Elves and death

[Galin]

To add, Glorfindel I (GI) might contain an easier reason: that Glorfindel was a companion to Gandalf on his voyage to Middle-earth in the Third Age, possibly as a guard or assistant in addition to being a friend and follower (considering the first words of the second page anyway, noting that the first page is missing).

'... as guards or assistants. An Elf who had once known Middle-earth and had fought in the long wars against Melkor would be an eminently suitable companion for Gandalf. We could then reasonably suppose that Glorfindel (possibly as one of a small party, more probably as a sole companion) landed with Gandalf-Olórin about Third Age 1000.'

[skipping to end of GI]

'(...) It is indeed probable that he had in Valinor already become a friend and follower of Olórin, Even in the brief glimpses of him given in The Lord of the Rings he appears as specially concerned with Gandalf, and was one (the most powerful it would seem) of those sent out from Rivendell when the disquieting news reached Elrond that Gandalf had never reappeared to guide or protect the Ring-bearer.'

Tolkien seems to reject this in Glorfindel II, but there he appears to be considering it an improbable exception that Glorfindel be sent to Middle-earth after the Blessed Realm was removed from the Circles of the World. OK, but as the focus of the trip was really Gandalf and the mission of the Istari anyway, I don't think it necessarily would make Glorfindel '... of greater power and importance than seems fitting' (GII) to have him accompany the Wizard.

Hmmm. I kind of like this explanation from GI myself.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

It's interesting, and never expanded on, that the Elves of Valinor (or at least Eressea) frequently visited Numenor before the place went bad- but apparently no farther East. T did note in the margin of Glorfindel that perhaps G returned to M-E on a Numenorean ship.

That Osgiliates into another subject- it seems that Exiles who physically sailed back into the West were confined to Eressea, but this isn't the case with re-embodied Nodor, who after Mandos live in Valinor proper (definitely stated in the cases of Finrod and Glorfindel). I suppose this is because ex-cons are considered 'purged;' it may also be that living returnees have enough of a taste for the Mortal Lands left that timeless Aman would be unpleasant for them.

[The Mouth of Sauron]

I know that Maedhros, being a son of Feanor and responsible for the loss of a Silmaril after he threw himself (and it) into a fiery chasm, wouldn't be exactly flavour of the month with Mandos.

But if he WAS ever released to resume bodily form, would he have his right hand back ?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Probably yes. Certainly under Tolkien's earlier view of reincarnation, which was rebirth as a child; and almost certainly so under his later view, where the hroa was reconstituted according to the 'firmware' maintained by the fea: the body as it was or was supposed to be naturally, rather than as mutilated or modified by external forces.

I don't imagine Finrod's new body was all shredded and disembowelled by wolf fangs!

[Alfirin]

That brings up a question that's alaways bugged me (am please forgive me if this has already been asked or was covered somehwhere else). When Beren got his second life (after Luthien sang Mandos into granting it) did he return as he was, or did he also get his hand back?

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Alfirin

That brings up a question that's alaways bugged me (am please forgive me if this has already been asked or was covered somehwhere else). When Beren got his second life (after Luthien sang Mandos into granting it) did he return as he was, or did he also get his hand back?

Well, you see the Valar have always been a bit sloppy -- one could say downright lazy -- in their handling of Middle-earth and its Elves and Men. When they ressurected Beren, they indeed realized he was missing an appendage; however, when they reconstituted him they put on the wrong limb.

In fact, a famous saying arose from the Valar's botch job of Beren's body part. When one is awkward, it is said they walk with two left feet.

And that is the rest of the story.

[The Mouth of Sauron]

Originally Posted by Alfirin

That brings up a question that's alaways bugged me (am please forgive me if this has already been asked or was covered somehwhere else). When Beren got his second life (after Luthien sang Mandos into granting it) did he return as he was, or did he also get his hand back?

Maybe not, becuase he (exceptionally) returned as a man as opposed to an Elf. I'm not sure I can recall another mortal who returned that way.

[Findegil]

I am not even sure that Beren and Lúthien got new hora (bodies) at all. Porbably they were simply send back to their old bodies. This Oute from the Silmarillion; Chapter 20 implies that in my interpretation

It is said that Beren and Lúthien returned to the northern lands of Middle-earth, and dwelt together for a time as living man and woman; and they took up again their mortal form in Doriath.

For Beren that would of course have involved a healing of the wound from Carcharoth that killed him. But I would think that in this case it was a marvelous healing not a reincarnation into a fresh made body. In Lúthien caase this would not have been any problem since earlier in the Silmarillion Chapter 19 it is said:

But the spirit of Lúthien fell down into darkness, and at the last it fled, and her body lay like a flower that is suddenly cut off and lies for a while unwithered on the grass.

Which can only mean that Lúthein body was still functionable when she returned.

Respectfully
Findegil