July 7, 2004

Halls of Mandos, and Immortality
Bob Praz

Just to correct you, Nienna, Men do NOT got to the Halls of Mandos. Iluvatar has something else planned for them after death. Death was, in fact, a gift, which Morgoth turned into something of fear and dread. Elves may be slain and their spirits will go to the Halls of Mandos, and eventually they can be reborn, but they are bound to reside within Arda in both body and spirit until the ending of the world (just like the Valar). Men, however, leave Arda completely after they die, and I don't think anyone but Iluvatar knows what is reserved for them beyond the confines of the world.
Since Hobbits are supposed to be closely related to men (which makes sense) and die as men do, I would guess that they share the same fate as men, whatever it may be. Dwarves are another story.

As for Samwise, perhaps he went to Valinor because he too shared some of the toil that Frodo had endured, and like Frodo he might have been looking for peace before death. But I would rather think that he wished to see Frodo, Bilbo and Gandalf again one last time (assuming that Frodo was still alive).

Finally, although I would love to live for a few centuries, I don’t think I would ever desire immortality. The thing that makes life so special is the fact that it is short and everyone must try to make the best of it. If one lived forever, I think he would take the universe for granted, and thus his life would not be very interesting, even if he acquired all the knowledge in the universe. In fact, a pretty good answer to this question is explained by Achilles (Brad Pitt) in the movie Troy (those who’ve seen the movie will probably know what I mean).