[Man-of-the-Wold]

The quotes assembled by BD-Legolas, are extraordinary. As I now approach HoME X-XII, I plan to pace those writings with Letters, and I'll let the wisdom flow over me.

Nevertheless, I think the bottom-line is that JRR Tolkien was perfectly aware and intentionally did not want the Elves to actually satisfy the latin-based English definition of "immortality." Heck, he at one time wrote dictionaries.

In the Books themselves, I would submit that the label "immortal" is rarely applied for this very reason. In terms of "Fantasy" literature in general, which Tolkien effortlessly transcends, this is easily forgotten, or attributed to simply his writing style. But it is not stylistic, but philosophical. The Films, of course, are forced to use the label, not having time to dwell on subtleties.

At the same time, though, Tolkien is very sure to label Men (and Hobbits) as "Mortals," in contrast to the other Free Peoples, apparently even Dwarves by implication.

In these regards, Tolkien in my view was trying to make some very fundamental points and comments about human beings in this world. Ideas that meant a great deal to him.

The first one that comes to mind is that JRRT is offering a more meaningful (and perhaps more plausible?) representation of the types of creatures or persons that populate Northern European legends, and how this informed our own view of ourselves.

Tolkien's Elves are blatantly not "fairies" in what he might have considered a caricatured sense, even if they go to "Fairië", nor are they like Tom Bombadil, Goldberry and the Istari, who are perhaps the one true "immortals" that the reader ever really meets as characters. In some cases, Elves are great warriors, usually taller if not bigger than Men, even if some Edain/Dunedain were also taller than most Elves. I think one also sees Tolkien's searching in this direction by his fixation on various Tuetonic uses of the name Godwine or Elfwine (like Eomer's son), which mean god-friend and elf-friend, in "The Lost Road" writings.

Curiously, if you take one part Elf and one part Hobbit, you basically have something that would generically correspond to most such legendary denizens.

Secondly, he is contrasting Elves and Men as the two children of Iluvatar. This is not so much in terms of the differences of their natural existence, but rather their respective afterlife, and to what degree their spirit or soul is part of this World or not.

Elves are spirits of this world, and in a sense they simply do not and cannot leave it. This spirtual power, however, transcends the natural corpus and allows them to indefinitely sustain the beauty of youth, be immune to all disease, and avoid death by other than the most grievous physical or mental injury.

Men on the other hand are not spirits of this world, and this world ravages and wears down there bodies as easily as it does any living creature, releasing the soul to be closer to Iluvatar, or God.

In a sense, Tolkien is trying with Elves to present an image for how we would ideally sees ourselves in terms of this world. While at same time showing how the cruel reality of our existence is a reflection of how much we really don't belong here. At the same time, during this brief existence and with the Dominion of Men, humans have the free will and potential to accomplish true greatness, "beyond the Music of the Ainur".

But the true gift and ultimate potential is leaving this world and connecting with our creator. Indeed, the purpose of Men as alluded to in the [I]Akallabeth[I], for which "many ages of Men unborn may pass ere that purpose is made known" is in my opinion an allusion to the Coming of the Word.