Pendell reads the Silmarillion

[Divayth Fyr]

IIRC Glorfindel is a Noldor who returned from the Blessed Realm in the First Age, so part of the reason he has such power is because he saw the light of the Trees. The average Elf who never went to Aman and is just hanging on in Middle-earth because it's their home and they don't want to leave it would not be so terrifying. (See also: Galadriel when she and Frodo spoke in Lothlorien).

It goes even beyond that - he was born in the Blessed realm and saw the Trees, which would put him above almost all elves we could meet in LotR, but (long) after he went to Middle-Earth during the Flight of the Ñoldor, he sacrificed his life to kill a Balrog, protecting the elves fleeing Gondolin. His reward was not only a shortened stay in the Halls of Mandos, but also Manwë deciding to send him back to Middle-Earth (something that basically never happens) with a further power boost, supposedly elevating him to be more like a Maia than a "mere" elf.