questions of population in the silmarillion

[carlrodd]

the interesting thing to me is that tolkien keeps referencing how few of the eldar remained after beleriand was broken. also, by the time of the last alliance, ost-in-edhil would have been no more. the only actual haven of noldor in middle-earth would have been lindon, with a few in rivendell. it always seemed so strange to me then that apparently so many were mustered for the war with sauron.