On the death of Arwen

I recently read through LOTR again, this time paying more attention to the final fate of the characters. It was certainly sad to see the ultimate, but inevitable demise of some of the major players. However, the tendency was that they passed on with some added detail of reverence. For example, when Merry and Pippin passed on, they were "set beside the bed of the great king." Sam, Legolas, and Gimli eventually got their one-way tickets to the West. Galadriel, Gandalf and Frodo had already gone there. But Arwen really seems to get the short end of the stick.

First, she endures the pain of the loss of her Eldar kin. Galadriel, a major figure in her life is now gone, as is her father Elrond. She sacrifices passage to the west in order to be with her love Aragorn. At the same time, she has more or less renounced her Eldar kin by choosing mortality over immortality, again for love of Aragorn one would assume. But he finally passes on, and now she is yet again in great pain (although, one would assume she lived happily with Aragorn). So she says goodbye to her children and departs Minas Tirith to return to Lorien. At this point she has chosen to be in a place symbolic of the Eldar, yet she has also renounced them. Why doesn't she stay with her children? Well, it seems she is too sad to continue living. We can only assume her arrival at Lorien isn't a very pleasant one. The magic is now lost as the rings are gone. The Mallorn-leaves are falling before spring-- not a good sign. She is there alone, and finally dies alone. And the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men. Ouch!!!!!! But why would that be so? Aragorn's legacy is certainly maintained. Why not that of the Queen? Its also interesting that these developments are included in the Appendices.

I wonder why Tolkien had Arwen pass without veneration, and in such a painful manner. This seems uncharacteristic to me. One obvious argument is that her passing represents the unequivocal passing of the Eldar, and the emergence of the dominion of men. But hasn't this point already been made in no uncertain terms?

One thing that really interested me was Aragorn's last words to Arwen: "In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! we are not bound forever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory. Farewell!"

Could this be the gift in death that the Silmarillion spoke of, perhaps a notion that mortal man has life beyond death, after all? This is the only place I can recall reading about the potential for mortal man's life after death. Or maybe my interpretation is off?

Anyway, I found the passing of Arwen perhaps the saddest part, for this being my most recent reading of the LOTR.

I'm wondering what some other's thoughts are on the points I made.

Earendil

Great post... I've thought about this too... and I really don't have much to add. After Aragorn's passing, with what happens to Arwen... don't you begin to lose the parallelism with Beren and Luthien from that point on?

Arwen's legacy is passed on as well. It is through her that Aragorn's descendants inherit the Elven-realms of the West and the (renewed) line of Luthien is continued (holy blood).

She also dies with the hope of being reunited with Aragorn in the 'elsewhither' that Men are gathered to. This is parallel to that of Luthien and Beren. Luthien was granted the gift of Men, that she might again reunite with Beren after their second deaths. If Arwen had chosen the fate of the Eldar she would have no hope of being with Aragorn again (at least while Arda endured). I think part of her final pain might be that 'doubt' that there is someplace for the fea of Men beyond death. That is she did not know for certain what happened after death as no Man had returned to say. Elves 'knew' what happened to them (rebirth or re-embodiment) for there were those who had returned.

Welcome to the board, Tar Elenion...

Arwen leaving Minas Tirith:

she & Aragorn lived there for over 100 years before he died, maybe the memories were just too painful...
but then returning to Lorien wouldn't be much better.

also, in the Lorien section of FotR, it says that Arogorn "left the hill of Cerin Amroth & came there never again as a living man." As a living man? i'm no expert on what happens to dead men in Middle-Earth (must read Sil...) but doesn't it seem odd that Tolkien adds the condition of "living" to that sentence? in his style, wouldn't it be appropriate to the style to say something along the lines of "he left the hill of Cerin Amroth, never to walk upon its green slopes again?" or something equally final? it just sticks out in my mind that Tolkien would write that specific line about Aragorn & the grave of his beloved.

aryne *

PS - noldo, i love the icons, but Arwen just doesn't look like herself. but i'll use her anyway...

I think the Arwen-icon looks strange too... But don't worry, it looks much better than any of the other models I made of her...

I think the lips and eye-lashes are sweet...

That's just the way I imagined her to be... Anyone has their own picture of Sweet Arwen and Fair Eowyn.

