I must say that this always slightly rankled with me.
In the First Age, it was really, really difficult to qualify as an Elf-Friend. You had to fight against Morgoth shoulder-to-shoulder with the Firstborn, most of your family probably died, you might get given a bit of land by the Eldar but by Iluvatar you had to defend it until its soil was sodden with your life's blood...
....in the third age, all it took was a camping trip.
