Poor Aragorn, 87 years without any? And Arwen, almost 3 millenia? Ouch... I assume they both kept themselves... ummm 'pristine'? Since they met when Aragorn was young (20?), and he knew she was one hot tamale, he probably waited. And judging from what I read a few posts up about the elvish views on the physical side of love, that Arwen too had waited (did I mention the 3 millenia??).
I suppose this long wait was far from common, most men and hobbits don't live long enough for that kind of torture. But what I find strange also (yet another segue from the topic, sorry) is that Bilbo especially never got hitched. Neither did Frodo. Neither did Gimli, or most dwarven males for that matter. Legolas might have found someone to 'betrothe' later if he made it to Valinor, but even so, that is a loooooong dry spell he endured. What about Saruman, and Gandalf? What about how long the Ents have been without the Entwives? A reeeeaaallllly long time. So does it seem to anyone else like the shorter your lifespan is the quicker you need to buffer the population numbers? And the longer you live, the less 'urgency' you may have? Sorry, but I have to come up with some kind of theory to justify this post! Because, I'll tell you, romantic love or just plain old procreation is ingrained in our DNA, it seems twisted to deprive these characters of their needs for so long.
Happy Valentine's Day! hehehe...
[ February 15, 2003: Message edited by: Tar-Palantir ]