Elrond or Elros?

[Galadriel55]

You are Halfelven, and you are given the choice to become either mortal, or Elf. Which one would you choose? Elrond's choice, or Elros' choice? It is a life decision, so make sure to choose the right one!

[Galadriel55]

I would choose to be human. I think that Eru's Gift to the Younger Children is REALLY a gift. If you're an Elf, even if you are killed, you don't leave the world, and you're still part of it. It's so tiresome to wait for millenia of years! Men, on the other hand, get to rest after they did their part in the world.

[xMellrynxMaidenx]

Hmm, I suppose I would choose to be human too; so I would choose Elros. Even though elves are far more cooler. :P haha, joking. But I'll stick to what others have said in the past and what you've said, Galadriel55, Elves live for far too long than I would like to. Indeed, I too agree with what you said:

I think that Eru's Gift to the Younger Children is REALLY a gift

[Arendil15]

I would choose Mortality like Elros.....I mean being an elf is cool for like the first couple years...but then your mortal friends all die then you have no friends left in the world...

There is a scene in the Two Towers that decribes what I'm talking about really well....Its the one where Elrond is telling Arwen that once Aragorn dies there will be no comfort left for her......Thats what my decision was based on.......I want to have limited life...that way I can make the best of it...

[doug*platypus]

As cool as it would be to be an elf, I'd have to go with the choice of Elros. I mean, the Numenoreans were closest to the Eldar out of all mortals, and Elros did get to live 500 years or something, right? I think that would be a good balance of having a long life, but not being completely bound to the world. Elrond says he has seen many defeats and many fruitless victories. True, he does live to see the fall of Sauron, but the immortal life of the elves always seems tinged with a measure of sadness and regret even outweighing that of mortals.

[Galadriel55]

Glad you guys agree with me!

[Galadriel]

Interesting question. I would love to be an elf, simply because I could do whatever needs to be done in my own time
On the other hand, elves live for far too long. I suppose I'll get bored and tired after a while.
So, Elros. His name is cooler anyway

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I'm not going to be the combo-breaker: I approve of Elros' choice!

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by Galadriel

On the other hand, elves live for far too long. I suppose I'll get bored and tired after a while.

Perhaps not. I think the "getting bored" that men feel is (at least in Tolkien's secondary subcreation) primarily due to the world-weariness, the seeking elsewither which was one with the "Gift of the One to Men" - that is, it is a natural consequence of the peculiar nature of Men.

Other creatures whose fate is tied to Arda would simply not have that "seeking elsewither" and so, I think, would not grow bored - may not even understand the concept. What is boredom but a sense or feeling that "there is nothing to do". The world, however, is so varied and full and intricate it is hard to imagine that any creature could "really" run out of things to learn and do - if they wanted to. The "feeling" of boredom then, I suggest, is not based in fact, but in tiredness and desire to "move on" - and *THAT* is the essential distinction and gifting of Atani alone. Not shared by Eldar, nor by Ents, nor by Istari/Maier, nor (apparently) by Bombadil, etc.

[Galadriel55]

You don't have to get bored to get tired of life. Any kind of life.

[xMellrynxMaidenx]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

Perhaps not. I think the "getting bored" that men feel is (at least in Tolkien's secondary subcreation) primarily due to the world-weariness, the seeking elsewither which was one with the "Gift of the One to Men" - that is, it is a natural consequence of the peculiar nature of Men.

Other creatures whose fate is tied to Arda would simply not have that "seeking elsewither" and so, I think, would not grow bored - may not even understand the concept. What is boredom but a sense or feeling that "there is nothing to do". The world, however, is so varied and full and intricate it is hard to imagine that any creature could "really" run out of things to learn and do - if they wanted to. The "feeling" of boredom then, I suggest, is not based in fact, but in tiredness and desire to "move on" - and *THAT* is the essential distinction and gifting of Atani alone. Not shared by Eldar, nor by Ents, nor by Istari/Maier, nor (apparently) by Bombadil, etc.

After reading this, I sat down to think for a moment about, Elves in specific, becoming bored. They never really did become bored because they always busied themselves with something else. I remember reading (and I THINK it was something Tolkien had written concerning elves and reproduction), and I have to digress slightly for just a moment, that it was said elves would usually have few children, one to two ( it could be more, I cannot remember, I would have to dig through my saved sites again) children and would then lose interest and busy themselves with other things like crafting different things or how to become a warrior (it most likely didn't say this exactly, but rather they learned how to use swords and shoot bows amongst other weapons).

Having thought about this it has changed my perspective on the longevity of the Elven race; I don't know what side to choose now! Either side has its own ups and downs to take into account.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by xMellrynxMaidenx

Having thought about this it has changed my perspective on the longevity of the Elven race; I don't know what side to choose now! Either side has its own ups and downs to take into account.

That's why this is such an interesting question!
I'll still go for mortality, though. You could also have children, and learn how to use weapons, etc. You just have less time. I think that the significance of humans leaving the world means that they finish their task there. Even if the task itself remains unfinished, the part/role the person plays is complete. Once Men die, they are not connected to the world anymore. Elves never leave the world, even when they die. Their job is never finished/completed fully, no matter how many different things they do (make, destroy, change, learn, etc).

[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?

[Bom Tombadillo]

L. Ron, certainly. I always wanted to be a writer.

On more serious terms, I would be an elf. I don't have enough friends to worry about them dying before I do (I'd probably lose contact with them before then anyway), and I think that the ability to leave ME when I got tired of it, rather than running the risk of dying before that happened, or of wearying of the world and being unable to voluntarily leave the circles of the world (save by suicide, which I don't think Eru, being after all the creation of a Catholic writer, would approve of).

Plus, if not eternity, then at least a very long time in which to hone my skills would just be awesome.

[skip spence]

I'd make the choice of Elrond without a second thought. Maybe I'd come to regret it after thousands of years (eventually even the Valar will envy the Gift of Eru) but that'd just be some other time in the far distant future. Now I want to be young and pretty.

[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...

[Cirdan]

I would choose the Elves, but only under certain conditions: I have an Elven Ring of Power (or the Elessar gem) in Middle-earth, or I live in Valinor. Those are the only counters to world-weariness.