demeleier application
Player Name: Emi
Player LJ: singingmoon
Contact: AIM: faceoftheforest / E-mail: my.resonating.light@gmail.com.
Character Number: Character 1.
Character: Arwen Undómiel (Evenstar).
Fandom: Lord of the Rings, drawing from both the movies and the books.
Personality: Arwen Undómiel is faithful and steadfast above all else. In her canon, she displayed her great loyalty to Aragorn throughout the course of the storyline of The Lord of the Rings by remaining true to him and refusing to give up even when circumstances seemed bleak, and those closest to her tried to persuade her to follow a different path.
Before Arwen met Aragorn and became his betrothed, she was quite a bit different. She had lived a sheltered life, and as such, when she first met Aragorn, she was rather guarded around him, perhaps even a bit aloof. But as time passed and the two of them grew to know each other better, Arwen seemed to let her shields fall, and she became more open and receptive to Aragorn, who had fallen in love with her from the first moment that he saw her.
But for all of her guardedness, Arwen nevertheless was a joyful woman. Parts of The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen hint at the fact that she was youthful and was quick to laugh. However, as the years passed and Aragorn wandered throughout Middle-earth, Arwen’s personality changed dramatically. The passage of time had changed her into a more grave person who seldom laughed or smiled. But what remained the same was her loyalty and love for Aragorn. They met again, and this time, they agreed to bind themselves to each other, sealing once and for all Arwen’s fate. Arwen knew the fate that awaited her but she faced it with bravery mixed with poignant sorrow for the fact that she would never go to Valinor, the Undying Lands, to live in peace with the rest of her people.
Through all of this (during the main events of The Lord of the Rings), however, Arwen continued to trust in the ones she loved, including her father Elrond and the love of her life, Aragorn. She trusted that her father would continue to support her and the choice that she made, and she trusted that Aragorn would remain faithful to her even as he journeyed towards the destiny that had been laid down for him from before his birth. And although specific scenes from the film adaptation show that she experienced great distress over the fact that she would have to give up her immortality and be separated from her father and her people, Arwen remained strong and refused to lose hope, which suggests that she possessed great fortitude.
And fortitude and the ability to endure is definitely one of her strengths, along with deep loyalty and faithfulness.
History: Arwen Undómiel was born to Elrond Halfelven (Peredhil) and Celebrían in Third Age (TA) 241. She had two older brothers, Elladan and Elrohir, and grew up in Rivendell, or Imladris as it is known in Elvish. At some point in her history, Arwen left Rivendell to live in Lothlórien with her grandmother Galadriel. She returned to Rivendell when Aragorn was in his twentieth year and when she was well over 2,700 years of age.
Aragorn was walking through the woods of Rivendell at sunset, in a very uplifted state of mind, to the point that as he walked along, he was singing. He was very full of hope and saw the world as a wonderful place to live. As he continued to walk along and sing, he beheld a fair maiden walking through the grass among the trees. He was amazed, thinking that he was dreaming or perhaps had gained the ability to make things sung about appear in the real world. He had been singing The Lay of Luthien and it suddenly appeared to him that Luthien herself had come before him.
Aragorn called out to the maiden, using the name Tinuviel, which Luthien was also called, because she greatly resembled the renowned Elven woman. She responded with many things, among which were the words, “Yet her name is not mine, though maybe my doom will be not unlike hers.” This first meeting was the start of Aragorn’s love for Arwen, although shortly after that meeting, circumstances forced the two of them apart for many long years.
Arwen’s father Elrond made it quite clear that Aragorn as he was then was not a fit match for Arwen. And so, for over thirty years, Aragorn traveled and fought many fights, making a great name for himself among the many civilizations living in Middle-earth. When he was forty-nine and tired from his long journey, he traveled to Lothlórien, seeking peace and the chance to recover his mental and physical strength. There, under the trees found in Lothlórien, Aragorn met Arwen again. Both of them had changed greatly, but their feelings had not changed.
There, she made her choice, to forsake the gift of immortality and cleave to Aragorn. They spent a long while walking and talking together in Lothlórien, and eventually finalized the promise that said they would be loyal only to each other and to no one else. However, even though Arwen made a verbal proclamation of her intent to renounce her immortality, her father Elrond was not going to let her give up the gift so easily. He told Aragorn that she would not marry anyone unless the man she chose was the King of Gondor and Arnor. Aragorn was not the King, and was reluctant to take on the role.
And so, Aragorn once more left to wander the world, while Arwen languished in Rivendell. But her time was not spent idly; she crafted a standard for Aragorn, one that was great and wonderful to behold. While Arwen was waiting in Rivendell, Aragorn was wandering the world as he had done many times before, but circumstances would soon make things very, very different. The discovery of the Dark Lord Sauron’s Ring of Power threw all the Free Peoples of Middle-earth into a time of uncertainty and fear. But there was bravery also, even in places where it was least expected. A Hobbit named Frodo rose to the occasion, taking the Ring of Power with the intent of destroying it forever in the fires of Mount Doom. He needed protectors, so Aragorn, among others, accompanied him on the journey.
Before he left Rivendell, however, he and Arwen shared a series of trysts in which they spoke of their concerns and renewed the promise they had made in Lothlórien. Aragorn revealed that he doubted whether he could avoid the fate that had befallen his forefathers, but Arwen reassured him in no uncertain terms that he would not endure the same dark fate that they had.
