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Old 12-11-2002, 04:37 AM   #15
Voronwe
Shade of Carn Dűm
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Gondolin
Posts: 413
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Manwe is wrong too - Luthien did not make the choice, nor did the Valar give her the choice. Mortality is the gift of Eru - only he can give it or take it away.
Not so. It states pretty clearly in the Silmarillion that Luthien was given the choice between mortality and immortality by Manwe (who had consulted Eru on the matter). Needless to say, she chose mortality.

Quote:
These were the choices that he gave to Lúthien. Because of her labours and her sorrow, she should be released from Mandos, and go to Valimar, there to dwell until the world's end among the Valar, forgetting all griefs that her life had known. Thither Beren could not come. For it was not permitted to the Valar to withhold Death from him, which is the gift of Ilúvatar to Men. But the other choice was this: that she might return to Middle-earth, and take with her Beren, there to dwell again, but without certitude of life or joy. Then she would become mortal, and subject to a second death, even as he; and ere long she would leave the world for ever, and her beauty become only a memory in song.
It is true that it was effectively Eru and not the Valar that were offering the choice, since the Valar did not have the authority to change the fates of Elves or Men. However, there was a clear choice here. Mortality was not forced upon Luthien, except in the sense that her love for Beren almost made her choice a foregone conclusion.
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