I cannot agree Findegil. In
Reincarnation of Elves Tolkien jotted an aside...
Quote:
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'the exact nature of existence in Aman or Eressea after their "removal" must be dubious and unexplained', as must the question of 'how "mortals" could go there at all.'
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I think this is good 'advice' for readers as well, and in my opinion your post seems an attempt to explain (in measure) this very thing, in part merging a concept Tolkien kept distinct to my mind.
Despite
'If it is thus in Aman, or was ere the Change of the World' the author still notes
'and therein the Eldar had health and lasting joy' (which begins the section
Aman and Mortal Men immediately after the citation I posted above), why should the author even attempt such a distinction if it is to be tossed aside with respect to after the Change of the World.
I think JRR Tolkien is shining through here: he cannot lay out the ideas in certain terms, for Men do not go to Aman, nor is the existence of such a place easy to explain in any event... but still the idea put forward is that in Aman there is no fading of the bodies of the Elves
'for ages beyond our mortal comprehension'.
And this fading is the 'waning of the Elvish Hroar' (note 7, Commentary to the Athrabeth), or the spirits of the Elves consuming them (Laws And Customs). I think if Elfwine were to have sojourned to Aman he would see the Elves with actual physical bodies and the world about him would be physical... and the question of the nature of the very existence of Aman -- with respect to its relation to Middle-earth or 'the World' itself -- is another matter.
Regarding the Dagor Dagorath: in
Morgoth's Ring Tolkien noted that the Elves had no myths or legends dealing with the end of the world, and that the myth that appears at the end of the Silmarillion is of Numenorean origin (excised for the 1977 Silmarillion in any case).
But besides taking Dagor Dagorath out of the mouth of Mandos, I think such a concept can fall 'outside the rules' in any event; or perhaps, we need not press the myth too hard concerning how these events will occur. If there is to be such a battle in the future, why can't even Elves who happen to be without bodies be given bodies? If Turin is to be involved for example (as he was at least for a number of phases of this concept), do we need to wonder how he can fight, having already died on earth as a mortal?
For myself I see no real gain by pressing the Mannish myth in this way. I tend to think: whatever will happen at the Great End, if there is a 'Battle of Battles' that needs to be physical as we understand the nature of our present existence...
... then physical enough it will be
