![]() ![]() It is not made explicit how she could arrange this. January 1971 FrodoĪrwen interceded on his behalf she argued that because his suffering and her decision to become mortal were part of the same Divine Plan, he should be eligible to go to the Undying Lands in her place: She was pardoned because of her resistance to the final and overwhelming temptation to take the Ring for herself. ![]() At the end of the First Age she proudly refused forgiveness or permission to return. ![]() Galadriel was a penitent: in her youth a leader in the rebellion against the Valar (the angelic guardians). This is echoed in broad strokes in Letter 320, though with the added detail that Galadriel refused forgiveness at the end of the First Age: (The Land of Aman after the downfall of Númenor, was no longer in physical existence 'within the circles of the world'.) Her prayer was granted – but also her personal ban was lifted, in reward for her services against Sauron, and above all for her rejection of the temptation to take the Ring when offered to her. Hence she concludes her lament with a wish or prayer that Frodo may as a special grace be granted a purgatorial (but not penal) sojourn in Eressea, the Solitary Isle in sight of Aman, though for her the way is closed. In a footnote to this letter, Tolkien mentions that this ban was lifted by the Valar, as a reward for her aid against Sauron (emphasis his):Īt the time of lament in Lórien she believed to be perennial, as long as Earth endured. The Exiles were allowed to return - save for a few chief actors in the rebellion of whom at the time of the L R only Galadriel remained. Morgoth was overthrown and extruded from the World (the physical universe). The Valar listened to the pleading of Eärendil on behalf of Elves and Men (both his kin), and sent a great host to their aid. It's worth noting that Galadriel wasn't staying in Middle-earth for her health according to Letter 297, she was actually forbidden from going over the Sea (emphasis his): Tolkien 181: To Michael Straights (draft). There was nothing more in Middle-earth for them, but weariness. Ith the downfall of 'Power' their little efforts at preserving the past fell to bits. In Letter 181, Tolkien writes that, with the diminishment of the Three and the undoing of their preservatory works, they had nothing left for them in Middle-earth: Gandalf was returning, his labour and errand finished, to his home, the land of the Valar. Return of the King Book VI Chapter 7: "Homeward Bound"Īnd as Tolkien writes in Letter 181 that he was simply returning home after his long labours: GandalfĪs he himself notes in Return of the King, with Sauron defeated his role in the world is at an end:ĭo you not yet understand? My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so. They each had different reasons, which Tolkien discusses in his Letters. 2ġSince the Bending of the World, the only way to travel to Aman was by Elven ships following the Straight Road.ĢIt is also told in the Red Book of Westmarch that Gimli son of Glóin travelled to the Undying Lands in the company of his steadfast Elven companion Legolas, and for his love of Galadriel. Although the Gift of Men (halflings being of Mankind) might bring them relief upon their death, they were granted a boon to travel to the West and pass their long days in peace until the Gift was granted them. But in Middle-earth they could find no relief from this. The Hobbits Frodo and Bilbo (and later Samwise), although of Mortal kind, by virtue of having borne the One Ring also bore a weariness in their bones. They long to take the Straight Road 1 to the Blessed Realm as time goes on they do not pass their days forever in Middle-earth. Gandalf was Istari and did not properly belong to the mortal lands of Middle-earth anyhow.Įlrond (by his choice) and Galadriel (by her blood) were Elvenkind and destined to grow weary of Middle-earth. ![]()
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