Elfangor for sure accentuates the negative in his book. I think going through each book with the "unreliable narrator" magnifying glass would be fascinating. What details are they including to warp our perspective? What details are they leaving out?

and this line: and it was Elfangor's affection, not his heroism, that defined him for me. sums up his character beautifully. He was introduced to us as a somewhat shallow heroic type, but earned the title through his affectionate actions later on.