The Valar didn’t leave Valinor forever without reason though. They made the world for the elves to live comfortably in, and once they did they retreated to be with Illuvatar and the music because their job was complete. Arda was never meant for them to live on...they only did so because they were young and curious in the first age.
That said, it’s worth noting that elves don’t die even when they leave middle earth to cross over to Valinor. According to the Valar, “death” was a gift only given to man, elves can be “killed”, but it just removes them to the Halls of Mandos (no relation) where they dwell until they decide to return to the living world. Which after hundreds of thousands of years of existence (Galadriel is like 300k by the time of the events of LOTR), can be tedious.
So technically the Valar gave the elves the gift of “returning to the undying lands” in place of their inability to die like men at the end of their lives. It’s kind of like “I know living forever fucking sucks...but you can leave and come to this place where there is no war or strife in place of dying forever....savvy?”
It’s also worth noting that Frodo and Bilbo getting to go to Valinor is a HUGE deal. No one but elves and gods had ever dwelled there, oh and in the post LOTR age Eventually Sam, Gimli, and Legolas go as well. So their actions during the war of the ring really made them worthy of the bounties of Valinor.
But since Frodo, Sam, And Bilbo are all mortal they would have still died eventually in Valinor.
And Gimli, being a Dwarf, would not fall into the same category, so I’ve always been curious about him in Valinor. Perhaps Aule himself came down to visit his creation?
This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 15 January 2021 - 11:53 AM
"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora