Marriage!

[Boromir88]

There's a lot of different marraiges in Tolkien's books. The one's that really stuck out the most were with these Teleri men (partially being discussed in another thread, so here's a thread to them).

You have Melian the maia marry Thingol, and Galadriel the Noldor marry Celeborn. So what do these powerful women see in these much weaker Teleri men? Could it be Tolkien trying to show marriages between different classes? Or is it just these romantic, singing, Teleri studs know how to work the women?

Some other marriages I would like to mention Sam and Rosie. I mean 13 kids? They must have really liked it. Also, with the Dunedain, now I believe they did not believe in "intermarriaging" (yes I made that up, I can't think of the right word right now). The kept their marriages strictly within their own race, another point I think Tolkien is trying to show.

Have at it...

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Well, there are certainly a lot of different characters in the stories, hence a lot of marriages. If they were all the same then it would get a bit dull. But you're right, Tolkien put a lot of variety into these unions.

[yavanna II]

Well maybe JRRT was thinkimng of those political marriages, yoou know, like Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI.... the extravagant and the stupid.
Oh wait.... that's a poor example. try the intermarriages of AUstria-Hungary. A bit like Melian & THingol. A rich & powerful man's daughter is married to a monarch of some nowhere to increase those things called bonds. Thingol marrying Mel to have/attain wisdom.

Of course Mel & thing have no parents....

[Saurreg]

I've always wondered why there were unions between human males and elven females and not between elven males and human females...

[yavanna II]

Saurreg, I think I can answer that.

Elf Women are beautiful, more than mortals. Remember the nature of Elves as the fairest?
Elf Men are too proud of themselves(they think they're really cute)to marry mortal maidens.

No mortal was as beautiful as an elf maid save Morwen of the House of Beor.
No elf bothered to court those mortals.
And they didn't want a wife who would eventually die while they live forever.
that is unless they're slain....

Mortal men had guts to court elf maids coz they don't have much pride.
Some of them think that mortals are just, you know, second to the fairest ....
Beren, I think, knew Luthien as fairest since he didn't get a chance to see Idril, Galadriel,etc

And as for Aragorn, I think if Arwen was not Elrond's daughter[let's say Thranduil's] he wouldn't dare. Arwen was part mortal, right?

[Mithalwen]

I always thought that the 13 children was a bit excessive ..... like saying "Sam was 300% heterosexual despite his devotion to Mr Frodo.... "

As for the intermarrying of elves and men ... I might say that all women marry beneath them... lol but you could speculate that compared to the androgynous elven men the mortals might have seemed really hunky and oozing testosterone.... also Melian might have started a genetic tendency to marry down?

Another factor is the enclosed communities that they lived in (Doriath, Gondolin...) like changing schools at sixteen or going to uni and suddenly there are loads of guys around who you don't remember as ten year olds.....much more appealing.... probably a tendency nature encourages to widen the gene pool....