After this conversation, they retreated to a more private place where they reaffirmed their vows, and Arwen gave him the beautiful necklace that she wore as a tangible symbol of everything they promised each other. She told him again that she would forsake her immortality to be with him, saying that she would rather spend one lifetime with him than live through all the ages of the world without him.
Shortly after this poignant conversation, Aragorn left Rivendell, while Arwen waited faithfully for him to return. This coincides with the events of the first movie, The Fellowship of the Ring. She did not appear again until the second film, The Two Towers, and then mostly in flashbacks that served to reaffirm the bond she shared with Aragorn. However, a later scene revealed the future that awaited her if she did indeed remain true to Aragorn and forsake the immortality that was available to her.
Her father Elrond had the gift of foresight, so he revealed to her the future that he had seen: that Aragorn would die over time, and she would be left alone to live out the rest of her days until old age claimed her. But the final installment, The Return of the King, revealed that he left out the fact that she would have a son with Aragorn. Unaware of this fact, Arwen finally agreed to make the journey to Valinor, to leave Middle-earth forever.
But on the way there, she had a vision herself, seeing her son Eldarion with Aragorn, and quickly returned to Rivendell to confront her father. She told him that if she left Aragorn now, she would regret doing so forever, and therefore did not leave for Valinor after all, remaining instead in Rivendell to await the return of her beloved. But things were not so easy for her from that point on. Her fate to live as a mortal woman was sealed, and the movie hinted that her immortality began to leave her some time after her confrontation with her father.
There was no way for her to leave for Valinor after that, a fact that Arwen readily acknowledged, despite anything her father might wish for or say. This is where I’ll be pulling her from, after she’s seen the vision of her son and chosen to not travel to Valinor.
Abilities: Neither the books nor the movies give much attention to the abilities Arwen possesses. In a lot of ways, she is about as normal as they come, except for the fact that she is an Elf, and therefore is immortal and more resilient when it comes to injury and illness than those who are mortal. A scene in the first film suggests that Arwen can wield a sword if necessary, but it is not clear how proficient she is in combat.
The complete lack of information regarding Arwen to be found in the books (except for the appendixes) and the similar failure to mention anything specific about Arwen’s abilities in the movies makes it difficult to say with any certainty what skills she has. So beyond the few things I mentioned above, Arwen’s abilities are probably very straightforward and normal for someone belonging to the race of Elves.
Link to an image of the character: Arwen appears in many different scenes throughout the three Lord of the Rings films, but in each appearance, her key features remain the same: long black hair, silver-blue eyes, pointed ears that are a characteristic of all Elves, and the ornate Evenstar pendant. For a visual, look here.
Sample writing: Arwen lay on her bed, asleep but with her eyes still open, the way all Elves were when they slept. It was not a deep sleep that she was experiencing, but one that was light, from which she could easily be awoken. For that was how Arwen slept these days.
A completely restful sleep seemed to be out of reach for her, but even so, that did not bother her overmuch. What did bother her, even though it was on a purely subconscious level, was the absence of the familiar sounds that she had grown accustomed to throughout the years of living in Rivendell. Many of the buildings there had openings to the outside, and so the sounds of birds singing and the wind blowing were often heard. But Arwen heard none of these things as she lay asleep, and that, among other things, caused her to return to full awareness.
Sitting up from where she lay, she took a long, careful look around her at a place that was not Rivendell. None of the familiar old structures that she knew were there; instead, she saw that she was now lying on a hard stone floor at the entrance of a lavishly built temple. This was strange, for she knew that Rivendell had no such temples, but what was it that had brought her to this unknown land?
Had she been captured? The state of Middle-earth was characterized by unrest, and Arwen knew that there was a climate of distrust that existed. But if she had been captured, then why was she not bound? She pondered these questions but did not ask them aloud, for no one was there to hear. Except… Her sharp ears caught the sound of faint laughter, but still, no one revealed themselves to her.
In mild consternation, Arwen raised a hand to straighten her hair that had become somewhat tangled. Her fingertips brushed lightly against an odd sort of headpiece made from sticks and soft round berries. What was this? She could not recall putting on such a thing before.
She stood up from her position on the ground, straightening herself up to her full height as she continued gazing around her. There, a short distance away, was a village surrounded by thick clouds of mist. “What village can that be? It does not appear familiar.” Thinking that if she ventured into the village, she would find answers for the sudden change in her location, Arwen began walking forward, her steps falling quietly yet quickly.
“I must know where I am and what I can do to return. Perhaps I can have a message delivered to my father. He will be worried.” So saying, Arwen quickened her pace until she was within the walls of the village.
“Is there anyone who can answer the questions that I have? Make yourself known, if you are able to hear and answer me.”
Sample journal entry: ((Just to be clear: anything that Arwen has to say will be written by hand, as she is completely unfamiliar with modern technology, including the ability to make voice and video posts.))
I had hoped to find that this land would be blessed with peace, but I see now that that is not the case. A war is upon us, and although I would not knowingly spread fear among us, I am worried that our losses will be great.
Even so, it will not do to lose hope. Every one of you, you must have faith and remain hopeful. If we do not have faith and hope, the enemy is given a foothold. Those of you who can fight, do so bravely. For those of you who cannot, I am certain that you have other talents that can be used to our benefit.
It is impossible to fight a war alone; to succeed, all of us must do what we can.