In The Lord of the Rings, there is an Elf whose great power lies mainly in his wisdom. Although he plays quite a significant role in Middle-earth, he hardly appears in the films.
Who is meant? Círdan is one of countless creations by the writer J.R.R. Tolkien. He is an Elf who belonged to the wisest minds in all of Middle-earth and carried the nickname “the Shipwright”.
Throughout his life, the Elf was many things: a companion to important Elves, a Ring-bearer, a member of the White Council, and not least, Lord of the Grey Havens.
Despite his importance, Círdan plays hardly any role in the film adaptations by Peter Jackson. He appears only twice briefly and has a screen time of only 33 seconds. Reason enough to give this character the space he deserves.
The Story of Círdan
What was the Elf known for? Círdan belonged to the Teleri Elves and was active in Middle-earth since the First Age. During this time, he took on various roles.
In the First Age, he became the lord of the realm of Falas and was a friend and companion of the Elf Gil-galad. The latter himself belongs to the most powerful of his people.
From him, Círdan received the Elven Ring Narya in the Second Age, which was also called the “Ring of Fire”. This ring had been secretly forged and was not subject to Sauron’s power. Later, Círdan passed it on to Gandalf. In the prologue of “The Fellowship of the Ring”, Círdan is briefly seen with his ring, but only for about 5 seconds – take a look at the cover image of this article.
The second, brief appearance is at the end of “The Return of the King”. It concerns another important position of Círdan. The Elf was, after all, in the Second and Third Ages the Lord of the Grey Havens. From this Elvish port city, Frodo, Gandalf, Bilbo, Galadriel, and Elrond traveled towards the Undying Lands.
In this scene, Círdan is seen several times in the background. However, he has no lines and does not stand out otherwise. His appearance here lasts 28 seconds. You can see the scene on YouTube.
The film also omits that Círdan was part of the White Council and that he alone had an important role in Middle-earth for that reason. The White Council included only the wisest minds, namely the wizards Gandalf and Saruman, the Elves Elrond and Galadriel, and Círdan. These five deliberated on how to defeat their common enemy Sauron.
The Lord of Mordor met his temporary end in the Battle of the Last Alliance. This battle is shown in the prologue of the films. Although there are rare appearances from Gil-galad or the man Elendil, Círdan is missing – and this is despite the fact that the Elf was indeed present at the battle.
What happened next with Círdan? At the end of the Third Age, Círdan was one of the oldest Elves in all of Middle-earth. His wisdom was well known and he was called upon for help time and again. He willingly gave his ships to those who needed them.
Only in the Fourth Age did Círdan leave Middle-earth for Aman, the Undying Lands. And there, the trail of the Elf disappears. Due to his wisdom and tumultuous history, he belongs to the most influential figures from Middle-earth – just like another character who is, however, much darker: A powerful villain from The Lord of the Rings nearly succeeded in killing Frodo, though he was once one of the good ones
