Why could Elrond not delay his one-way voyage to Valinor for a few more years?

Question

We know from LotR that:

1. The Children of Elrond all had the choice to be counted among either Men or Elves.
2. That this Choice needed to be made at the time when Elrond would leave for Valinor - they could either sail with Elrond and remain immortal or stay behind as mortals.
3. That because of this stipulation, Arwen needed to make a choice between immortality and marrying Aragorn, since she could not stay behind and retain immortality. And given that both her brothers remained behind, they both seem to have chosen mortality as well.

So it strikes me that the entire heartache, at least when it came to Arwen (since we do not know why Elladan and Elrohir chose as they did) could have been easily avoided by Elrond staying on Middle-Earth until the end of Aragorn's life, which would be a mere 100-150 years at most, thus postponing his Children's Choice and allowing Arwen, at least, to have her cake and eat it too.

So, is there any reason given by Tolkien in any of writings on why Elrond needed to leave at that exact point, and couldn't have stayed on for just a century more? We know that Celeborn, Galadriel's husband and Elrond's father-in-law stayed on in Rivendell for many years into the Fourth Age, so it doesn't seem to be purely about being a Elf.

Is there anything from Tolkien that answers this question?

Answer 1

There are a number of false assumptions in this question.

Firstly, there was no requirement for the children of Elrond to make their choice at the time Elrond leaves. Letter 153 explicitly states that the sons of Elrond did not do so:

The end of his sons, Elladan and Elrohir, is not told: they delay their choice, and remain for a while.

Secondly, Arwen's choice was actually made long before Elrond's departure. Appendix A, the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, places this event during Aragorn's visit to Lórien after his long journeys East and South (Third Age 2980):

And she stood then as still as a white tree, looking into the West, and at last she said: "I will cleave to you, Dunadan, and turn from the Twilight. Yet there lies the land of my people and the long home of all my kin." She loved her father dearly.

When Elrond learned the choice of his daughter, he was silent, though his heart was grieved and found the doom long feared none the easier to endure.

Having thus already made her choice, Elrond could have waited a few years (which he actually did: there were 3 years between Aragorn's marriage to Arwen and Elrond's departure) or he could have waited a few hundred; it wouldn't have mattered because the parting between Elrond and Arwen was a parting beyond the end of the world:

The Third Age ended thus in victory and hope; and yet grievous among the sorrows of that Age was the parting of Elrond and Arwen, for they were sundered by the Sea and by a doom beyond the end of the world. When the Great Ring was unmade and the Three were shorn of their power, then Elrond grew weary at last and forsook Middle-earth, never to return. But Arwen became as a mortal woman, and yet it was not her lot to die until all that she had gained was lost.

So Arwen had no option at all to "have her cake and eat it", as you put it. She had already made her decision in TA 2980, she married Aragorn in TA 3019, whereas Elrond didn't leave Middle-earth until TA 3021. That dates Arwen's choice to 41 years before Elrond's departure.

Answer 2

Consider these marriage vows:

I promise to be with you forever, or until you die, then I'll hop off to Wonderland to frolic alone for eternity.

Not very convincing, right?

The reason Arwen made her choice is that she wanted her fate to be entwined with Aragorn's. That is the only way such an unbalanced relationship could work. That means accepting Aragorn's mortality, not just spending time with him. This is a recurring theme in Tolkien's work, including such Elf-Human couples like Beren and Luthien or Tuor and Idril in The Silmarillion. Tolkien viewed such affairs as doomed unless one part relinquished half of his heritage - Luthien and Arwen forsaking their immortality, or Tuor forsaking his father's people to be counted among the Elves. This is how Things Work in Tolkien's cosmology, and any loopholes are irrelevant, since they contradict the thematic choices that Tolkien made.

Elrond could have waited for her, but he would have waited in vain. Her choice was made long before the Ring was destroyed.

Answer 3

I imagine it has to do with the destruction of the One Ring and hence the fading of the power of the Elven Rings. The realms of Galadriel and Elrond would have suffered the ravages of time and no doubt considering the trials of the Noldor in Middle Earth with the Oath of Feanor, the war against Morgoth and the breaking of Beleriand I guess they wanted to leave Middle Earth with only memories of their realms still in full splendour. As a side note on Aragorn - Elessar; being of direct lineage from Isildur son of Elendil.

Answer 4

Avner Shahar-Kashtan is right. Arwen had to make the call between human and elf before her father sailed, at the point where she decided whether to marry Aragorn or not. Marrying him meant living a life as a human. And dying is not all that bad in Tolkiens Universe, which must also be kept in mind. While humans were always terrified of not knowing where they went, some discussion in the Silmarillion is dedicated to explaining that fear of death is wholly unjustifiable, since Illuvatar loved his children.

When she chose Aragorn she chose her fate, and there was never a need to regret it because of her mortality.

I think there is no clear answer to your question in any of Tolkiens books, or at least I don't remember one. But the general vibe, especially from the Silmarillion, is that only humans envied the elves for their immortality, the elves never pitied the humans for their mortality.