Just a little question.....

[Legolas]

No.

Elrond and his immediate family (brother, mom/dad, and children) were given the choice because they were half-elven - not elven. They got to choose between the fate of men or the fate of the elven because they had both man and elf in their blood.

The children of Elrond got the choice again because Elrond married an elf (Celebrian).

Both Elrond's parents both had human and elven blood - they united the two instances of man-elf unification (Tuor/Idril - Elrond's mom, Luthien-Beren - Elrond's dad).

Arwen didn't give up her immortality - she never had it. She was *not* an elf. She was a half-elf. She was given the choice between immortality and mortality because of her parents - before she fell in love with Aragorn. She would've had to make the decision (whether Aragorn had ever even existed). She had to make the decision when Elrond left Middle-earth (or shortly thereafter).

These were the only instances of a man and an elf.

Elves could not simply choose to give up their immortality - it was their fate and they could not change it.

Only Eru could give/take mortality.

dernhelm is totally wrong. Elrond was not an elf - he was a half-elf who made the choice of immortality. Full elves (which means ALL other elves) could not make that choice. I'm not sure I can stress this enough - in the entire history of Middle-earth, ONLY Elrond, his dad, mom, brother, and three children could choose.

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.

Methinks that an elf can only chose mortality if they are in love with a mortal, or a half-elf.

This is wrong - Luthien was only allowed to be mortal because Eru gave her that gift. It was given because of her great great deeds.

If you're still confused or need quotes from Tolkien, I wrote an article about it. Follow this link:

http://www.barrowdowns.com/faq_halfelves.asp

[ December 08, 2002: Message edited by: Legalos ]