#subchapter 5

I think it's very responsible of tolkien to introduce arwen to aragorn only when he is 20 and has lived with her father for 18 years, which prevents it from being a grooming situation (even though she is still much older than him) and (socially) incestuous. and even elrond is like "no you are way too young". very nice. I have a feeling though, if this was gender flipped, he would've fewer qualms about this, especially considering aragorn's mother seems to have been super young (probably in her early teens) and his father 58 when they married… but I love that arwen and aragorn's relationship is now explained, even though I personally don't understand why this isn’t woven into the lotr story.

maybe I'm overinterpreting, aragorn and arwen sounds a lot like tolkien and his wife too, no? I know he mostly based beren and luthien on their relationship, but him being orphaned as a child, younger (and maybe a little naive), from different backgrounds (catholic vs protestant), them not being able to be together bc of their guardians, then getting engaged but parted by a war, and then finally ending up married sounds very parallel. but Idk maybe this all applies to beren and luthien as well.

I love that this series actually tells the whole story of most of the characters and through that forms a bridge between fantasy and the reality of life and death, but it's so sad to read somehow :( I'm assuming tolkien did this on purpose to end his life's work (and prepare for his own end). but it's also sad (if aragorn and arwen are indeed based on his own marriage) to think he thought he would die before his wife. but then he had to live without her for a couple of years and I'm sure felt not unlike arwen is described here, withering.