmarillion and enjoy! The role of Erkenbrand and other Marshals of Rohan is explained in Unfinished Tales, also a good read. Erkenbrand was the Lord of Harrowdale in the Westfold. After the death of Théodred he assumed command of all the western half of Rohan.