Half-elven

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Half-elven (Sindarin singular Peredhel, plural Peredhil), are the children of the union of Elves and Men.

History

The First Age

Two important marriages in the First Age of Middle-earth resulted in the blending of Elvish and mortal blood.

The first of these was between the mortal Beren, of the House of Bëor, and Lúthien, daughter of the Elf Thingol, king of the Sindar, and Melian, a Maia. Beren died in the quest for the Silmaril, and in despair, Lúthien's spirit departed her body and made its way to the halls of Mandos. Mandos allowed them a unique fate, and they were re-bodied as mortals in Middle-earth, where they dwelt until their second deaths.

Their son Dior, heir of the Sindarin kingdom of Doriath and of the Silmaril, was thus one-quarter Elvish by blood and one-quarter Maian (thus half-immortal), and half-human (thus half-mortal). Since he was born after his parents' re-embodiment, however, the nature of his mortality is unclear. In any case, he was killed while still young, when the sons of Fëanor sacked Doriath.

Dior's wife was Nimloth, a Sindarin Elf, and with her he had three children: Elwing, Eluréd and Elurín. Eluréd and Elurin were slain along with Dior—or escaped, never to be heard of again, while Elwing escaped to the Mouths of Sirion.

The second marriage of Men and Elves in the First Age was between Tuor of the House of Hador, another branch of the Edain, and Idril Celebrindal, an Elf, though half Ñoldorin and half Vanyarin in ancestry. Their son was Eärendil. After the fall of Gondolin, Eärendil also escaped to the Mouths of Sirion, and married Elwing. They had twin sons, Elrond and Elros. Both sons are one sixteenth Maiar, nine sixteenths elven (one thirty-second Vanyarin, seven thirty-seconds Noldorin, five sixteenths Sindarin) and three eighths human (one fourth of the House of Bëor, one sixtenth of the House of Haleth, and one sixtenth of the House of Hador).

Post-War of Wrath

After the conclusion of the War of Wrath, Manwë determined that the surviving Half-elven would have their choice of fates: to be counted as Elves, and granted eternal life in the Undying Lands; or to be counted as mortals, and granted the ineffable Gift of Men. This choice could be delayed, although not indefinitely.

Eärendil would rather have chosen the kindred of Men, but Elwing preferred elvenkind. Moreover, having sailed to the Undying Lands with the power of the Silmaril, Eärendil was not permitted to return to mortal lands. Thereafter he was set aloft, to sail forever the heavens in his ship Vingilot, the Silmaril of Beren and Lúthien on the prow. In Middle-earth, he was seen as the evening star, and the light of his Silmaril was captured in the Phial of Galadriel. Elwing built a tower in the Shadowy Seas and often met him on his daily return.

Elros chose to be counted among mortals, and became Tar-Minyatur, the first king of Númenor. He finally took his death (for those kings had the freedom and grace to die at will) at the age of five hundred. The descendants of Elros were not given this choice, but their lifespan was enhanced several times that of ordinary Men. In later times the Númenórean kings, descendants of Elros, regretted their forefather's choice, and this helped lead to the Downfall of Númenor.

Elrond chose to be counted among the Elves, serving in the household of Gil-galad until the end of the Second Age, and founding Rivendell—haven of the Peredhil—in the Third. He married the Elf Celebrían, daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel, and sailed into the West at the conclusion of the War of the Ring.

The children of Elrond were also given free choice of kindred, and therefore Arwen could choose to be counted amongst the Edain even though her father hoped she would accompany him to Elvenhome in the West. But she chose otherwise, marrying Aragorn II Elessar, king of the Reunited Kingdom, and died alone at the age of 2,901 years, grieving the brevity of her mortal happiness. Their son Eldarion and their daughters were not counted as Half-elven, but rather as Dúnedain restored.

It is not stated in Tolkien's books whether Arwen's brothers, Elladan and Elrohir, chose to be of the Edain or the Eldar. But their decision, too, was to be manifested by accompanying their father over the sea at the time of his own departure—or not. Yet they were described as remaining at Rivendell, so some readers conclude that they exercised their right to live and die in Middle-earth as Edain.

Other Lines

It was a tradition in Dol Amroth that Imrazôr the Númenórean had married an Elf, and therefore the Princes of Dol Amroth were of Elven descent. Legolas, an Elf of Mirkwood, believed as much upon meeting Prince Imrahil, but the matter is probed no further in the Lord of the Rings. In Tolkien's unfinished writings, however, Imrazôr's wife was Mithrellas, handmaiden of Nimrodel, a Silvan Elf who resisted the encroachment of the Eldar in her homeland, Lórien. Perhaps their descendants were not granted the choice of the half-elven because the Silvan Elves, although Sindar in origin, were so long sundered from the Eldar that they were not known to seek Elvenhome beyond Middle-earth. Since Tolkien only explicitly wrote about couplings between the Eldar and Edain, it is possible that there were other part-human, part-immortal beings in Middle-earth, though of less potent lineage than the Peredhil. The Avari were both more numerous and spent more time in Middle-earth than the Eldar, since they did not depart into the West, and Tolkien wrote little of the many tribes of humankind that were not akin to the Edain.

Trivia

In The Book of Lost Tales (divided into parts I and II), the young Tolkien originally intended Eärendil, then spelled Earendel, to be the first of the Half-elven. Early versions of the tale of Beren and Lúthien had Beren as an Elf. The earliest version of the tale of Túrin had Tamar, the character Tolkien later renamed Brandir, as a Half-elf; Tolkien mentioned this in a way that implied he did not consider half-Elven descent especially remarkable at the time he wrote that story.

Half-elves in other contexts

Unlike the case in some other fantasy worlds, Tolkien's Half-elven are not a distinct race per se. In Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy role-playing games, these beings are simply known as half-elves (singular half-elf) instead of using other terms. Some other fantasy stories call beings who are half-human and half another race (usually an elf) halflings; the term in Tolkien's legendarium pertains only to hobbits. The main character of the initial Dragonlance series, Tanis Half-Elven is a half-elf.
In the game Tales of Symphonia, there is a long-running theme of discrimination against half-elves to the point at which the main villain, Mithos Yggdrasil, feels it necessary to build a new planet for them.