LETTERS:
p.198
Quote:
...For mortals... this is strictly a temporary reward: a healing and redress of suffering. THey cannot abide for ever, and though they canot return to mortal earth, they can and will 'die'- of free will, and leave the world.
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("mortal earth" is not a typo, that is the correct quote. )
p. 328
Quote:
Frodo was sent or allowed to pass over Sea to heal him-- if that could be done, before he died. He would have eventually to 'pass away'; no mortal could, or can, abide forever on earth, or within time. So he went both to a purgatory and a reward, for a while: a period of reflection and peace and gaining a truer understanding of his position in littleness and greatness, spent still in Time amid the natural beauty of 'Arda Unmarred', the Earth unspoiled by evil.
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Frodo's 'purgatory' does not sound like a punishment to me. Tolkien states as much in the following:
Footnote on page 386:
Quote:
She (Galadriel) 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...
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p.411
Quote:
As for Frodo or other mortals, they could only dwell in Aman for a limited time-- whether brief or long. The Valar had neither the power nor the right to confer 'immortality' on them. Their sojourn was a 'purgatory', but one of peace and healing and they would eventually pass away (die at their own desire and of free will) to destinations of which the Elves knew nothing.
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Tolkien specifically states that Frodo's 'purgatory' is one of peace and healing.