XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm   
      
   On Fri, 6 Jan 2012 15:18:05 +0000 (UTC), Paul Ciszek wrote:   
   > A related question:  Had elven births already tapered off to zero by   
   > the time of LotR?  Was that how the Elves knew they were being phased   
   > out?  Was part of Arwen's motivation for going mortal perhaps a desire   
   > to have children that she could not have as an Elf?   
      
   It's a good question, and one I don't remember ever being discussed   
   before.  My  first thought was that Lórien would be a more "natural"   
   community of Elves than Rivendell or the Havens, with more "natural"   
   Elvish family life, because Lórien's customs would all come from the   
   Silvan Elves, with no significant admixture of Exiles.  So I thought   
   perhaps there would still be some children in Lórien, but they would   
   have been kept away from the travelers.   
      
   But, then ... why? Since Galadriel allowed the travelers to move   
   freely in Lórien, why would any children have been kept away from   
   them?  Particularly the hobbits would pose no threat.  So the fact   
   that the travelers spent a month there and saw no children at least   
   suggests there were no children in Lórien after all.   
      
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