Are All Half-elves Given a Choice of Kindreds?

Q: Are All Half-elves Given a Choice of Kindreds?

ANSWER: In The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion it is said that Elrond and his brother Elros were rewarded by the Valar with a special gift, the freedom to choose whether they would belong to Elven-kind or to Human-kind. Elros chose to be mortal and became the first King of the Numenoreans. Elrond chose to be of Elven-kind and he was made a lord of great power and wisdom.

Many readers have asked through the years if all Half-elves were given this special choice and, if not, whether they were born mortal. Anyone who has played one of the popular fantasy role-playing games may be familiar with the idea of all Half-elves being required to choose to be of “Elven ways” or “Human ways” — but this is a role-playing game convention.

In Unfinished Tales there is a passage which touches on the subject of the natural life-spans of the Half-elven brothers but it does not fully answer the question:

In this account, only Elros was granted a peculiar longevity, and it is said here that he and his brother Elrond were not differently endowed in the physical potential of life, but that since Elros elected to remain among the kindred of Men he retained the chief characteristic of Men as opposed to the Quendi: the “seeking else-whither,” as the Eldar called it, the “weariness” or desire to depart from the world….

The “rule” was not really made clear until Christopher Tolkien published The Lost Road and Other Writings, the fifth volume of The History of Middle-earth. There in an early version of “Quenta Silmarillion” we find the following passage:

…Then Manwe gave judgement and he said: ‘To Earendel I remit the ban, and the peril that he took upon himself out of love for the Two Kindreds shall not fall on him; neither shall it fall upon Elwing who entered into peril for love of Earendel: save only in this: they shall not ever walk again among Elves or Men in the Outer Lands. Now all those who have the blood of mortal Men, in whatever part, great or small, are mortal, unless other doom be granted to them; but in this matter the power of doom is given to me. This is my decree: to Earendel and to Elwing and to their sons shall be given leave each to choose freely under which kindred they shall be judged.’

Although some people have argued that the omission of the critical ruling concerning those born of mortal blood vanished from later texts, it is quite plain that Tolkien never wrote of other half-Elves such as Dior (whose mother Luthien was mortal at the time she gave birth to him), Galador and Gilmith (the children of Imrazor and Mithrellas) being given a choice of kindreds. Despite the fact that Dior claimed the throne of Doriath as Thingol’s Heir, he was born mortal and could only be mortal.

This is one of those fannish arguments that will probably never die down, but Tolkien seems to have been very consistent in maintaining that the special grace extended to Eärendil, Elwing, and their sons Elrond and Elros was exceptional. Only their family was allowed to choose to be either mortal or immortal, and once made the choice was irrevocable. Hence, Elros’ descendants could not choose for themselves — and Elrond’s children were given a choice apparently because they did still have mortal blood in their veins.

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