Question about the ending of RotK

[Applecrumb]

Hi all,
I haven't read the books in years, and the movie didn't really make it all too clear.

Why did Frodo sail off at the end to live with the elves? What was supposed to happen over there?

Yes, I know the time of the elves is over, and the Age of Men is beginning.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Falagar]

Originally posted by Applecrumb
Hi all,
I haven't read the books in years, and the movie didn't really make it all too clear.

Why did Frodo sail off at the end to live with the elves? What was supposed to happen over there?

Yes, I know the time of the elves is over, and the Age of Men is beginning.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

You should read it again!

He sailed over to heal all the wounds he got in the war, wounds that would never be fully cured in Middle-Earth.

[Almie]

Yeah, nothing to add to Falagar's answer.

I think the ending of LotR is one reason why this book is so above others. What happens to Frodo (emotionally speaking) makes you really think. It's not your regular "hero accomplishes the task, and lives happily ever after" story.

[Artanis]

Yes, the best answer is: Re-read the book!

Frodo was given the grace to go West because he was a Rign-bearer. As was said, he may be healed there and find some peace before he died.

[Elvengirl]

How would he die if he went to the Undying lands?

[Falagar]

Originally posted by Elvengirl
How would he die if he went to the Undying lands?

"På den sædvanlige måten" - The usual way.

[Elvengirl]

Well, yeah I figured that Maybe I should have asked why? I thought it was said that he would be living for eternity along with the elves.

[Falagar]

Originally posted by Elvengirl
Well, yeah I figured that Maybe I should have asked why? I thought it was said that he would be living for eternity along with the elves.

To quote a passage from the Silmarillion (off the top of my head): "It is not the Undying Land that makes its inhabitants immortal" or similar. Frodo & co would die of age, as normal Hobbits (perhaps a bit faster).

[Elvengirl]

Yep, you're right. I looked it up.
Well, that's too bad, I always imagined Frodo and Bilbo living forever happily in the beautiful land among the elves.

[Falagar]

Originally posted by Elvengirl
Yep, you're right. I looked it up.
Well, that's too bad, I always imagined Frodo and Bilbo living forever happily in the beautiful land among the elves.

I like it. If they hadn't died there they would never meet Merry, Pippin, Rosi or Aragorn again...

[Elvengirl]

Oh, yes that's true and that wouldn't do at all. Yes, tis better that they are reunited with their friends and kin.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

Originally posted by Falagar
I like it. If they hadn't died there they would never meet Merry, Pippin, Rosi or Aragorn again...
______________________________________
Which is why I've never quite understood Arwen's being cranky about dying.

Oh yeah, and wouldn't she like to be with Luthien, Beren, et al.?
And how about meeting Uncle Elros?

[Scondren]

Because she would never see her Elven friends and family again, perhaps?

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Tuor of Gondolin
Which is why I've never quite understood Arwen's being cranky about dying.

Oh yeah, and wouldn't she like to be with Luthien, Beren, et al.?
And how about meeting Uncle Elros?

Was she cranky about dying? I never got that impression. But she would be separated from her father and all the Elven kin as long as the world should last. I would say it was a hard decision.

[Sminty_Smeagol]

When Aragorn died, didn't Arwen die in the woods like a year later? I don't remember where it is that I could find that, maybe in LOTR or another, but I seem to remember her death in some woods that Aragorn's spirit was in or something.... can someone clear that up?

[mithrand1r]

Originally posted by Sminty_Smeagol
When Aragorn died, didn't Arwen die in the woods like a year later? I don't remember where it is that I could find that, maybe in LOTR or another, but I seem to remember her death in some woods that Aragorn's spirit was in or something.... can someone clear that up?

It is probably written in the LOTR Appendix if anywhere.

[Artanis]

LotR Appendix A:

'But Arwen went forth from the House, and the light of her eyes was quenched, and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Then she said farewell to Eldarion, and to her daughters, and to all whom she had loved; and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lórien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came. Galadriel had passed away and Celeborn also was gone, and the land was silent.
'There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

And also

She was not yet weary of her days, and thus tasted the bitterness of the mortality she had taken upon her......There is now no ship that would bear me hence, and I must indeed abide the Doom of Men, whether I will or I nill: the loss and the silence. But I say to you, King of the Numenoreans, not till now have I understood the tale of your people and their fall. As wicked fools I scorned them, bit I pity them at last. For if this is indeed, as the Elder say, the gift of the One to Men, it is bitter to receive.