NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/alt/fan/tolkien/2067

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-27 | 3.2 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Joseph Dzikiewicz)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.tolkien
Subject: Re: Hobbits in the Undying Lands
Date: 26 Jan 1993 12:06:11 -0500
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] () writes:
>>
>>As a general rule, yes. This seems to be an exception. But we have no
>>indication that Bilbo and Frodo went to Valinor proper; my reading is
>>that they went to Tol Eressea (aka "Elvenhome"), an island near
>>Valinor.  This may count as a "suburb" of the Undying Lands, and the
>>restriction may be less rigorous.
>>--
>>Andrew Solovay

But they were travelling with Elrond, Galadriel, and Gandalf.  I cannot
see these personages being thus restricted.  Or do you envision that
the Last Ship first stops off at Tol Eressea, Cirdan announces
"Mortals ashore, only immortals can continue beyond these parts,"
the hobbits jump off, and the rest continue on their merry way.

A little less flippantly, does anyone recall whether Tol Eressea
was included in the restriction on the Numenoreans: ie, were they
forbidden from landing there as well as landing at Valinor
proper?

>
>I thought the exception was made for Bilbo, Frodo and Sam because they
>had been ring bearers (I don't know about Gimli).  What I've always
>wondered though, is if this was really an exception granted by the Valar
>as a reward for the sacrifice and hardship that they endured as ring
>bearers or whether, after possessing the Ring, they were truly immortal
>creatures now so there is no exception being made at all.

I think it is fairly clear that the longevity granted by the ring
ends with the end of the ring.  Compare Bilbo at the Council of Elrond,
still a pretty perky hobbit, if getting on a bit, to Bilbo only a
year later at the return of Frodo to Rivendell.  At that time,
he has definitely grown senile.  Note also Arwen's words to
Frodo at the start of "Many Partings" in ROK:  (Frodo says he
was "grieved when among all the household of Elrond I saw
that [Bilbo] was not come."  Arwen: "Do you wonder at that,
Ring-bearer?  ... For you know the power of the thing which is
now destroyed; and all that was done by that power is now passing
away.  But your kinsman possessed this thing longer than you.  He
is ancient in years now, according to his kind, and he awaits you,
for he will not again make any long journey save one."

I have always thought that the time you held the ring did not count
against your age: add the time before you had the ring to the time
after you had the ring to get the equivalent age.  After the
destruction of the ring, however, the rules change, and those years
start to count again.  This would work well in Bilbo's case, and
would just barely work for Gollum (yes, it had been a long time
since he lost the ring, but he was a young hobbit when he first
got it and hobbits are awfully long lived.  Figure an equivalent
age of eighties or nineties for Gollum in LOTR - a bit old, but
not prohibitive for a hobbit).