Elrond or Elros?

[Pitchwife]

Interesting question! Time was when I would have chosen immortality (or, to be precise, 'longevity coextensive with the duration of Arda') for sheer curiosity. As a teenager, I was intensely curious about the distant past and the far future and found it somewhat unfair that I would never get a chance to witness more than a few decades of history - hence the fascination of time travel stories like Wells' Time Machine, especially the last few pages describing the traveller's last trip to a dying Earth populated by utterly alien creatures. Nowadays, however, I suspect that there's a lot more fun in imagining such things than in actually being there.

I don't think I'd become bored for a couple of millennia - not before I'd have travelled all over the planet, learned to speak every language ever spoken fluently, play the guitar to my satisfaction and improvise verse in every metre ever invented, and that's just for starters. (Give me enough time, and who knows, I might even study mathematics in the end!) If there's one thing I envy the Elves for, it's this - time to learn a craft or art to perfection, and then another, and yet another. I also imagine that, knowing they literally have all the time in the world, they would be able to immerse themselves completely into whatever they're doing at the moment, without the fear of missing something else; whereas we mortals always tend to have too many things going at the same time (unless you're a Zen master or some such).

On the other hand, the older I get the more I become curious about what JK Rowlings' Dumbledore called "the next great adventure" - and regardless of whether there is any such thing, I feel it's a bit greedy to want more and more and more of this life, and OK to give it back when I've had my fill.

So where does that leave me? It would be nice to share the fate of Elrond's children and get the best of both worlds, so to speak - live for a few thousand years, and then move on. But if that's not an option, Elros' choice is allright for me.

[Galadriel55]

I've been rereading The Sil again, and I found one of Earendil's lines particularly interesting: "You choose, for I am weary of the world." Similar lines have been said about other elves, but I can't think of any other specific quotes. Your life can be full of whatever you think a "perfect life" should consist of - and yet you can become tired of existence. Makes any sense?

[Galadriel55]

I asked my mom this question, and she said she'd be an Elf. Her reasoning was that she already knows how to be human, so it would be interesting to experience soething new for a change. It wasn't easy to get that straightforward answer out of her. She said that:
1) We are not Halfelven to decide that
2) We don't know how the Halfelven feel and live, and we can't really decide without knowing that
3) We don't know how Elves live - maybe they are actually miserable about their lives
4) We are humans, but humans in ME could be a totally different thing, and we can't make decisions based on that or judge their lives by our lives
5) I'm pondering about unexisting questions of an unexisting world, when I have plenty "real" things to think about

In the end, she decided on Elf, though.

I guess I'm just gonna have to avoid Tolkien discussions with her for a while...

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Do we get this choice in Middle-Earth or in our world?

The point has been made that it would not be desirable to outlive your friends and therefore the decision of Elros is superior. However this only goes if everybody around us gets to live as long as we, so in Middle-Earth the choice of Elros would be nice, but in our world it suffers from the same disadvantages as the choice of Elrond.

Anyways, I'd take the elven path all the way. . . It is the only choice where you are fairly certain what you sign up for, also Elves are simply superior. (Brilliant argument, isn't it?)

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

Do we get this choice in Middle-Earth or in our world?

Well, since I still haven't met any halfelven in our world, I suppose the choice belongs in ME.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Well, since I still haven't met any halfelven in our world, I suppose the choice belongs in ME.

It does make the question a bit more difficult, because In ME we know that Eru exists, so there would actually be a fate after death.

Yet, if you can grow weary of ME, surely you can also grow weary of what comes after? I have never seen Eru's gift as being superior to the fate of the elves, merely different.

However I have always been way more attracted to the splendour of the elves, then the flaws of humans, so I would still chose to join the Elven race. Though both offers are attractive.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

Yet, if you can grow weary of ME, surely you can also grow weary of what comes after? I have never seen Eru's gift as being superior to the fate of the elves, merely different.

Good point! That sure turns the question, doesn't it?

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

Yet, if you can grow weary of ME, surely you can also grow weary of what comes after? I have never seen Eru's gift as being superior to the fate of the elves, merely different.

You know, this really made me reconsider my decision.

If this was in our world, I'd choose man without a doubt. However, we're talking about ME (thanks Rune for bringing this point up!). Maybe I would choose to be an Elf...