Helms Deep & the immortality of Elves!

Hi folks, i'm pretty new to LOTR so please excuse me if my question seems pretty basic........
From my understanding the Elves are an immortal race who just grow more wise & beautiful with age and they can choose to become mortal should they wish to do so, but having just watched TTT i was quite confused as to why the Elves (and Haldir?) were able to be killed. Dis they have to choose to become mortal in order to fight? 😮

They are immortal in terms of age, but they can die from violence or accident like any being.

Or they could even die from great depression. Imagine that.
They were..uhm.. emotionally extreme.

this I understand but alot of this stuff about the elves I do not.
I am also new to area of the forums sodont worry your not on your own, endlessdeep.

Thanks for you answers folks......no more head scratching on that particular problem....

hihi you come her lara? that's the first time I notice

they can't just give up immortality whenever they wish...for they would stop cursing men for their gift. it's more subtle. And yes..they are immortals in age only (though i encountered a supposed limitation in silmarillion..some in terms of hundreds of centuries..or even more. I think it's enough to get bored)

Tolkien did theorise an age limit for them but it was stupidly long.

maybe elvs actually liked engaging in wars after a certain part of their life...after they get sick of it 🙂

I thought only the half elven got to choose which life to live(or loose)?
😮‍💨
elves (true elves) just pasted into the halls of mandos and waited .

Right, Half-Elves actually CHOOSE literally.

Elves can EFFECTIVELY choose to become mortal if they become weary of life, but it isn't quite so conscious.

umm..so if you desperately gasp long enough your pointy ears will turn round? and the other way around?

It's vague. An Elf who becomes weary of life simply fades away. I doubt there is a medical analysis of it.

A Half-Elf, on the other hand, tends to become rather more one thing than the other.

it is often said that an elf can die from a battle of violence or a broken heart.

I heard the same things

back to the half-elven. Elrond was a half-elven, and he chose to be Elfkind. does that clear up anything for u?

so elves can choose 2 be immortal or mortal then???and if an elf(like elrond for example)is half elf,does that mean he is more man than elf or what????(how does that work exactly?)

and also,why could arwen choose to give up her immortal life??

it's not that easy. ush explains it earlier in this thread

Gee, why do I bother? Please read what has already come, people!

A Half-Elf evneutally becomes one thing or the other. Elrond has been Elf so long that he is indistinguishable from any other of his line.

Other Elves cannot literally CHOOSE to be mortal but HAVE been known to die from grief. So Arwen could not say "Right, I will be mortal now<" but she might follow Aragorn into death if she loved him enough.

I think Arwen is Half-Elf as well, but been long Elf, just like Elrond.