Marriage in Middle-earth II (unhappy)

[amyrlis]

Referring back to Aldarion and Erendis - I think there was a spark there when they first met and given the right nurturing, they could have made a great pair. But I don't think they ever really got to know each other, and by the time they were married, there was already a deep resentment on both their parts - her's for his constant sea-faring, and his for her trying to tie him down. One thing I think Erendis never understood is that Aldarion took to the sea not out of wanting to be away from her, but because he loved the sea so much. She was unwilling to share the love. Also, I felt like there was a lot of family and social pressure for them to wed. Without that pressure, perhaps they may have called off the engagement in time to save themselves. Reading that story frustrated me because I kept thinking "If she would just.." and "Why does he have to.." There seemed to be so much room for compromise, but I guess that after 7 or so years of engagement and so much time apart, they were both set in their ways and were not willing to. Such is the demise of many a relationship. I also found the story to be very different from Tolkien's stories of other love relationships - usually he does not go into so much personal detail. I've often wondered what his influence for its basis was.