[Child of the 7th Age]

Yes, that article is very good. I had read it before, and it touches on so many important ideas. One other point--once Frodo actually got to the Blessed Lands, he would no longer have had to worry about Sarumen's so-called "prophecy", at least in terms of how long he would live. Tolkien clearly says in his Letters that, in Tol Eressa, mortals would still have to die, but they would choose the place and time of that event. (Just like Aragorn did in the appendix of LOTR.) There is no doubt in my mind that Frodo could have waited for Sam's arrival before he himself chose to go on to the circles beyond the world. I have always envisioned the two of them electing to take that step together. sharon, the 7th age hobbit