The silmarillion talks about the whole going to the west thing and why mortal races can't set foot on Valinor during the Akallabêth. It's a bullshit explanation but meh.

Why Frodo and Bilbo are allowed to go, is another bullshit explanation having to do with them having been ring bearers. Wether that grants them immortality or they simply live out their remaining days at Valinor is left to the reader's interpretation.

Going by the Akallabêth though, they died soon after their arrival, because apparently the Valar are radioactive.

My take as well is that travelling into the West means passing into immortality, but a kind of grey, changeless immortality, where one exists in a state of being almost semi-mythical. Reference the Egyptian mythos about The Western Lands, which is where those who travel there (usually through the process of embalming) live out shadow versions of their Earthly lives.

Come now, at least Endre has the courage to admit he is a dirty old man. :-)

But I know what you mean, and I am only joking about the dirty old man part.

I have never read them, but I would love to. Of all the LoTR books, the Silmarillion is actually my favourite because it shows the whole history of Middle Earth and everything that shaped it up until the point of the books themselves.
Plus the whole world creation myths and establishing the rules (as it were) of the universe is fascinating to me because I love doing that kind of stuff.

And I've checked and it would appear you are correct and Frodo and Same would eventually die in Valinor:
http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/39920/did-the-ring-bearers-or-gimli-die-in-valinor
Some quotes in there from Tolkien's letter which support that.
Well, you learn something new every day :)

From what I can remember of the top of my head, no where does it say they will be granted immortality. just that the Valinor will allow them to travel west, due to them bearing the Ring. They are to go there to live out their lives in peace, not to live an immortal life.

See, I told you. :-)

And even Sinistar got it wrong. I guess that makes me the Lord of the Lord of the Rings. :-)

The sad thing about Tolkien's works is that he had so much written that never got finished or even published. His son is slowly releasing some of it, but sadly we will never see the whole story, due to the epic size of the world Tolkien created.

It doesn't true, but this was before The Silmarillion was published and the Valar revealed to be radioactive, giving you cancer from their sheer awesomeness. The lands of the west are described as sacred immortal lands. It wouldn't be a stretch to infer from that, that they become immortal upon their arrival.

Fixed.

Hmm... all this talk about Lord of the Ring reminds me that I wanted to order the books. Because at the moment I can only read them at my parents place :D

I was about to edit my post to add "one doesn't even need to be a man, period", but you had already replied.


You want to add "dirty old man" to the rest of awesome traits you've appointed me? Go ahead, I won't deny you the pleasure. ;-P



There's an extra incentive to visit your parents more often! :-)

Yeah, it's a shame we'll probably never see everything he had envisioned.

But while we're on the subject, why do you think he wrote LoTR? (and all the rest of the mythology) For me this quote, and the fact that his area of study and passion was languages, suggests that he may have created the whole mythology around the languages, as a means of having the languages survive.
I don't know if that's true, but I've always liked to think it might be, and that it makes the effort he invested all the more spectacular...

Be careful that you buy the originals. Since the movies there has been an influx in different versions that alter some of the story. Also, if you have not read it yet, get the Silmarillion, as it's a nice addition to the series. Tolkien's letters and essays are also great, but they are hard tog et hold of and can be quite expensive.

Are you trying to imply that the forum is full of dirty old women as well? :-)

I know one of the biggest reason he wrote the Lord of the Rings was because he wanted to bring the epic novel back to children. He was tired of the stories that were been released, and how limited they were becoming. I remember that he was a big fan of the Iliad (a great book by the way, Lattimore's translation is very good), and he wanted to bring these kind of stories to the current generation. I think his love of language, Anglo-Saxon mythology, mythology in general, and his love of fairy tales is what inspired him to create the story he did. It was only natural that he would apply his knowledge and passion for language into his works.

Tolkien's interpretation of Beowulf is possibly the best I have ever read, but it's just a shame part of the original manuscript were damages. But if you ever get a chance to, be sure to give his translation of Beowulf a try, he was a master at the Old English languages it was written in.

I'm on the bathroom so I'll make this quick.
Endre senpai,Agent senpai and adalaia senpai all owes me hugs. Ok,bye.

Already read the Simarillion and some other things. My parents have them :D I should borrow the books when I visit them end of the month.

Tolkien's Beowulf is on my list of things to buy and read :)

I think it's spectacular that he created whole languages (which work, I've tried in the past to write some stuff in Elvish and it was no more difficult than it might have been to do it French) and mythologies and a real world which made sense.