Only one lineage?

[Tar Elenion]

I believe what Manwe means is that any product of and Elf/Man marriage will inherit the Gift of Men, (ie 'Mortality' the true death and escape from the circles of the world) *BUT* this does not necessarily mean they will also have a merely mortal lifespan. Dior was about forty when he died, old enough to begin showing signs of aging but there is no mention of any such thing.

There is very little mention of Dior.

Nor do Earendil or Elwing seem to have aged after attaining physical maturity.
IMO, and this *is* only my opinion, the Half-Elven are 'immortal' in the sense they do not age or die naturally *but* if they should be killed or chose to die from grief or weariness they will share the fate of their Mortal parent and pass beyond the circles of the world.

In UT, Line of Elros, endnote 1. it is said:
"In this account, only Elros was granted a peculiar longevity, and it is said here that he and his brother Elrond were not differently endowed in the physical potential of life, but that since Elros elected to remain among the kindred of Men he retained the chief characteristic of Men as opposed to the Quendi: the "seeking else-whither," as the Eldar called it, the "weariness" or desire to depart from the world."
This is an editorial summary.

If true this would explain Arwen and the twins lifespans. According to the judgement of the Valar they were not required to make a final choice of their fate until their father left Middle Earth for Aman. If they wished to be counted among the Eldar they would go with him, if they remained behind they would be accounted among Men. Which means the twins have chosen to become mortal too as they do not accompany their father.

What explans there lifespans is that Manwe granted them 'other doom', they were allowed to live with the "youth of the Eldar" until the time came for them to make their choices.

Note also that Arwen doesn't die of old age but of grief just as her foremother Luthien did the first time, there is no indication she ages at all.

Perhaps because she was not "differently endowed in the physical potential of life" like Elros and Elrond. As it says in the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, LotR App. A:
"Then going to the House of the Kings in the Silent Street, Aragorn laid him down on the long bed that had been prepared for him. There he said farewell to Eldarion, and gave into his hands the winged crown of Gondor and the sceptre of Arnor, and then all left him save Arwen, and she stood alone by his bed. And for all her wisdom and lineage she could not forbear to plead with him to stay yet for a while. She was not yet weary of her days, and thus she tasted the bitterness of the mortality that she had taken upon her."
If like Elros she was not differently endowed, then she could have expected to live a couple more centuries.

I don't quite understand why everybody says Elros' children were not offered the choice too, where does it say that? What does seem clear from the genealogical chart in Unifinished Tales is that all three of Elros' sons chose to be counted as Men for they married and left descendants. His only daughter Tindomiel on the other hand left no descendants nor does she have a date of death - could that mean she chose to be of Elf kind and sailed West? Possibly Elros' children were also given a time limit to make their final choice, perhaps at the time of their father's death?

However it seems clear that theirs is the last generation of Half-Elven to be given the choice. Their children are Men, but still far longer lived than others of their kind. Which means Eldarion will also be accounted a Man from his birth but will have a longer than normal lifespan, even for a Dunedain.

Letter 154:
"The view is that the Half-elven have a power of (irrevocable) choice, which may be delayed but not permanently, which kin's fate they will share. Elros chose to be a King and 'longaevus' but mortal, so all his descendants are mortal, and of a specially noble race, but with dwindling longevity..."

None of Elros descendants had a choice.

[ March 28, 2003: Message edited by: Tar Elenion ]

[ March 28, 2003: Message edited by: Tar Elenion ]