The Grey Havens

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by The Mouth of Sauron

It's by no meams certain that Legolas and Gimli left via the Grey Havens. Rather Legolas "built a ship in Ithilien" and therefore probably sailed west via the Anduin.

That's logical.

Originally Posted by The Mouth of Sauron

Also I'm not sure that the Grey Havens were simply ports. Even in the Fourth Age there were still High Elves left in Eriador and it's possible that they used these Havens as a place to live.

Well, there had to have been settlements nearby, but I don't think habitation was the primary purpose of the Havens.


On a different note, going back to Frodo and Sam's motives for leaving, I think what's already been said does apply, but could there have been another factor for those two?

HOME XII has an interesting chapter on lembas, and there it is said that the Eldar did not allow mortals to use that waybread, except under very special circumstances. The Elves had been instructed from the first that if mortals ate too much of it, they would grow weary of mortality and long for "the fields of Aman, to which they cannot come".

Frodo and Sam would seem to have eaten more of the lembas than any other members of the Fellowship, and they ate it alone as well, which was said to increase its virtue. Could that also have increased its other effects, causing Frodo and Sam to yearn for immortal lands?