Valinor, a region within the Undying Lands, is a land beyond the boundaries of Middle Earth in The Lord of the Rings to which few mortal beings are permitted entry. It is the domain of the immortal, angelic-like beings known as the Valar. The Elves are welcome there because they are also immortal, while mortality is suggested to make one more corruptible. During the main Lord of the Rings trilogy, many of the Elves make their way towards the port city of the Grey Havens to depart for Valinor as the Third Age comes to an end.

However, over the millennia of Middle-earth’s history, a few mortal individuals are permitted by the Valar to come to Valinor, typically because of a heroic act they have accomplished. This is how several characters’ stories end in the Lord of the Rings books, who go to Valinor to find old friends or a kind of peace after a devastating war. However, characters including Frodo did not live forever in the Undying Lands, as the realm does not grant all residents immortality; most of the people who come there simply are already immortal.

7Frodo Baggins

Permitted To Enter Valinor For Being A Ring-Bearer

Shortly after the destruction of the One Ring, the downfall of Sauron, and Aragorn’s coronation, Frodo returns home to the Shire with Sam, Merry, and Pippin. This is where one of the biggest deviations from the source material takes place. In the Return of the King novel, the Hobbits return home to find that Saruman has infiltrated the Shire, as the only way he can exact revenge on Gandalf without his former power is to hurt the Hobbits. Frodo and the others drive him out, resulting in the Scouring of the Shire, which is cut from the movie.

The main characters all find re-adjusting to their normal lives difficult, but none more so than Frodo. Frodo is also still afflicted by physical and psychological wounds from the time he spent carrying the One Ring and being poisoned by Shelbob. Because he bore the burden of carrying the Ring, the Valar allow Frodo to come to their domain. There, his lasting injuries cause him less pain than they would have in Middle-earth. However, this voyage did not make Frodo himself immortal.

Given everything that Frodo had experienced in his lifetime, looking back over all of it and trying to make sense of these events is characteristic.

Frodo lived out the rest of his life in the Undying Lands and eventually journeyed to the island of Tol Eressëa, where he spent his last days in “a period of reflection and peace.” Given everything that Frodo had experienced in his lifetime, looking back over all of it and trying to make sense of these events is characteristic. Frodo’s death seems to be as enigmatic and strange as his life, but before he passed away, he possibly had a very emotional reunion with a friend.

6Bilbo Baggins

Permitted To Enter Valinor For Being A Ring-Bearer

Bilbo is also welcomed into the Undying Lands at the end of Lord of the Rings due to the time he (inadvertently) hid the Ring from Sauron. Bilbo likely would have died shortly after arriving in Valinor from natural causes. However, he is permitted to go there and find some relief from the exhaustion of his unnaturally long life. When Bilbo leaves Middle-earth at 131 years old, he is the oldest Hobbit who ever lived. Even celebrating his 111th birthday seems like a major milestone, characteristic of how most of the Shire regards Bilbo as strange and unsually enduring.

Bilbo was unhealthy from the time he spent carrying the One Ring long before he left Middle-earth. After Gandalf convinces him to give up the Ring (something Frodo technically never did), Bilbo is cared for in Rivendell, ruled over by Elrond. Bilbo ended up with the One Ring by chance, which made his life far more arduous than it would have been. However, he leaves Middle-earth in good spirits with his lifelong friend Gandalf and nephew Frodo.

5Samwise Gamgee

Permitted To Enter Valinor For (Briefly) Being A Ring-Bearer

As seen in the movie, Sam, as well as Merry and Pippin, have a tearful goodbye with Frodo when he leaves for the Middle-earth and Sam stays behind. After returning to the Shire, Sam marries Rosie Cotton and has 13 children with her, naming three of their sons after Frodo, Merry, and Pippin. Their daughter Goldilocks Gardener marries Pippin’s son Faramir. Sam and Rosie also inherit Bag End from Frodo, which is where they raise their family. Sam, Merry, and Pippin are all leaders in the Shire for the rest of their lives.

Sam keeps the Red Book of Westmarch for Frodo before passing it on to his daughter Elanor. Sam also serves as the Mayor of the Shire for 49 years. He is then also permitted to come to the Undying Lands after his wife’s death. Tolkien created a peaceful scene of normalcy after war with Sam’s life. However, it is also fitting that, in the end, he is able to reunite with Frodo. Although this is only what people assume happens, as Tolkien never explicitly confirmed that they meet again, ending the story with a note of ambiguity.

