Quote Originally Posted by The_White_Wizard_of_Fynn
Coming back to you comparing Fran to Arwen, scooby, didn't Arwen give up her immortality for Aragorn? I mean, she was a half-elf, so she could do that.... At least that's what my mom told me, and she's a HUGE fan of LotR.
Just so you know, I dusted off my old and battered copy of LOTR just to answer your question.

Okay, it's kind of complicated.... *sigh* Arwen did forsake her immortality to be with Aragorn; that fact is reiterated many times throughout the book. But she still outlived Aragorn - as was her fate. To quote from the book (Appendix A, 'The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen'), "But Arwen became as a mortal woman, and yet it was not her lot to die until all that she had gained was lost." Arwen knew this would be her fate, because her father, Elrond, who had the gift of foresight, had long foretold it. Yet, despite her foreknowledge, she found it a bitter pill to swallow at the coming.

'Then Aragorn said to Arwen:
"At last, Lady Evenstar, fairest in this world, and most beloved,
my world is fading. Lo! we have gathered, and we have spent, and now the time of payment draws near."
Arwen knew what he intended, and long had foreseen it; nonetheless she was overborne by her grief.'

And:

'"Lady Undomiel," said Aragorn, "the hour is indeed hard, yet it was made even in that day when we met under the white birches in the garden of Elrond where none now walk. And on the hill of Cerin Amroth when we forsook both the Shadow and the Twilight this doom we accepted."'

After Aragorn's death, Arwen bade farewell to the rest of her family and her loved ones, and left the city of Minas Tirith, where she had reigned with Aragorn for 120 years, forever. She returned to Lorien - the elven kingdom - which was now deserted, for all of the elves had departed overseas, and "dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came". The following spring, she laid herself to rest upon the hill of Cerin Amroth (where she and Aragorn had pledged their troth), and died.

....Cheery tale, really.... He was a fun-lovin' guy, that Tolkien!

So, to summarize: Arwen did become a mortal, but she did not die of old age; she died of a broken heart. The deal was that she could live happily with Aragorn until his death (he was long-lived anyway, being one of the Dunedain), at which point her own slow demise would begin. Thereafter, she was destined to wander the world alone until she perished from grief........

Rather different from Fran, I suppose - but similar in many ways.