Immortality and the sons of Elrond

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Ivriniel

In the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, there is a particular reference made to Elrond's children--beyond Arwen--as the Sons of the Half Elven. Elrond, I think himself, states that there is a requirement that his children actually be with him for their journey in the West, in order for them to have the Life of the Eldar.

Elladan and Elrohir did not take the Western Road with their father, and I understand that to mean that they made the choice to live a mortal life. They died in Middle Earth, and they had close ties to the Rangers of the North.

By the way -- and I probably said so in this thread before but who can remember and I'm too lazy today to read it all again -- I agree. Elrond did not state this specifically in my opinion, but I agree that that is what he means. That is, I think it's the more natural interpretation of the description within The Lord of the Rings.

And let's say we are correct... for sake of argument

As far I recall Tolkien's refence to the Sons of Elrond staying behind [after Elrond sailed] was left out when the Epilogue to The Lord of the Rings was dropped, but JRRT went on to add two references to this for the second, revised Edition...

... but again if we are correct that this was the 'intended' interpretation, what would Tolkien himself think, I wonder, if he knew how much a letter of his [something he not only did not imagine would become public knowledge, but also would be so easily found on something called the world wide web] was arguably influencing the variant interpretation that the choice of the Sons of Elrond could be extended after Elrond sailed.

Well who can say, but I don't think Tolkien liked spiders in any case.

Apologies for the bad web 'joke'. I wove it in nicely though