#with the yet further caveat that in Arda Men are canonically well — fallen and elves are semi-fallen

[edennill-archived]

This has something to do with a short convo I had with @eri-pl, but basically my interpretation of who Lúthien even is boils down to "her own category of Eruhini, with caveats".

General disclaimer that this is all my personal interpretation even if I'm phrasing it as categorical truth.

She patently shouldn't be called even a half-Maia if we're to be accurate, because it doesn't really make sense as a term. She (a) was not part of the Ainulindalë and (b) she's naturally incarnate, but I think that metaphysically speaking she cannot be counted as an elf either. (My personal headcanon is that Lúthien can change her fate while Beren cannot change his because Beren is fully a man and she is not in fact one of the firstborn.)

However, taking into account what I stated above, I do believe that by choosing the fate of mortals, she did in fact cleave closer to her heritage through her mother than to elvenkind, elves being (dwarves aside et cetera) the one kindred that cannot be outside Eä, simply put — and I would even posit that, power and abilities notwithstanding, her chosen fate would really make her final metaphysical status closer to a Maia/human hybrid than to anything else.