Maiar or Man?

[Kuruharan]

Now, that all said, my question is this: what happened to Gandalf once he arrived in Valinor once again? Seeing as he died once before after the battle with the Balrog, when he returned to Valinor on board the ship, he was still in the form of (technically) a man. Now, my question, and this is completely a personal belief, is do you believe that Gandalf would have returned to the form in which he had as a Maiar? Or do you believe that he would have died and left the World forever seeing as he was in the form of a Man?

Gandalf's body was not really one of "a Man." It only resembled that of an aged Man. In no way did the essence of Gandalf become Mannish or Man-like. Gandalf was a different order of creation.

How long he would have retained the form of Gandalf is difficult to say. Incarnation seems to have been something of a seductive trap for Ainur. Once they got into bodies, some of them displayed a marked reluctance to leave. However, for good Ainur this usually seems to have fallen short of them reaching the point where their spirit is bound to their body and they are crippled without it. In the few examples we have, it seems to have to do with their purpose in wearing the body. Melian abandoned her body and left when Thingol died. The Valar could assume a visible form at will. With them their preferred form seemed to have been more habit and personality than any other consideration. In his days before being Gandalf, Olorin actually showed little inclination to wear a body at all. After his return he may have returned to his earlier preference. However, Bilbo and Frodo, and later Sam, Legolas, and Gimli might have provided him with some reason to retain a familiar form. For as long as he'd been in the form of Gandalf, it might have just become his accustomed habit. He had also performed things like eating, etc., which (if I understand correctly) tended to bind the spirit to the form. However, I seriously doubt he was permanently bound to that form.