CH. 17: "Of the Coming of Men into the West"

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Sister Golden Hair
I agree. The Elves were tied to the world, but Men were not. I think they may have feared their own end and were very curious as to what became of the fea of Men after death.

Well, they had been told by the Valar that Men would join the Second Music of the Ainur. And I think that maybe they were told about the gift of death to Men also. But they may have thought the life-span of Men to be much, much longer than they found it to be.

In a way that turns the mortality tables, doesn't it? That in the end, Men were truely immortal, and the Elves die when the world dies.

Yes, and that is why it is so sad when Men end up envying the Elves their (seeming) immortality, while from the Elves pov it is the other way around.

I think this sentence about Men from the Sil says it all:

Death is their fate, the gift of Ilúvatar, which as Time wears even the Powers shall envy.