June 30, 2003

Re: The Sons of Elrond
Elf Scribe

G,
Although I must agree with you about Elladan and Elrohir never getting called "Elves", I do not think that they chose to be Mortal Men. Elros chose to become Mortal, and Elrond did not. Elrond was never really called "the Elf", like Legolas or Glorfindel. (It was made clear that he was an Elf, though.) Perhaps, the whole "Elf" thing had to do with the fact that they are only mentioned a few times in TLOTR, and are very minor-but awesome- characters. Legolas has a much larger role in the story than the twins do, so perhaps Tolkien- though aware of their existance himself- did not think that his readers would understand it if he put Elladan and Elrohir as more major characters in the story line than he did. Also, the books-as far as I know, but I may be wrong about this- do not mention the fate of Elladan and Elrohir after the Elrond left ME. It just says that they stayed in Rivendell, along with Celebors. Perhaps they left ME about the same time that Legolas and Gimli sailed over the Sea. Or perhaps, like you said, G, they decided to become Mortal and stay in ME, living out the rest of their lives their, like their sister, Arwen. However, I think the former is more likely to have happened.
Elf Scribe