Questions on Arwen (mainly): How should I explain it? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

The Only Real Estel · 05-29-2004, 08:09 PM

I've got a question for you guys:

Whenever I watch TTT & RotK with someone who (a) hasn't seen them before or (b) doesn't have the clearest understanding of them I invariably will get a question about Arwen posed to me. Here are the two main questions I get asked:

#1-(TTT)- "Why does Elrond say that after Aragorn dies she will have to linger on in the world until 'all the world is changed'? Didn't she give up her immortal life in FotR?"

To which I usually respond by trying to explain what I thought PJ ment by it (which really isn't the clearest), in this case maybe that she gave up her 'guarenteed immortality' by saying that she wouldn't take one of the ships, but she didn't actually give up her 'conditional immortality'.
I've always been a bit iffy on this situation by the books (I'm starting to read up on it again), but I mainly made up that explanation based on the movies. Can you guys think of a better/clearer way to explain it?

#2-(RotK)- "Why is Arwen's fate bound to the Ring? I mean, everyone's fate is bound to the Ring, but Elrond seems to be meaning more by his comment than that."

How should I explain that?

Also:

TTT (Elrond)- "Why does Elrond stay behind at Rivendell & not take 'the last ship'?"

I usually answer that by saying that he stayed to look after the house, but mostly because all of the higher-up Elves (Celeborn, Galadriel, Elrond, etc.) decided to stay in Middle Earth until the conflict is resolved, even if they wouldn't play a part in it.

I'm not even sure that last explanation makes a lot of sense to me, so could you guys give me any other ideas?

Any help you can give me on any question would be great, just keep in mind that it's usually someone with very limited book knowledge that asks these questions, so the answers can't be to in-depth...

05-29-2004, 08:09 PM	#1
The Only Real Estel Raffish Rapscallion Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Far from the 'Downs, it seems :-( Posts: 2,835	Questions on Arwen (mainly): How should I explain it? I've got a question for you guys: Whenever I watch TTT & RotK with someone who (a) hasn't seen them before or (b) doesn't have the clearest understanding of them I invariably will get a question about Arwen posed to me. Here are the two main questions I get asked: #1-(TTT)- "Why does Elrond say that after Aragorn dies she will have to linger on in the world until 'all the world is changed'? Didn't she give up her immortal life in FotR?" To which I usually respond by trying to explain what I thought PJ ment by it (which really isn't the clearest), in this case maybe that she gave up her 'guarenteed immortality' by saying that she wouldn't take one of the ships, but she didn't actually give up her 'conditional immortality'. I've always been a bit iffy on this situation by the books (I'm starting to read up on it again), but I mainly made up that explanation based on the movies. Can you guys think of a better/clearer way to explain it? #2-(RotK)- "Why is Arwen's fate bound to the Ring? I mean, everyone's fate is bound to the Ring, but Elrond seems to be meaning more by his comment than that." How should I explain that? Also: TTT (Elrond)- "Why does Elrond stay behind at Rivendell & not take 'the last ship'?" I usually answer that by saying that he stayed to look after the house, but mostly because all of the higher-up Elves (Celeborn, Galadriel, Elrond, etc.) decided to stay in Middle Earth until the conflict is resolved, even if they wouldn't play a part in it. I'm not even sure that last explanation makes a lot of sense to me, so could you guys give me any other ideas? Any help you can give me on any question would be great, just keep in mind that it's usually someone with very limited book knowledge that asks these questions, so the answers can't be to in-depth...