I don't understand why Aragorn didn't find the time to ever go back to Lorien. It was the former home of his wife, surely he could have taken a vacation or two there at some point

actually, i was referring to after death. men have spirits, & if they are "the only truly free race" as someone on Entmoot has called them, then i don't see why his spirit couldn't have chosen to return. he did say that Cerin Amroth was where his heart would remain, & it was the deathbed of his wife, so i think it is possible (though maybe not proveable) that he returned in spirit.

i know this is all based on a whole lot of conjecture, feel free to tear apart at the Ents' discretion.

i do think that he could have found time to go back to Lorien - but there were probably other reasons, such as the demise (?) of the elves - would he really want to return to suck a beautiful place, only to find it empty of the people who made it legendary?

aryne *

i thought it was the one of the saddest parts in the book...

i agree

aryne *

Y'know, I was always a little bitter about that too. But rereading LOTR this years I noted one sentence that made it all better. At the end of the chapter where Aragorn is on Cerin Amroth, Tolkien says, "Taking Frodo's hand in his, he left the hill, and came there never again *as living man*.

That's just incredibly touching, it implies that he *did* come there again, to meet Arwen after his death. *sigh* Makes it a little easier for her.

Does it realy have to finish like a just too american movie??? Can't somebody be sad at the end?? Why search for a good side in a sad story. Anyway, you know they met again after her death... that's enough...

Shan

There's some good thinking and some sharp minds out there. The sorrow of departing life is captured by Tolkien and that is one of the kinds of things that makes his work truly great.

Your average hack & slash, sword & sorcery, pet-the-friendly-dragon, unending-serial-soap-opera-fantasy works sold these days lack the keen insights that Tolkien set down.

The deepest sorrows we feel are felt in this work. It makes the merriment more merry, the wind more keen, the joys more exalted.

I would like to see an historical study of the deaths of the famous and the infamous in our own history. The deaths of Rasputin, Robespierre, Hitler, Mussolini, and so many other evil men, were horrible and sordid. Elizabeth I, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, died peaceful deaths in bed, in honored old age. Joan of Arc died in agony made glorious by a spirit that burned brighter than the flames that consumed her body.

There is probably not a one-to-one correlation, but in our bones (so to speak) we feel that the way one dies is somehow emblematic of the life one has chosen.

Arwen Undomiel sacrificed life that would endure until time's end, along with the wonders and delights of Valinor, not to mention the fellowship of Elves she had known and loved for many many years. Her sacrifice was hard and most bitter when Aragorn, for whom she sacrificed all of this, was taken from her as well.

I choose to think that Tolkien's hint that Aragorn's spirit returned to where his heart was, and lingered in waiting for Arwen, until she lay down her life that had grown to bitter to endure, and so came to find him again.

This certainly would fit with Tolkien's Christian beliefs about an afterlife in which, "all our tears are wiped away."

I recently read through LOTR again, this time paying more attention to the final fate of the characters. It was certainly sad to see the ultimate, but inevitable demise of some of the major players. However, the tendency was that they passed on with some added detail of reverence. For example, when Merry and Pippin passed on, they were "set beside the bed of the great king." Sam, Legolas, and Gimli eventually got their one-way tickets to the West. Galadriel, Gandalf and Frodo had already gone there. But Arwen really seems to get the short end of the stick.

Where did you read all this? I thougght the books ended when Frodo went to the west? Is ther a book I don't knwo about?

You'll notice that Return of the King contains several appendices. The appendices include a lot of great information that didn't make it into the narrative. I don't remember exactly, but I think the info being referred to is in Appendix A.

The story of Aragorn's and Arwen's death is found in part v to Appendix A, "Here Follows a Part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen". Appendix B has info on other members of the Fellowship, see especially "Later Events Concerning the Members of the Fellowship of the Ring".

i've only read LotR 3 times, but i think i've read the tale of A&A about 10... as tragic as it is, it's a great tale.

aryne *

Arwen the dear thing,was probably so ashamed of the actions of her old man "Aragorn" in as much as he lay down his life freely, and left her an ancient Elf princess alone, that she probably went to loth lorien and died of embarrasment,think about it ladies,you give up immortatality and ageless beauty for a careworn ranger...Yerrrrrr??

Yerrrrrrreminds me of another poster...

Who would that be Wiz