Forever?

[HerenIstarion]

Originally Posted by davem

Well, that depends whether you see Frodo's journey into the West as going to Heaven or going to Pugatory. If its to Purgatory (even in the Earthly Paradise) then he hasn't been completely purified by his experiences in the world

That, at leas partially, can be answered by the following:

Originally Posted by Tolkien, in his latter 246 ;)

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 for ever on earth, or within Time. So he went both to a purgatory and to a reward, for a while: a period of reflection and peace and a gaining of a truer understanding of his position in littleness and in greatness, spent still in Time amid the natural beauty of 'Arda Unmarred', the Earth unspoiled by evil

(emphasis mine)

So it leaves room for both our views, in a sense.

Much thanks to Fingolfin II, who quoted the passage in Those of Mortal Descent in the Undying Lands , thus saving me the trouble of finding it myself.