Immortality

Lord of the Rings Trilogy Forum

I'm calling in the experts on this one.
I have a question about immortality. The elves are immortal. So they don't die, right? Well, then wouldn't they win all the battles against mortal beings? Same with wizards. Are they immortal? If these people don't die, they what do they fear? And if they never die, then why isn't middle earth crawling with them? They obviously reproduce..Arwen is Elrond's daughter. Where is Arwen's mother? She is never mentioned. If she is an elf, she is immortal so she didn't die. Is she on vacation? Who can answer these questions for me.

What about Galadriel? *spelling?* Is she immortal? Is she an elf or a wizard?

elves are immortal which means they won't die of old age. immortallity doesnt' mean they are invincible though. they are as killable as a mortal man. however, they are almost immune to all diseases, and are less likely to die from wounds than normal men.
Galadriel is an immortal elf. she is not a wizard.

as for wizards, i beleive they are immortal, however they do appear to age, all be it very slowly. arwen's mother was killed by orcs.

Thank you. That explains a lot.

Is Galadriel a special elf? Why doesn't she live in Rivendell with her kin?

There are several Elven Realms. Rivendell is one, Lothlórien another, and then there is Mirkwood (Legolas is the son of King Thranduil), and I think the Grey Havens, where Círdan dwells, are a realm also.

It is only Galadriel's ring that is explicitely mentioned, but I guess Elrond has one, too. I doubt about Thranduil, because Mirkwood is not entirely free from bad things, think about those nasty spiders from the "Hobbit".

Thank you. You are really helping me understand. It's been over 10 years since I read the book and I was only a young teen then. I rushed through the book because it was an assignment for English class. I really didn't get to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. Just recently I have started to read the books again. I read the Hobbit and I am working on Fellowship of the Ring. I want to really understand the story.

Hmm, there is a web page that lists nothing but facts and general knowledge about LOTR. Very detailed as well, Someone here knows the link i bet

I would love to know what that link is.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's bookmarked. You deserve lots of hugs.

just fyi the three elven rings belong to: Elrond, Galadriel, and Gandalf.

Why does Gandalf have an elfen ring?

because Cirdain the Shipwright (who is an elf) gave him his ring. i don't know why.
ah and technically, its elven, not elfen. proving yet again, i am a geek...er fanatic.

<---- elf fan

Immortal for elves means that they can die but if they are not killed with go on forever. Also they don't get sick or anything like that, once killed thye go to mandros, a different place than the mortals (Why Elrond is grieving, he can NEVER see Arwen again.) Even in death elves never leave this world.

The elves were allowed to come to Middle Earth but under the conditions that once they left they could not return. Once the call for the sea was in them they could not ignore it and would leave for Valinor, their home.

Long ago three elves rings were made, exclusively by the elves, and they were powerful to heal, build and keep at bay the weariness of time. Sauron wanted them. Celebrimbor knew this, and tried to hide them from Sauron. He gave two to Gil-Galad and one to galadriel. Later Gil-Galad gace ine to cirdan. Sauron killed Celebrimbor and took the seven and the nine and bended them to his will, Men proving easy and thus became the Nazgul, Dwarves being much more difficult and so their seven were lost for various reasons.

Later Elrond founded a refuge with the suvivors and so Gil-Galad gave Elrond his ring, Vilya the ring of Air (Sapphire) to protect Imladris (called Rivendell by men). Galadriel kept hers in Lorien, she was basically the elf queen (the giving of lembas was for the queen alone) and so dwelt there, using the ring to do, well basically everything scary she does un the movies, messing with everyone's heads and preventing Sauron from knowing what was going on. (Don't know if you saw the EE where she showed Frodo her ring.) Cirdan gave his to Mithrandir (Gandalf) for safe-keeping when he left.

The three were slaved to the one ring. So when it was destroyed they lost their power. The beauty built and supported by the ring faded. They could no longer stay.

The rings could not be worned openly while the One was at large for fear Sauron would put it on and see their thoughts. Thus the significance of Gandalf wearing his openinly.

LOTR fans correct me if I'm wrong, I did this from memory.

hmmm...you have a very good memory then! only one minor thing wrong. gandalf did not wear his ring openly. you only find that he has one right as they're leaving middle earth at the end.

I know that Galadriel is good, but she scared me in the movie. I don't why. Any opinions?

