Thank you.
No.
She didn’t. That is a conceit of the movie, that she would have to consciously give up her immortality (Arwen, as Elrond’s daughter, was 1/4 human). In the book, her despair at Aragorn’s death was such that she no longer wished to live. Essentially she committed suicide, which any Elf could do at any time (they were not immune to death).
It was one of the 7 that Elendil brought to Middle-Earth. Three were in Arnor and have been lost. The other four were in various parts of Gondor. The Master-Stone was lost, but the other three, the Ithil-Stone, the Anor-Stone, and the Orthanc-Stone still existed. Sauron took the Ithil-Stone when he captured Minas Ithil, the Orthanc-Stone was hidden in Orthanc where Saruman found it and the Anor-Stone was in Minas Tirith where Denethor was Steward.
No, the most Tolkien ever said on the issue is that they’re probably all gone.
I dunno about the third question. I never really paid attention to the lovey-dovey stuff when I read the books.
It’s not just a film thing. In the Appendices (A, I think) King Elessar suggests on his deathbed that Arwen should reject her choice and head into the West. She says that that choice is no longer available to her. She had the same decision to make as the other Half-Elven: Elrond chose to be an Elf, his brother Elros chose to be a Man. I don’t think we know what choice Arwen’s two brothers made.
Also, Elves were not immune to a kind of death, but they could not leave the circles of the world until the end of Arda. They get to hang around the Halls of Mandos, for a time, and then can be reincarnated into a new body. Men and other mortals go elsewhere, a place unknown to the Elves. Luthien* chose to become mortal, as did Elros and Arwen.
What she says is, “there is now no ship that would bear me hence”
True, she gave up the choice to be immortal in the standard elven manner. But there’s no signal she would ever just die of old age. Indeed, at the time of Aragorn’s death, “she was not yet weary of her days.” (and he was 210). Afterward, “the light of her eyes was quenched” and she chose to die.
It also suggests that the Doom of Men is not one’s own death, but the death of loved ones. When she says she must abide by the Doom of Men, I believe she is talking about Aragorn’s death because of the wording “…abide by the Doom of Men whether I will or nil: the pain and the silence.”
I could be wrong, but I do think it’s at least ambiguous. Arwen certainly isn’t mortal in the usual sense of it at the time of her death.
Similarly, didn’t Aragorn only die because he was tired of living?
In a sense. Aragorn was a Dunedain, and, as such, was much longer-lived that a normal Man (recall that he’s in his 60s or 70s during the books, and still hale and hearty), but he wasn’t immortal in the way that an Elf was. But, as noted in the Encyclopedia of Arda:
Sort of. He chose to die before he had to, because he didn’t want to get old, but it’s clear he WILL get old and die of natural causes.
Arwen pleads for him to keep living a while longer and he answers, “[would you] have me wait until I wither and fall from my high seat unmanned and witless?”
Elessar also notes that their son Eldarion was by then “a man full-ripe for kingship.” He recognizes that it’s time to pass the torch, er, sceptre to the next generation.
So he basically had a Football Season Is Over moment.
I’ve never really bought that Arwen was actually able to make the Choice of Luthien. Her first cousins, the sons of Elros, resented their father’s choice of mortality, but were not able to choose otherwise. It seems odd, to me, that the children of Elrond would be able to choose. I think that the choices of Elrond and Elros irrevocably bound all of their lines.
Now, she may well have wanted to make the choice to be counted among humans, to go with Aragorn to whatever afterlife awaited him. But it’s not like she’s the first lover whose wishes were thwarted by death, nor the last.
Wait, I don’t think that’s right. It was a number of generations before Elros’ descendants went all immortality-crazy.
I thought Aragorn was almost 90 at the time on the War of the Ring
Yes, he is 88 - in fact, as I’ve just learned from checking The Tale Of Years, his 88th birthday is when he first meets Gandalf the White.
Nitpick: he is a dunadan (and it’s Bilbo’s nickname for him); dunedain is the plural.
Without actually checking the books, it’s something along the lines that human destiny is considered superior - death being the Gift Of Man and all that - so those of mixed blood can choose to be human even if born an elf, but not the other way round.
If Arwen doesn’t actually make the choice, then the point about being unable to sail west is rather moot, as she’d be reincarnated in Valinor anyway.
If I can tack a new question on here. Fellowship was on TV last night, and for some reason the thought occurred to me. It’s been a long time dince I read the books, but as I understand it both Gandalf and the Balrog were Maia? So when the Balrog confronted Gandalf, would it have recognized that it was facing a fellow Maia, and hence was in for a battle, or did it think that it was about to slaughter some impudent mortal?
Well, Gandalf didn’t recognise the Balrog as Mair, so there’s no reason to suspect that it worked any differently the other way. Gandalf sensed a great power in the Balrog, but even when he saw it briefly he thought it might be a mountain troll. He first identified it only after he had a clear view of it. IOW he identified it by physical appearance. Since Gandalf appeared indistinguishable to a man, the Balrog had no way of knowing he was anything else.
I would guess that the Balrog did realise Gandalf’s true nature during the confrontation on the bridge, all that boasting about being a “servant of the secret fire” was a bit of a giveaway. But up to that point, there’s no reason to suspect the Balrog knew what Gandalf was.
ETA: Balrog’s aren’t invincible, even to Mortals. The Balrog would have been aware that Gandalf was a powerful wizard from their initial fight over the door, so it’s doubtful it would have just assumed it was going to casually slaughter some mortal. It certainly would have expected to win, but it wouldn’t have been as easy as you seem to suggest.
Even if it had realized, all Maiar are not equal. Gandalf is explicitly said to be the wisest of the Maiar, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the most powerful. And even what native power he had was suppressed by the form he had taken (he’s somewhat less suppressed when he comes back as the White, but still not fully unleashed).
I agree with all of this, but wanted to verify, are you including Elves as Mortals? As to me no mortal ever defeated a Balrog just a pair of the most powerful Elves of Gondolin and otherwise Gandalf and the Host of the Valar.