Had Arwen sailed for elvenhome, whither Aragorn?

[Child of the 7th Age]

Thenamir -

Split up Aragorn and Arwen.....tell me it ain't so!

What would have happend to Aragorn had Arwen indeed decided to sail for Elvenhome instead of choosing mortality? What kinds of choices would Aragorn have made?

This is an extremely interesting "what if" that's worthy of being closely examined. So good for Esty! But before we get hacking away at the exact query you've raised, I'd like to put forward another question directly tied to this, which I think has even wider repercussions.

Whatever changes Arwen's refusal would have made to Aragorn or his kingship, these actually pale in comparison to the enormous impact that such a decision would have had on the human race as a whole, even extending to the music of Eru itself. To put it bluntly, the marriage of Arwen and Aragorn represents the culmination of certain ideas and developments that were present since Creation. It is a critical theme in Tolkien's story. If you or I were to pull on that thread so that it unravelled, you would not only be changing Aragorn's destiny, you would be changing the entire destiny of the human race as Tolkien and, by implication, Eru envisioned it.

Let me back up a minute. From the very beginning, Elves were regarded as the "Firstborn" and Men as the "Followers". In the original music, it was intended that eventually Elves would fade and that Men would take their place. Repeatedly in the Letters, Tolkien tells us that Elves and Men represent difference aspects of the Humane. It is Elves who are the true subcreators, who represent....

the artistic, aesthetic, and purely scientific aspects of the Human nature raised to a higher level than is actually seen in Man (Letter 181)

Again in Letter 153:

....Elves are certain aspects of Men and their talents and desires, incarnated in my little world. They have certain freedoms and powers we should like to have, and the beauty and peril and sorrow of the possession of these things is exhibited in them...

It is the end of the Third Age. The Elves sail West. The beauty of Lorien recedes and we are left with only memories. Every creature other than man, certainly all those connected with the realm of faerie, departs or fades. When I read the final chapters, I am often left with a sense of overwhelming sorrow. But what makes this bearable, what makes LotR a book we remember, is that Tolkien takes the story beyond this sadness to sew tiny seeds of hope or estel. Thus, we have the mallorn tree blossoming in the Shire and Elanor born with hair of gold, symptomatic of the fact that the creativity of the Elves is still with us.

The single glowing symbol of this is the bodily and spiritual union of Aragorn and Arwen. The promise of Beren and Luthien has been reaffirmed. The Firstborn have departed but they have left the gift of subcreation that, however dilluted, has been passed down in our own bloodlines.

Take away Aragorn and Arwen and you might as well rewrite the entire legendarium! As Tolkien says in Letter 153:

The entering into Men of the Elven strain is indeed represented as part of the Divine Plan for the ennoblement of the Human Race, from the beginning destined to replace the Elves.

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Stepping back and looking at the personal implications, I think you're right. If Arwen had packed her bags and departed for the Havens, or perhaps if the two had never met, Elessar would likely have ended up with Eowyn. And what a turn of events! It would not have worked. Tolkien is very certain about this, describing Eowyn's first feelings for Aragorn as a "theme of mistaken love". (Letter 161)

I love Eowyn. I actually find her more understandable and compelling than Arwen. But the Eowyn who fell in love with Aragorn was someone grasping at straws. She fell in love with a shadow, perhaps a dream of what a man should be. But I don't believe she saw or understood the real Aragorn who would have been her mate. Once married, the reality would have hit. And I shudder to think of what might have happened.

Yes, Aragorn had enough inner gumption to pursue goodness with or without Arwen. I believe he would have made it through the Ring War with Gandalf's guidance as well as his own realization of what Sauron represented. But once the war was over, once peace had come, it would actually have been harder to keep on the path. The pressures would have subsided. His marriage to Eowyn would have been a disaster, and he could more easily have fallen prey to some of the less admirable quality traits that we've seen in some of the earlier kings--those of Numenor, Arnor, and Gondor.

If Elessar wins the war, it is Arwen who helps to define the peace: themes of fertility and tranquility and the creativity of the Elves. (Frankly, in traditional literature, that is often the role that women play. ) So Arwen's presence is essential for the era of peace and goodness that was to ensure. Get rid of her and I see Gondor falling down the slippery slope once more, even with Elessar's rule.