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Originally Posted by Mithalwen
I think your interpretation is more possible with the films because they don't go into the backstory so much and their scenes are much more open - however I still think it unlikely - epecially since Arwen sets out for the havens before the end.
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Mithalwen makes a good point. In the films we see Arwen heading for the boat to Valinor,
after the scene where they have supposedly slept together. Now if we take
Tolkien's statements about Elves to be what we should base our assumptions on, then if they
had slept together, Arwen would be Aragorn's wife and hence a mortal, so she would not be allowed to leave for Valinor.
The act of marriage for an Elf is to sleep with their partner. Once that is done then they are married for eternity. I don't know if this holds for mortals, but if one half of the partnership is Elf then it must mean they become married at that point. So for Elves, there is simply no possibility of sex outside marriage. The text can indeed often be suggestive, but the rules must always be considered. In the case of Beren and Luthien, if they
had slept together then what would be the point of Thingol's trickery? It would all be in vain from his point of view.
When we read the text where it is suggestive of sex and interpret it that way, then that is our own ideas being laid onto it. If it is not a possibility according to Tolkien then the reality is that they probably did little more than holding hands. We might find it impossible to hold out for so long, but why should the people in Arda? Elves have all the time in the world to do whatever they wish, and to hold out for a few more months/years will probably seem like no time at all to them. Though how it must feel to the mortal in the partnership I don't know! Perhaps this explains why men such as Beren and Aragorn have such a sense of determination, they are trying to distract themselves?
Of course, this all depends upon whether we ought to apply Tolkien's rules to PJ's films. But if we do not, then much of what is heart-wrenching about Aragorn and Arwen's tale would become redundant anyway.