what you think doesn't matter, the rules are what matters and the rules state that all 2014 dwarves can speak and understand dwarvish, to not have the language proficiency simply from desiring not to is as equally impossible for your character as it would be to desire away a trait such as say, sunlight sensetivity,
Unless you change the rules for your table, which is really the only place it matters.
Half-elves in Tolkien have to choose to become human or elf. Elrond's brother chose humanity, and he founded the royal lineage of Numenor. Morever, the Numenoreans were blessed by the head of the Maiar with greater wisdom, power, and life-spans. So it's less that Numenoreans are half-elves and more that the way that Numenoreans and Dunedain are described is reminiscient of half-elves in D&D. They look mostly human but they also reflect the divine majesty of the elves with mortal lives longer than that of regular humans.
Which is a good way to do that, I won't disagree. Probably a little more complicated (or should I say, Advanced) than I think WotC would like, but certainly a good method. However, none of them have a dedicated half-elf race anymore. That concept is dying. The question has become what is the best method to emulate mixing, be it trait mixing, feats or purely RP. And we can all disagree about which is best. But I can no longer fault WotC for removing them as dedicated race options since LU, TotV and PF2e already had.
If the goal was a fey infused humanoid, I think there are a lot of options for that. The issue I recall was that people distinctly wanted a half-elf/half-human mix rather than a fey/humanoid one.
Fantasy AGE also has rules for how to mix ancestries.
The goal isn't a fey humaniod but a being that is half fey humaniod and half "regular" humaniod.
Correct. WotC went with a very boring system, at least in the PHB. They may add a more robust system later or they may just not touch it and cede that ground to 3pp. But I think that's two different issues: you can be ok with removing half-races and be upset with WotC's choice of replacement, but I think if you're angry the races were removed in the first place, you have a lot of other games who beat WotC to the punch and that latter group is going to find itself a shrinking minority. (Much like people who are upset with the removal of the term race: you can disagree with what term should replace it, but arguing it should remain is going to be a dwindling opinion as time wears on).
I suppose I just don't see Level Up's method as removing anything; quite the opposite in fact, as many, many more possible combinations of different heritages, different gifts, and different traits can now be modeled. I certainly don't see it as a general gaming trend away from half-elves.
