Men & Elves dwelling together.

[Tatië]

There is a passage always makes me curious.


From Chapter 17:

But after a time the Elf-kings, seeing that it was not good for Elves and Men to dwell mingled together without order, and that Men needed lords of their own kind, set regions apart where Men could live their own lives, and appointed chieftains to hold these lands freely. They were allies of the Eldar in war, but marched under their own leaders. Yet many of the Edain had delight in the friendship of the Elves, and dwelt among them for so long as they had leave; and the young men often took service for a time in the hosts of the kings,

I wonder what exactly they saw that made them decide it was not good to live mingled. Was it just far sight of the Elven-kings that trouble might come eventually? And if so, what troubles might they have forseen?

But the passage gives me the impression the elves saw the beginnings of trouble arising from the situation. I wonder if this is so, but what might it have been? Did the elves notice anything that maybe could have been a warning about what would happen with Numenor, men growing envious of immortality? I do wonder about all of this.

Or could it have been something as innocent as the fact that some aspects of the peoples' culture would be dependant upon whether or not the people are mortals, and because of this Men and Elves could never share a culture, something required to really mingle?