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Old 01-12-2011, 01:37 PM   #5
Findegil
King's Writer
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,694
Findegil is a guest of Tom Bombadil.
There are no stupid questions!

There is a difference between the death of the Elves at the end of Arda and the death when they are slain. And besides being slain Elves can die from great weariness. For this Míriel is the first and probably only explicit example.

If Elves are slain or die from weariness they are summoned to the Halls of Mandos. There they are judge by Mandos. Some are held there until the end of Arda (e.g. Feanor) other are held for a time of thought and purification. When Mandos judges them fit and if they desire it a body is build for them by the Valar from the memory of the old body that the soul caries on for that propose. Then with a blessing from Manwe the Elves become (re-)incarnated beings again (e.g. Glorfindel). But if an Elf does not want to be alive again, he is free to stay in Mandos as long as he of she wishes.

At the end of Arda all Elves will die a real death, which means they will leave time and space of the created world and will go to the doom prepared for them by Ilúvatar (what ever that may be).

Respectfuly
Findegil
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