Why did Frodo feel he had to leave Middle Earth at the of ROTK?

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Thanks for the clarification. Does it actually say that mortals could visit Valinor, and stay there for a short time? I have a gut feeling that a sojourn in Valinor itself, however brief that might be, would be necessary for full healing. Perhaps the Ringbearers might choose to go there when ready to die. (All conjecture, of course).

Since Gandalf was a Maia of Irmo, my guess would be that they might go to Lorien for a little while which was probably the place to deal with bad dreams and memories, but that Eressea might be the most congenial location for most of their soujourn where there would be mainly folk who knew Middle Earth and was perhaps not as high falutin' as Valinor.

I don't think the effects of Frodo's injuries can be underestimated. Sometimes it is having to keep on going that keeps you going. My mother faced her terminal cancer with great courage and the only time she broke down was when she was briefly in remission and not having treatment. She coped so well with facing death it waa awful to see her struggling with life almost, yet when her symptoms returned she coped with surgeries, more chemo, infections stoically. To return to Middle Earth, the only example I can think of of a similar wound (other than Aredhel's fatal one) is Celebrían. Even she, with her great ancestry and knowing that leaving might well mean, definitively parting from her children, can not bear to remain.