[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

And if someone can explain why that cheek Tuor gets to be counted among the Elves but the Gift of Men is irrevocable for Beren and everyone else in the legendarium, that would be nice to know.

Well, Tuor was raised by elves. So with Manwe needing to balance the books after the whole 'hey dad, I'm sending you a half-elf, half-ainu' debacle, he was the best excuse around.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Also, if Earendil is the first "Middle-earthian" to reach Valinor since the Exile of the Noldor, where did Tuor and Idril go? I sometimes imagine them locked in some timeless bubble on one of the Enchanted Islands amid the weird reality-bending border that the Valar put up, enjoying each other's company for eternity outside the flow of normal time, thus conveniently avoiding both the where and the how questions.

Oh! I actually know this one and you're right. Sorta.

The original, BoLT version of the tale of Tuor and Idril ends differently: Tuor ages, until eventually the sea-longing overcomes him and he sails off alone to the West. Idril arrives too late to stop him. Earendil's voyages are actually an attempt to find Tuor - until he comes back one time and finds Idril has vanished too.

Then, on his final trip, he reaches the Twilight Isles and wakes the Sleeper in the Tower of Pearl - who, in a rejected statement, was said to be Idril. So indeed, 'hanging around in suspended animation in the Enchanted Isles' was a possible fate for (at least one of) Tuor & Idril.

A more likely canonical version comes from the original Quenta which said:

But Tuor alone of mortal Men was numbered among the elder race, and joined with the Noldoli whom he loved, and in after time dwelt still, or so it hath been said, ever upon his ship voyaging the seas of the Elven-lands, or resting a while in the harbours of the Gnomes of Tol Eressea; and his fate is sundered from the fate of Men.

So there you have it: they mucked about in a boat for 20 years until Earendil got his act together.

hS