Arwen's Grave Choice

[mark12_30]

In the thread Awesome Deaths Bethberry and Lush have poignantly recalled that Arwen's grave is lonely and unsung, and will eventually be forgotten. Bethberry provided this quote (many thanks Bethberry) :

But Arwen went forth from the House, and the light of her eyes was quenched, and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Then she said fairwell to Eldarion, and to her daughters, and to all whom she had loved; and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lórien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came. Galadriel had passed away and Celeborn also was gone, and the land was silent.

'There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring was not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.

Arwen's death (and choice of gravesite) resonates with me too, but I think for different reasons.

Had she remained in Gondor, she would have been honored and revered. Imagine having Arwen for a "Queen Mother"! Certainly her wisdom would not have gone to waste. She would have been consulted often and certainly would have been well-loved and in-demand. She would not have been lonely.

Yet she turned her back on that-- *and* she turned her back on the company of her own flesh and blood. Her children were not taken from her. They were alive and well. They could have been a great comfort to her. Why did she leave the remainder of her family?

Why instead did she go back to "the heart of elvendom on earth"?