Lord of the Rings question

chango

chango

2,500+ Posts
Why does Arwen's dad give her that whole spiel about how Aragorn will eventually grow old and die and she will have to live with her grief forever, etc ? I thought she was giving up her immortal life to be with him. ??
 
Arwen is still an elfmaiden, and even if she eschews the trip to the havens, she will live many, many years. I don't think it is clear that she would just die of natural causes like a human one day. She might still travel with the shipwright to the eternal elvenhome eventually.
Any way you slice it, Aragorn, while of a very long-lived race himself, would pass away long before Arwen Evenstar.
 
Not in general, but Aragon is one of a group of men (the Dunadain [sp]) who live much longer than others.
 
Elrond's "you'll watch him die" speech assumed that she would remain an Elf. As a half-elf, Elrond got to choose his race (as did his brother Elros, who was Aragorn's ancestor). Arwen was the child of a half-elf (Elrond) and a full elf. That Arwen would also be able to make that choice was unclear... and unthinkable to Elrond in any event. That said, the books (and if memory serves, the movies) did state that Arwen was able to make the choice in the end, and at the conclusion she was a mortal human.

FWIW, there were very very few half-elves and the rules which governed their progeny was never well established. Elves stayed in the world forever, and if they were slain they could reincarnate. Humans left the earth on their deaths and what happened to them after was not known to the elves.
 
If you remember from your Silmarillion history....

Aragorn was a descendant of the men of Numenor which was a land rewarded by the Valar to the men who sided with the Elves in the battle against Morgoth. As part of their reward they received life spanning three times longer than that of the other race of men. Sauron corrupted many of the Numenoreans and the Valar destroyed Numenor. Aragorn was the descendant of Elendil who survived the destruction and fled to Middle Earth.
 
Here's another question: If orcs were once elves, how come they made such crappy fighters? I know they were tortured and mutilated but that also meant that they couldn't do any of the cool **** that elves could do?
 
The back story of the Orcs, or their abilities, was never officially settled. Tolkien said they were once dark elves (Dark did not mean evil) who were taken by morgoth and corrupted. The manner of corruption and the rules governing their abilities was never sufficiently established. That said, because they branched from the dark elves they were lesser elves to begin with, and that they were corrupted changed their essense even further.

Understand also that much of the "cool ****" that the elves could do was based off their discipline and training, neither of which the orcs had.
 
Also, for what it's worth, per the appendix Aragorn lives to be 210. Arwen outlives him, and dies of grief and loneliness after he passes away.
 
One other footnote- Aragorn is descended (about 30 generations I think) from Elros, who was Elrond's brother. He chose to be reckoned among Men, whereas Elrond chose to be reckoned among the Elves. Some of the longevity that Aragorn would inherit had been weaned out as the generations passed.

Nice to see some Silmarillion love on this thread.
 
Orcs got shafted big time. They're forced into ****** slave labor since birth, and fight valorously all day at Minas Tirith only to die violent deaths by freaking invincible ghost cowards in a couple of seconds.
 
laktownhorn;

I hope a big *** spider bites your head off. Or, I hope your finger gets bitten off by Gollum.
mad.gif
 
I believe Aragorn was 80 years old during the period in which the LoTR timeline took place (From when Frodo leaves the Shire to the destruction of the ring). The Dunadain had a longer lifespan than normal men
 
OK good -- I'm glad to hear that elves will pop back up when they die.

That scene were the elf bad asses come to fight in the second movie really pisses me off. All those elves die. Just upsets me.
 
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