...the fates of the Children or the Halls of Mandos...

It was to the Halls of Mandos that the spirits of Elves were gathered to await their respective afterlives, and so Mandos was given its name of the Halls of Awaiting.
After brief respite in the Halls, the immortal Elves would be re-embodied, and return from the Halls to their kin in Aman.

Is your missing wizard the other Blue? I’m choosing to believe that the Dark Wizard is one of the two Blues until I’m shown otherwise. I hope we meet the other one.

The idea of the slain Celeborn returning a la Glorfindel is intriguing. On the one hand, it would account for Celeborn’s centuries long absence – he could hardly help being tardy if he was dead. On the other, IIRC neither the fates of the Children or the Halls of Mandos have been mentioned in RoP (nor in Jackson’s movies), so some setup would be required. I would think that the idea also precludes Glorfindel’s returning in same way, about which I am indifferent.

I wonder which Celeborn will appear: the Sinda whom Galadriel met in Doriath or the Teler born in Valinor. His ancestry probably will be as important to RoP’s story as Gil-galad’s, as in not at all. That is, we don’t need more unless we see a flashback of Galadriel and Celeborn’s meeting or life together.

It will be interesting to see how the Galadriel/Arondir relationship develops. It will surely be platonic but no doubt there will be people shipping them anyway.

Arondir needed rescuing from his berserker despair and a reason to keep going; he also needs a story. I’m happy that the writers didn’t immediately sweep Bronwyn under the rug, though she may be forgotten next season. I really liked Bronwyn.

Galafriel’s mention of her husband is like Elendil’s first season allusion to his son Anarion: a tiny strand laid down and waiting for its time to be woven into the whole. It looks like Anarion’s time will come next season. Maybe we’ll get some casting news in a year or so.

Given the context of 2024, I believe the creatives are right to emphasise the undying nature of Elves and Mans desire for immortality, that Sauron will pray on; but not to go any further. However to return to the central point. Celeborn will need to be shown to have entered the Tibetan Bardo and after an age return with a message of the Valar.

My own view would be that it would be most suitable for us to see Celeborn deep in the past with Galadriel and then only as an end game with that message, the message being more important than his return. Otherwise you have to start explaining more and more to the audience about the nature of Elven rebirth, leave it totemic and bitter sweet.

If it's going to go the way of reincarnation, then the purpose is paramount - a message, for example, as you say. Although Tolkien didn't provide much information, his re-working of Glorfindel indicates that he wasn't sent back just to say hello to some old mates - there was a task or tasks to perform. Speculating further, perhaps Celeborn will impart that a realm in Lórien must established, as a bulwark against Sauron in the centuries to come; or that she will be tested with a(nother) great temptation at some point... and so on.

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I"m not sure that there is much point to introducing Glorfindel into the show now that it's actually past the War of the Elves and Sauron (or Adar, in this case). I suppose he can still perform a role in the Councils of the Wise and in the Last Alliance of Men and Elves. In the History of Middle-earth, though, he doesn't have much to do in the Third Age until the fall of Arthedain.

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Agreed. If it's going to go the way of reincarnation, then the purpose is paramount - a message, for example, as you say. Although Tolkien didn't provide much information, his re-working of Glorfindel indicates that he wasn't sent back just to say hello to some old mates - there was a task or tasks to perform. Speculating further, perhaps Celeborn will impart that a realm in Lórien must established, as a bulwark against Sauron in the centuries to come; or that she will be tested with a(nother) great temptation at some point... and so on.

Hi OS I know you were responding to Felagund but I came back to read his response to me.

Neither of us is suggesting Glorfindel should be reintroduced into ROP but simply suggesting using the professor's final thoughts on Glorfindel be applied to the logic of Celeborns return.

I just wish the seasons appeared yearly rather than biennially. It’s a long time to wait but also, I’m not getting any younger.

Perhaps Celeborn is going to get the Glorfindel treatment? Something along the lines of slain at some point in the First Age (the Nirnaeth or one of the sackings of Doriath) and then re-embodied and sent back, perhaps with some kind of message from Valinor for Galadriel?

I've also hit the limits of speculation, I reckon!

The Eldar have a different concept of Time than mortals. When I first read LOTR I was very confused about Celeborn staying behind in Middle-earth when Galadriel left at the end of the Third Age. But what's an odd century or six when you have all of eternity (or at least until the End of Arda)?

But Celeborn said: ‘Kinsman, farewell! May your doom be other than mine, and your treasure remain with you to the end!’

The only hint we get is in Ceeborn's words to Aragorn when they part:

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For whatever reason, Celeborn is doomed to remain in Middle-earth when Galadriel sails west, even though he quickly "wearies" of his lordship and goes to Rivendell for his remaining years.

As for why Tolkien made that literary choice, it is to set up the ending of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen.

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My point is not that he made that choice but why he wrote it that way. Arwen dies in an empty Lothlorien, wherever Celeborn is.

What fascinates me about the professor is that every main character Bilbo and Frodo's story meets has deceased spouses Elrond, Thranduil, (Dwarven wives are not mentioned) and then Elrond, Treebeard, Theoden, and Denethor.

Unions are only used where there is a specific dynamic Beren, Tuor, Turin, Aragorn and Faramir the latter of which was uncharacteristic and well written in the books.

It exists in the shire but only to reflect the zeitgeist of cosy domesticity in the English Countryside.

For me, the most undeveloped union is Thingol and Melian and the character of the former which suffered from the shifting and evolution of the story. One of the most nuanced characters was the mother figure of Turin. If the story of Hurin had been fully developed as he envisioned it; as the central story of the late First Age, I suspect she would have become more and more important in driving the narrative's emotion.

One could argue this has nothing to do with the ROP. And yet the writers are aware of it in the form of Durin and Disa which is a very worthwhile extrapolation and use of the dynamic.

'Still, I think it was very sad when Master Elrond left Rivendell and the Lady left Lórien,' said Elanor. 'What happened to Celeborn? Is he very sad?'

'I expect so, dear. Elves are sad; and that's what makes them so beautiful, and why we can't see much of them. He lives in his own land as he always has done,' said Sam. 'Lórien is his land, and he loves trees.'

'No one else in the world hasn't got a Mallorn like we have, have they?' said Merry. 'Only us and Lord Celeborn.'

'So I believe,' said Sam. Secretly it was one of the greatest prides of his life. 'Well, Celeborn lives among the trees, and he is happy in his Elvish way, I don't doubt. They can afford to wait, Elves can. His time is not come yet. The Lady came to his land and now she is gone; and he has the land still. When he tires of it he can leave it. So with Legolas, he came with his people and they live in the land across the river, Ithilien if you can say that, and they've made it very lovely, according to Mr. Pippin. But he'll go to Sea one day, I don't doubt. But not while Gimli's still alive.'

I've wondered the same - even though I see the literary function that Voronwë points out re: 'The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen'.

I take a fraction of bittersweet comfort from the abandoned 'Epilogue' to LotR, where Sam and his eldest child Elanor speak of Celeborn and the Elves (HoMe IX):

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Sam's explanation of Celeborn's situation, despite him having (temporarily) lost his treasure, is such a lovely Hobbitish way of putting something so complex, so clearly.

Whereas the LOTR took 12 years to write were published and are the author's final thoughts on the matter. It may have scholastic interest and Christopher believed he was authorised to do so, but I could never see JRRT wanting me to read his early drafts.