The Last Alliance of Elves and Men and the Battle of the Dagorlad Plain
After the downfall of Numenor, Sauron started war against the free races of Middle Earth, the dwarves, elves and humans.
Sauron realized Numenor wasn’t finished off and discovered that Numenoreans established Gondor and Arnor on the lands of Middle Earth.
Most of the elves have set sail for Valinor, which was the land of the Valars(god-like beings of the Leg endarium) and only a few elves were left on Middle Earth.
Ordinary humans were much weaker than Numenoreans that were the direct descendants of the Edain humans of the 1st Age.
Thus, the descendants of Numenor were the largest threat to Sauron and Sauron attempted to annihilate the remaining Numenoreans along with the rest of the free races to conquer Middle Earth. The elves, humans and dwarves would from the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.
The war between Sauron and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men was bloody and long and finished with the victory of the Alliance at the Battle of the Dagorlad at a bloody cost.
Many were lost including, Gil-Galad the elf king, Elendil, the High King of Arnor and Gondor and Anarion, the co-founder of Gondor. There were too many corpses after the Battle of the Dagorlad so the bodies weren’t recovered and unattended. Later, water flooded these lands and became the Dead Marshes.
Why were elves like Elrond and Galadriel submissive against Sauron?
The elves on Middle Earth were already very few in number. Already before the start of the 2nd Age, many elves left Middle Earth and headed to Valinor.
Yet, more and more elves headed west to the Grey Havens to set sail for their journey to Valinor. Elves that were under Cirdan the lord of the Grey Havens and Lindon, Elrond, lord of Rivendell, Galadriel, lady of Lothlorien and Celeborn, lord of Lothlorien were few in number to take assertive action against Sauron.
The Silvan elves(green elves) of the Woodland Realm led by Thranduil were the largest in number but suffered from great losses during the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.
The elves of Thranduil was also struggling with the dark creatures of Dol Guldur and the Misty Mountains and even went through the Battle of the Five Armies.
Why did the elves migrate west to Valinor
The elves and humans were the children of Iluvatar, the God of the Legendarium. As elves were immortal, the Valars decided to migrate the elves from Middle Earth to the lands of Valinor on the continent of Aman where the Valars and the Maia dwelled.
By the will of the Valars and Iluvatar, the elves were to hand over the life on Middle Earth to humans.
Thus the elves would migrate west to Valinor by the will of the Valars and Iluvatar while some of the elves still remained on Middle Earth for unfinished business or simply they were still attached to the life on Middle Earth.
Why was the elf king Thranduil so passive and quiet against Sauron
Legolas’s father Thranduil also participated in the wat of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Legolas’s grandfather Oropher led the Silvan Elves(green elves) of the Woodland Realm also known as the elves of the greenwood where Greenwood the Great would later become Mirkwoods.
However, the Silvan elves suffered the most casualties where Legolas’s grandfather Oropher was also killed in action.
Thranduil would become the next elf king of the Woodland Realm and Legolas became the prince.
Due to the high casualty and loss during the wat of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, the elves of Mirkwood were small in numbers and Thranduil would be more passive and maintained a much careful approach during the remaining 3rd Age. They even suffered great losses during the Battle of the Five Armies.
Why the dwarves didn’t fight much against Sauron in Lord of the Rings
The dwarves, mostly the clan of Durin’s Folks have already long lost the great dwarf kingdom Khazad-dum that is now called Moria. Although some dwarves led by Balin reoccupied Moria, they went missing only to be discovered to be all killed.
The most influential dwarf kingdom Erebor was located on the east side of the Misty Mountains far away from the main schema of the Fellowship of the Ring.
Also, Erebor was once sacked by the dragon Smaug once and the dwarves went through the Battle of the Five Armies against the orcs of Moria, Gundabad and the Misty Mountains when they reclaimed Erebor.
The dwarves would had to fight against the darkness of Dol Guldur, easterlings alongside with the elves of Lothlorien and the humans of Dale.
Thus, the dwarves couldn’t take active action in saving Gondor at Minas Tirith or Rohan at Helm’s Deep nor the march at Battle at Morannon against Sauron and Saruman.
While Gondor and Rohan was ravaged by Sauron’s forces of Mordor, Sauron’s forces of Dol Guldur and the easterlings hit the elves of Lothlorien, Greenwood Relam(Mirkwood), Erebor and dale.
Why Galadriel and the elves of Lothlorien didn’t fight much against Sauron
Already by the power of Galadriel and Celeborn, the elves of Lothlorien were resisting against Sauron. The number of the elves were already few in number as well to actively combat Sauron’s darkness.
Also, under the command of the nazgul Khamul, dark creatures of Dol Guldur and the easterlings invaded the north Rhovanion region where Erebor, Dale, Lothlorien and Mirkwoods(Thranduil’s land) were located.
The elves, humans and dwarves were busy warding off Sauron’s forces so they couldn’t relief Rohan at Helm’s Deep and Gondor at Minas Tirith.
Why was Rohan crippled
As Saruman the White became obsessed with One Ring and joined forces with Sauron, Saruman would corrupt Theoden the king of Rohan with magic by the help of Grima Wormtongue.
Saruman promised Eowyn, Theoden’s daughter as a prize to Grima Wormtongue. By Saruman and Grima Wormtongue’s plot, Theoden was possessed by Saruman’s sorcery.
Theoden would reject his son, prince of Rohan Theodred believing he was too week. While Theoden would reject his nephew Eomer believing he was too ambitious plotting to betray Theoden himself.
Rohan would then be ravaged by the orcs and Dunlendings, humans of Dunland as Theoden was possessed and manipulated by Saruman and Grima Wormtongue.
Why was Gondor so weak during Lord of the Rings
The movie series of Lord of the Rings did describe Gondor too weak, probably for more of a dramatic effect. Gondor was still the descending kingdom of Numenor so in the original novel, Gondor soldiers were much stronger than depicted in the cinematic series.
Denethor II, the steward of Gondor and father of Boromir and Faramir was a decent ruler, however in jealousy of Aragorn whom he met during his father Ecthelion II, used the prohibited Palantir of Minas Tirith.
Sauron or possibly Saruman corrupted Denethor II and drove him crazy. As Gondor was already right adjacent to Mordor as the first line of defense against Sauron, Gondor was already suffering from the attacks of Sauron.
Yet, after Denethor II started to lose his mind, Gondor had to repel the attacks of Sauron. As Sauron and allies including the orcs, corsairs, pirates of Umbar, the Haradrim from Harad attacked Gondor from multiple routes, Gondor struggled but still withstood.
