Luthien: Maia or Elf.

[Hot, crispy nice hobbit]

I came across this last night when I browsed through the UT:

"Men in Numenor are half-Elves (said Erendis), especially the high men; they are neither the one nor the other. The long life that they were granted deceives them, and they dally in the world, children in mind, until age finds them - and then many only forsake play out of doors for play in their houses..."

Okay... So Erendis, who was the estranged wife of Numenor King Aldarion was an ardent feminist. But other than teaching the lesson that leaving your spouse for ships is a bad idea, it seems to indicate that Half-Elves/Half-men are strangely mixed up: unfamiliar with the world they are borne into.

I ponder the prospect of Luthien living out her last days: Half-Maia/Half-Elf and finally fully Mortal. It is either the sweetest deal of them all, or the worst imaginable...