As I understand it, the mythology of the elves is that they are basically immortal but they move to other "shores". In LotR, they are in middle earth. They came to middle-earth from other shores and lived there for something like 10k years. And I don't mean as a general people. Elrond and others specifically.
Remember that Tolkien was heavily influenced by Norse mythology with planes of existence like Midgard and Asgard. Those roughly, but not exactly, translate to earth and heaven, but Tolkien was taking them at their face value of just being other lands that people pass to at a certain point. Bilbo and Frodo as hobbits weren't elves but they weren't really humans either. But the experiences that Bilbo and Frodo had made them kindred spirits to the elves and they could never just be hobbits anymore. Gandalf. Well that's a bigger question. There's some question about what Gandalf is. At a superficial reading of the books he could be human, but we know that he has lived through several incarnations. He's 2000 years old by the end of LotR. IIRC, the extended mythology makes him into a special being that's not elven and not human. Think something like an angel assigned to live in the world. There are lots of web sites that go into crazy details that have been gleaned from not only the books, but Tolkien's notes and lectures and such. On 11/11/05, G <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Return of the King has been on encore lately, and I've got a question to you > Tolkien geeks: Why do Frodo, and Gandalf, and a host of others, HAVE to hop > in a boat and sail away at the end? > > Did i miss something? Why can't Frodo just go home? > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:181562 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
