Immortality and the sons of Elrond

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

I did not have time to make my post earlier, and did not feel like searching for this thread again. So I left myself a place holder.

Aww. I wanted to see more head-scratching over it.

Originally Posted by Mithadan

OK. I was wrong when I argued that the initial choice of Elrond bound his children and that the "Choice of Luthien" given to Arwen somehow arose after she married Aragorn. This quote also raises the question of whether Elladan and Elrohir made their choice merely by not accompanying Elrond.

The above quote does not resolve potential inconsistencies debated above. But as part of his work published during Tolkien's lifetime, it deserves considerable deference, equal to that accorded to LoTR and more than Letters, The Silmarillion or HoME... Or is it?

Personally, I think that quote has the right of it. Or should. For the sake of fairness, if nothing else. Why should Arwen be made to make her irrevocable choice before her daddy left, when her brothers get some indefinite period to think things over? The words of Tolkien in Letters # 153, here:

The end of [Elrond's] sons...is not told. They delay their choice and remain for a while.

were from a draft letter written in 1954. I like to think the "delay" was perhaps only meant in the sense that the brothers didn't choose when Arwen did, but still decided before Elrond left. If that was indeed the case, then both apparently picked picked mortality.
There's still plenty of room for debate, granted, but it still just doesn't seem right that the standards would be seemingly different among Elrond's children.