[Macalaure]

Originally Posted by alatar

Someone had to 'show up' to save the day, and I guess PJ wanted to show that there was still some tie to the past, where Elves and Men fought Sauron together, and so we get Elves. They're Galadhrim because, well, did we meet any Elf other than Elrond and Arwen in Rivendell? PJ won't create another 'main character' (i.e. Erkenbrand), and so had to use what he had on hand, like Haldir.

Canonicity aside, it is also a very good feeling that elves and men fight alongside each other in the Third Age. At least that's what I felt.
Did Haldir have to be a 'main character'? If we didn't need him at Helm's Deep, there's no reason to even tell his name in Lórien. And mixing Elladan and/or Elrohir into some of the Rivendell scenes wouldn't have been such a big thing.
Ah, but I can't change what has been already done...

Whether it's 100 or 1000, my point is that if there are 200 elves, they either are terrible at fighting or something just doesn't make sense. My guess is that there are 1000 elves here, with which Aragorn could have made the Uruks think twice about taking Helm's Deep, if used effectively. Think about how Legolas fights, and even 'halve' that ability. It's such a great battle scene in a visceral way and I hate to continually be pulled out of the movie by thinking about how ineffectual the elves are.

Well, they are terrible at fighting. I forgot to write that in the last post, but this quite annoys me, too. They should be better fighters even as the common rohirric soldiers, not to mention children and old men, but they do nothing but shoot some arrows and then die. I think it's due to the meaning of this particular battle. It is supposed to be the heroic hour of the Rohirrim and their king Arag..*cough* Théoden, and not of the elves. So all they can do in the end is die an honorable death - as Haldir exemplary does.
And comparing anybody's fighting to Legolas' fighting is just not fair - he has the quiver of plenty...

Yes (not that I'm an expert either). They can shoot over the wall and defenders safely and pour arrows into the attackers. It's not until the wall is breached (which we will soon see) that they will be in any danger - and that mostly from their leader.

And neither is Peter Jackson, I would say.
As they can shoot over the wall into the attackers, so can the attackers in turn since the wall doesn't protect them in their position. But this is not really important, I guess.