Tolkien gives little description of Elrond's personality. In the Hobbit he is described as 'kind', he is often referred to as 'wise', and we know that he is a healer, which to me implies an elf of great compassion. In 'Laws and Customs of the Eldar', Tolkien wrote that power of healing is diminished by the taking of life, and that the great healers among the elves abstained from hunting, and went to war only in extreme necessity. Although Elrond was involved in the wars against Morgoth in the Second Age, he seems to have refrained from direct involvement in the wars of the Third, perhaps because he wished to devote himself more completely to developing his skills as a healer.
Elrond's mixed elven and mortal heritage is an important aspect of his character. Like his father Eärendil, who sailed to Valinor to plead for the cause of elves and men, Elrond is concerned with the future of both peoples. He seems to be more involved in the affairs of other races than many of the elves: he fostered many of the heirs of Isildur, up to and including Aragorn, and kept alive the memory of their inheritance. It is also said that he gathered in Rivendell individuals of wisdom and power 'from among all the kindreds of Middle-earth,' not only the elves. Whether those who attended the Council of Elrond were summoned, or whether they came of their own accord, this gathering seems to represent the way in which the House of Elrond was open to all races.
In the 'Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth', Finrod says of the elves, 'in memory is our great talent'. Bound to the life of Arda, the elves love the world, and in their long lives preserve the remembrance of ages before the living memory of mortal men. But this memory also carries a burden of sorrow, and it gives poignancy to the story of the elves. It seems to me that this is intensified in Elrond. For the elves there is always the hope of reunion with their kindred in Valinor when they pass across the Sea - for even those who have died in Middle-earth may be reborn there. But because of the strain of mortal blood in his family, Elrond suffers a more permanent separation from his brother and from his daughter, both of whom choose mortality. Closely involved with the fate of his brother's descendents, he sees many generations pass away. The choice of his sons is unknown, but if they, like Arwen, chose to remain in Middle-earth as mortals, this would have been of great sorrow to Elrond. Tolkien wrote of the strength of the bond between parents and children among the elves, and described the parting of Elrond and Arwen as 'grievous among the sorrows of that Age ... for they were sundered by the Sea and by a doom beyond the end of the world.'
