Elladan and Elrohir

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Elladan and Elrohir are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, the sons of Elrond Half-elven and Celebrían.They were born in T.A. 130 and they have a younger sister Arwen. Though Tolkien never specifically states that Elrohir and Elladan were twins, it is suspected that they were for three reasons: first, they are described as "So much alike were they, the sons of Elrond, that few could tell them apart: dark-haired, grey-eyed, and their faces elven-fair, clad alike in bright mail beneath cloaks of silver-grey" (Tolkien 761). Secondly, one is rarely mentioned without the other, and their names are only separated when they are speaking. Thirdly, they were both born in the same year, while most Elves wait at least ten years between children. (Elves' gestation periods are roughly a year long, so it would be hard to bring two sons into the world in the same year if they were not twins.) Fourthly, the birth of twins was not a rare occurrence in their family history (Eluréd and Elurín, Elrond and Elros). (However, while fraternal twins do in fact tend to run in families, identical twins do not.)

The brethren were friends and companions-in-arms of the Rangers of the North, and helped defend the remnants of Arnor from evil after the fall of the northern kingdom. They held a special grudge against Orcs because of their mother's suffering at their hands. During the War of the Ring, they fought alongside Aragorn in the battle of the Pelennor Fields in Gondor.

Like their sister, father, and uncle, they could make a choice between mortality and immortality, expressed by whether they would follow their father to Valinor at the time of his own departure at the end of the Third Age. Since they are explicitly described as remaining in Rivendell for a time after their father's departure, some fans speculated that they had also chosen mortality. However, J. R. R. Tolkien himself noted that the twins were allowed to "delay" their choices.

Elladan's name means "Elf-Man", or rather "Elf-Dúnadan": referring to his dual descent from both Elves and Men (Edain). Elrohir means "Elf-knight", apparently in honour of his prowess in arms.

Elladan and Elrohir did not make an appearance in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

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