Yeah me too. I guess it's her power - i mean, Gandalf is powerful too, but he's also... i don't know, funny, relaxed, earthly, at least now and then. Oh and Cate Blanchet's voice. Isn't it kind of scary?
PS aren't Gandalf and Saruman and all the wizards actually Maiars? I think I read that somewhere. Wizards as a race are pretty mysterious, even more than other races. But them being Maiars would be a pretty good explanation.

Yes they are.

On the rings of the elves, Elrond has Vilya, the ring of Air, Galadriel has Nenya, the ring of Water, and Gandalf has Narya, the ring of Fire, which was passed down to him by Cirdan of the Havens.

I think I remember Cerdan gave Gandalf his ring because he could see further than most, I think this means he knew Gandalf would need it.
Also I'm a little disturbed by Galadriel showing Frodo her ring (mentioned byelfinimladris). Should she really have done this to a young and impressionable Hobbit?

ok...frodo isn't young and impressionable. the guys supposed to be 50 years old or there abouts. and she didn't show it frodo. he saw it because he bore the ruling ring. when frodo asks sam if he saw anything he says that he thought he saw a star shining near galadriels finger. only frodo saw it, and not because galadriel showed it to him.

True, but they had to change alot in the movie, which changes the truth about somethings, like how Frodo found out Galadriel had Nenya.

curse you writers license...oh well...nothings perfect.

Still, the EE had the scene with Nenya which was an added scene. So having galadriel point it out prevented people from complaining that why couldn't frodo see the ring before. It would be hard to explain.

fyi nenya has also been called the ring of adamant

Galadriel was Arwens grandmother.

I don't think she was her Grandmother - Arwen's mother lived in Lothlorien, and was a distant relation of Galadriel - however she was not directly descended from Galadriel.

I could be wrong - sorry - only 80% sure.

no she is her grandmother

Celebrian is the daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn.

Yep, maternal grandmother. Elrond is Galadriel's son in law.

god you are soooooooo wrong neodammerung. There are very very closely related.
* fini hands out LOTR books to the people here, WHO OBVIOUSLY NEVER made the time( or were just too damn lazy) to read the book*

Fini! You don't have to be so mean.

Liv Tyler, you Arwen't supposed to have such a big part in the movie.

exactly.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

HOT? You think that Liv Tyler is hot? Oh well... I just don't see it..

Yes..."Tolkienian" immortality doesn't mean that someone is an all-powerful invincible being...Basically, if someone who was immortal, say an elf, just sat in a chair forever, he would never die of natural causes or anything else...But immortal beings can be killed or wounded in battle or basically anything else.

--LOKIM

Oh yeah...

Liv Tyler is definitely hot. In Lord of the Rings she's not really at her best in looks I suppose, but if you see her in other pictures or movies, she is amazing...

--LOKIM

Ick!

I'm with you, Heather.

She is a beautiful woman. She has such a doll like complexion. Still, I wish there was less of her in the movies. MM you are not dumb.

Oh well... there is still hope for you!

Okay... I know that there is always hope! But, ummmm... what sort of 'help' do I need?

I mean... someone going to make ME immortal??? That would be cool.

i think being immortal would be boring...what would you do for all that time?????
living la little longer than we do now would be nice but immortality is a bit too much...i would go throw myself off a cliff or something!

I think being immortal is more of a curse than a blessing............... I would only enjoy it because I would have all the time in the world to learn the things I want to learn but to see all my loved ones die *sigh* again and again would kill me as well............................... so much for learning to love, uh?

yeah i would hate to see my family and friends die! that would eat me up from the inside!

Yeah well I can't even imagine seeing my daughters or my boyfriend die, aside from my parents and sisters................ definitely a curse!

yep...

That's why I said that I would only want immortality if all my loved ones had it as well.

The elves, living in their own seperate life, don't mind immortality, because they are all immortal. They rarely lose a loved one.

I think that it would be sad, in one way, because if you developed feelings for anyone that wasn't immortal, you would lose them... but, I still would love to be immortal, with select people, and see all the changes that this world would bring.

Well KJ that would be sweet but then if everyone had immortality it would no longer be a gift now would it?

thats a good point. Thing is if one of your loved ones did die and they were immortal and so were you...it would be worse losing them if u get what i ma saying.
and all the changes might be so bad that you dont want to live through them