Dumbing it down

[davem]

Quick response.

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man

Of course she was surprised. She wasn’t expecting it. If she had been, it would have made her look weaker. They are on the threshold of Rivendell. It doesn’t take much wit to work out (with a little patience) that the flood was invoked by either Elrond or Gandalf, who we subsequently learn is there, or both (as in the book). I can’t recall, but it may even have been explained in the following scene with Gandalf and Frodo. (Lalwendë, in the book it was Elrond and Gandalf that created the flood, not Frodo.)

If you read the translation of her words at the ford its clear she was (or should have been) expecting it to happen:

Nîn o Chithaeglir

lasto beth daer;

Rimmo nîn Bruinen

dan in Ulaer!



('Waters of the Misty Mountains

listen to the great word;

flow waters of Loudwater

against the Ringwraiths!')

Arwen is invoking the Bruinen to attack the Nazgul, so she has been given Elrond's power over the river.

(You can find translations of the elvish in the movies at http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/movie_fotr.htm)