Marriage in Middle-earth II (unhappy)

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Indeed, Sharku, the Ents! I hadn’t even thought of them, but they are an even more tragic example because a whole race is involved. What went wrong? They started out together; Treebeard says:

They walked together and they housed together. But our hearts did not go on growing in the same way.

Partners growing in different directions and finding less and less common ground – how could that gradually increasing tragedy have been avoided? Could they have created a mutual home without giving up their individuality?
(That is, incidentally, often the problem with inter-national, inter-cultural, inter-religious and/or inter-lingual marriages – is there enough common ground to build a home on? If not, the inability to adjust to or even understand one another, perhaps homesickness in addition, is likely to lead to enstrangement and ultimately, separation.)
As to Aredhel and Eol, (whose son is Maeglin, not Maedhros, btw) what doomed their marriage to unhappiness? I think one very important factor was Aredhel’s inability to live contentedly in the present. No matter where she was, she was dissatisfied and wished to be elsewhere. Eol’s fault was treating his wife and his son as if they were his property; in doing so, he lost them in the end, losing his own life as well.
I’m enjoying getting your reactions – please do take a deeper look at the causes, so that we have more than just a list of names here!