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Old 08-06-2013, 05:43 AM   #3
Alfirin
Shade of Carn Dûm
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 435
Alfirin has been trapped in the Barrow!
That argument doesn't really make sense. You might as well say the choice should not have come to Elrond's children on the ground that he chose to be an elf. And I don't recall anyone telling Elros that his choice would affect his children, but his brother's would not. If they had, I'm not so sure he would have chosen as he did (it's one thing to accept mortality for yourself, but if you found out that that choice would also fall on your descendants whether they wanted it or not is another matter. Especially if you had no way of being sure if your kids were going to get the unusually extended lifespan you were, for all you knew, you were condemning your kids to die at and age that, to someone of Elvish upbringing would be barely out of puberty.
I'm almost tempted to see Tolkein's Catholicism peeking through here. The view that death is the supreme gift and that being granted immortality in this flawed and marred world would be a curse, since it would keep one from the better world beyond. It almost seems as if the valar are saying "Elros made the "right" choice, so his children don't need to make the choice again. Elrond made the "wrong" one, so we have to give his descendants the option of making the "right" one.)
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