Interesting turn this thread took…but let’s tackle it. (BTW, while Tolkien drew realistic if noble characters, including ones with sexuality, did you realize that there is only one relationship in over 6,000 years of Middle Earth history that Jerry Falwell could possibly take exception to, that being when Turin and his sister, not knowing they are siblings, fall in love with each other?
Okay, Gilthoniel was, AFAIK, an alternate name for Varda AKA Elbereth, who was basically Hera to Manwe’s Jupiter in the demigod pantheon, neither elf nor (hu)man. I don’t recall any elves bearing that name.
There are only five marriages between elf and man recorded, and two of them are not quite that (full-blooded elf marries full-blooded human).
(1) Beren and Luthien. Okay, Beren is a man. Luthien is the daughter of Thingol Greycloak, elf king of Doriath, but her mother is Melian, one of those demigods just referred to, who had taken on elvish body for love of him, but retained her full stature as demigoddess. Luthien chooses to become human and dies with Beren. (Incidentally, they are consciously modeled after idealized characterizations of Tolkien and his wife; Luthien and Beren are in real life inscribed on their tombstones.)
(2) Tuor and Idril. Tuor is man, Idril elf, daughter of Turgon king of Gondolin. Tuor chooses elf-life and passes into the West with Idril.
(3) Earendil and Elwing. Earendil is Tuor and Idril’s son; Elwing is Beren and Luthien’s granddaughter, their son Dior having married an elf. So he is 50:50 elf/human, she is 62.5% elf, 25% human, and 12.5% demigod.
(4) Imrazor and Finduilas. He is prince of Dol Amroth in Gondor, she is a Silvan elf. She runs away after bearing him a son. (This is in Unfinished Tales but alluded to in the conversation between Legolas and the current Prince of Dol Amroth in the third book of the trilogy,)
(5) Aragorn and Arwen. Sounds simple, man and elf, but isn’t. First, Arwen is granddaughter of Earendil and Elwing, being their son Elrond’s daughter. (Her other grandparents are Galadriel and Celeborn, both full-blooded elves.) Second, Aragorn has a strain of elvish blood too, being descended from Elros, the brother of Elrond who became first King of Numenor. This is reinforced by the Numenorean rule that the heir had to marry back into the line of Elros.
Now, the half-elven as enumerated by Tolkien are:
- Earendil, passed oversea and turned into the evening star
- Dior, killed in inter-elf warfare
- Elwing, passed oversea and apparently turned into a seabird
4-5. Elwing’s two brothers, who were killed as children by two of Feanor’s sons - Elrond, resident as an elf in Rivendell until after the War of the Ring, then passed oversea
- Elros, became man and lived for 500 years
- Arwen, chose to be human
9-10. Elrond’s two sons. IIRC, no details given
These are the only ones with “choices.” Apparently if you have the choice and choose human, your offspring are automatically considered human and don’t get the choice; if you choose elf, they do.
Evidently, from Tolkien’s usage, you are considered a “special” individual but fully whatever (elf, human) according to what you choose.
