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#1 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,359
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Elrond or Elros?
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!
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#2 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,359
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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.
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#3 | |
Wight
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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:
Quote:
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~|And all will turn, to silver glass. A light on the water, Grey ships pass, Into the West. |~ "Few now remember them...yet still some go wandering, sons of forgotten kings walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folks that are heedless." |
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#4 |
Pile O'Bones
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: The Golden Hall, Meduseld
Posts: 13
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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...
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"Then he kissed her hand, and sprang into the saddle, and rode away, and did not look back; and only thosewho knew him well and were near to him saw the pain that he bore." ~The Passing of the Grey Company- The Return of the King |
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#5 |
Delver in the Deep
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Aotearoa
Posts: 960
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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.
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But Gwindor answered: 'The doom lies in yourself, not in your name'. |
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#6 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,359
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Glad you guys agree with me!
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#7 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: In Eldamar beside the walls of Elven Tirion
Posts: 551
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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 ![]()
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"Hey! Come derry dol! Can you hear me singing?" – Tom Bombadil |
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#8 |
Auspicious Wraith
Join Date: May 2002
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 4,859
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I'm not going to be the combo-breaker: I approve of Elros' choice!
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Los Ingobernables de Harlond |
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#9 | |
Wight
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 145
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Quote:
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. |
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#10 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,359
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You don't have to get bored to get tired of life. Any kind of life.
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#11 | |
Wight
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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! ![]()
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~|And all will turn, to silver glass. A light on the water, Grey ships pass, Into the West. |~ "Few now remember them...yet still some go wandering, sons of forgotten kings walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folks that are heedless." |
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#12 | |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,359
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Quote:
![]() ![]() 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).
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#13 |
Wight of the Old Forest
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Unattended on the railway station, in the litter at the dancehall
Posts: 3,329
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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.
![]() 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! ![]() 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.
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Und aus dem Erebos kamen viele seelen herauf der abgeschiedenen toten.- Homer, Odyssey, Canto XI |
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#14 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,359
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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?
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#15 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,359
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First person to vote ELF
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... ![]() ![]()
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#16 |
Odinic Wanderer
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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?) |
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#17 | |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,359
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#18 | |
Odinic Wanderer
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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. |
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#19 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,359
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Good point! That sure turns the question, doesn't it?
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#20 |
Wight
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Behind you . . . . BOO!
Posts: 222
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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. |
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#21 |
shadow of a doubt
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Back on the streets
Posts: 1,125
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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.
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"You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way" ~ Bob Dylan |
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#22 | |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,359
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Quote:
![]() 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...
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#23 |
Animated Skeleton
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: In the Tower of Elostirion with my new Palantir
Posts: 33
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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.
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