Peredhil
or
Elros and Elrond
The marriage of elves and men is a rare event in Middle Earth, the children of one such union were the brothers Elrond and Elros. They were known as the Peredhil, the half-elves, and every peredhil has to choose their fate - The Gift of Men or the The Halls of Mandos.
When elves pass into the uttermost west they arrive at Vala, the undying lands. Here they can linger until eventually, tiring, they take up residence in the halls of Mandos. Men on the other hand have a different fate, and no one knows what happens to them. They are joined up with Iluvatar (Eru) after their passing and their fate is sundered from Middle Earth.
Elros elected to become mortal and became the first king of Numenor, Elrond elected to join the elves.
The movie will not be able to impress upon people the poignancy of such a fate. Those of the peredhil who elect to be mortal will die in a short number of years, leaving with men on their unknown dance with the one. Those who elect will stay and live on in Middle Earth, remembering and knowing that things might have been different.
Arwen Evenstar, the daughter of Elrond, is also one of the peredhil. In the LOTR movie she has already replaced Glorfindel as the rescuer at the Ford of Bruinen. This is consonant with her rank in the elvish hierarchy, she is at least as powerful as Glorfindel. This was something that Peter Jackson must have dwelled upon for awhile before changing. It is likely critical to the movie development, a movie that did justice to the detail in Tolkien's story would be several thousands of hours long. |
