Aragorn and Arwen Are NOT RELATED

[Morthoron]

Excellent post, Form. I'd add to your rep but it seems I must first spread the wealth around.

Consanguinity aside, it must be remembered that Elrond would not consent to marriage between Aragorn and Arwen until the Dunedain retrieved the rightful kingship of Isildur's line. Aragorn wasn't ever going to get the key to Arwen's chastity belt until he was crowned. This is Tolkien at his medieval best, in that a kingship was absolutely necessary to seal a deal between the two Houses (one whose rank and lineage was even greater than the other), and this is an important element of medieval thinking which persisted all the way up to Queen Victoria's progeny (and the congenital defects suffered by the ruling cousins scattered throughout Europe).

The bloodline was indeed important, but nevertheless Aragorn needed to be worthy in a real, political sense, and not just some arbitrary joining of kissing cousins.

[Galadriel55]

Sorry for the wrong data in my last post. I always thought that Elenwe was Noldor. Anyway, I did the math for Aragorn's Maianess. He recieved 1/2exponent67 Maia from the straightest line - ie paternal except for tar-eneldur's sister. That is to say, 1/1475392589676412928! Really, it's at least twice that, since Aragorn's mo was also a descendant, and there have been many other times down the line when kin married kin...

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Really, it's at least twice that, since Aragorn's mo was also a descendant, and there have been many other times down the line when kin married kin...

That's why I said, it's just not possible to answer that question, because there's just too much information missing (and even if you had all the details it would be nightmarishly complicated). The workarounds you can do give you completely different answers, and really neither is valid.

EDIT: That last sentence sounded rather harsh, so let me clarify– I don't mean "you" as in Galadriel55, I mean as in anyone.

[Galadriel55]

[QUOTE=Nerwen;642611]That's why I said, it's just not possible to answer that question, because there's just too much information missing (and even if you had all the details it would be nightmarishly complicated).QUOTE]

That is true, and that's why I said that (1/2to the exponent 67) is the Maiar blood Aragorn recieved from the most direct line - that is to say, the father's father's etc line, including TarMeneldur's sister, who is the only female in the line.