Elwing's choice ... because of Luthien
 

Re-reading recently the story of the Voyage of Earendil, I came across something that utterly perplexed me.

When offered the choice by the Valar, Earendil asks his wife to make the choice. I just wonder how Luthiene influenced her choice.
Did Elwnig desire to belong to the same kindred as her grandmother? (kind of snobbish [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] )
Or was she scared of Luthien's fate and thus saving her husband andnherself from the unknown, that is after death?

Sound ideas, please!

[ March 28, 2003: Message edited by: akhtene ]

Both of your ideas sound fairly valid. It might also be that since the elves elves lost Luthien, their beloved, Elwing was making sure that they gained some as well as losing some of their number. Just a thought, probably not true. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

I had assumed that it meant that Elwing had loved Luthien dearly and wanted to be of her kin, that is, an elf.
But the other interpretations are very interesting, and quite valid.

I don't think Elwing could have known her grandmother, according to Tolkien's chronologies Beren and Luthien die before Elwing is born.

However Elwing grows up surrounded by Elves of Doriath who undoubtedly told her a great deal about her grandmother, how much they loved her and missed her and how like her Elwing was. Add in all the Elven kin she meets in Aman, including possibly her great grandmother Melian still grieving for the daughter she's lost. And one can see how Elwing might have felt she just couldn't put them all through that kind of loss all over again.

Besides she may have simply identified more with her Elven side, and maybe she liked what she'd seen of Aman and her kin there.