4Gimli

Presumably Permitted To Enter Valinor On Account Of His Friendship With Legolas & Dedication To Galadriel

Tolkien also created a mystery out of Gimli’s ultimate fate, stressing how remarkable it would be if a Dwarf were admitted to Valinor. Gimli is the first of his kind to sail there and is presumably granted entry. Gimli is busy in the years after the war: First, he and Legolas set out to explore the Glittering Caves at Helm’s Deep, and later travel through Fangorn Forest and Ithilien. Legolas gets his father’s permission to remain in Middle-earth (for the time being), where he and Gimli both dedicate themselves to helping the people rebuild.

Gimli goes to Valinor because of his dedication to both Legolas and Galadriel.

In Gimli’s case, he establishes a Dwarf settlement in the Glittering Caves and becomes the first Lord of the Glittering Caves. These Dwarves help rebuild much of Gondor and Rohan. However, Gimli and Legolas’ storylines are still intertwined in the aftermath of what is seen in the movies. After Aragorn’s death and his son’s succession, Legolas builds his own ship to voyage to the Undying Lands and invites Gimli to accompany him, which his old friend accepts.

Gimli goes to Valinor because of his dedication to both Legolas and Galadriel. Gimli notably meets the latter in Fellowship of the Ring and is immediately entranced by her; he leaves Middle-earth partially because of a desire to see her again. Tolkien suggests that Gimli may have been allowed into the Undying Lands due to his bonds with Legolas and Galadriel. At any rate, Legolas and Gimli are never seen in Middle-earth again.

3Eärendil

Permitted To Enter Valinor For Saving Middle-Earth

Art credit: Eärendil (left) by Jenny Dolfen; Elwing (right) by Elena Kukanova

Eärendil and his wife Elwing are both Half-elves who chose immortal lives and are Elrond’s parents. Eärendil was the son of the human Tuor and Elven Princess Idril, and renowned as a great mariner. After his marriage to Elwing and the birth of their twin sons, Eärendil built his own ship and set out to find his parents, who had left Middle-earth years earlier, and perhaps find the Valar. However, after a devastating attack on their land, Elwing fled and managed to catch up with her husband.

Eärendil and Elwing then traveled to the Undying Lands, knowing it could mean their deaths, to request the Valnar’s aid in fighting Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Because they had undertaken this journey on behalf of the peoples of Middle-earth, they were spared. Manwë, the King of the Valnar, then allowed them both to choose whether they would live as Elves or humans going forward. Eärendil asked his wife to choose for both of them.

2Elwing

Permitted To Enter Valinor For Saving Middle-Earth

Elwing was the daughter of the Elf Niomath and her husband Dior, who was the son of the legendary Beren and Lúthien of Tolkien’s best love story. During the attack on the Havens of Sirion, Elwing fled by throwing herself into the Great Sea rather than being captured; through the power of the Vala Ulmo, she was transformed into a white bird and flew to her husband’s ship. Elwing refused to be separated from her husband again and acted as an emissary when they reached Valinor.

Elwing and Eärendil both chose immortality and remained in Valinor following Morgoth’s defeat. Additionally, the choice of whether to live as mortals or immortals was passed on to their Half-elven descendants, which is why there is never any question about whether Elrond or Arwen would be admitted to the Undying Lands. As most Lord of the Rings fans know, Elrond chooses immortality and leaves Middle-earth at the end of the trilogy, while Arwen chooses mortality, living and dying with Aragorn.

1Ar-Pharazôn & His Númenórean Army (Kind Of)

Not Permitted To Enter Valinor & Died Shortly After Arrival

Eärendil and Elwing’s other son and Elrond’s brother Elros chose mortality and became the first King of Númenor. His descendant Ar-Pharazôn is remembered as the last King of Númenor. Ar-Pharazôn’s distant cousin Amandil is Isildur’s grandfather, from whom Aragorn is descended. Ar-Pharazôn was very prideful and greedy, and usurped the throne of Númenor by forcing the Ruling Queen Tar-Míriel to marry him. When he heard that Sauron was raising an army, Ar-Pharazôn moved against him.

1Ar-Pharazôn & His Númenórean Army (Kind Of)

Not Permitted To Enter Valinor & Died Shortly After Arrival

Bilbo was unhealthy from the time he spent carrying the One Ring long before he left Middle-earth. After Gandalf convinces him to give up the Ring (something Frodo technically never did), Bilbo is cared for in Rivendell, ruled over by Elrond. Bilbo ended up with the One Ring by chance, which made his life far more arduous than it would have been. However, he leaves Middle-earth in good spirits with his lifelong friend Gandalf and nephew Frodo.

5Samwise Gamgee

Permitted To Enter Valinor For (Briefly) Being A Ring-Bearer

However, Sauron tricked Ar-Pharazôn into trusting him and became the corrupt king’s advisor. Throughout his life, Ar-Pharazôn was obsessed with immortality; Sauron was easily able to convince him to launch an attack on Valinor and take immortality by force. Ar-Pharazôn and his army arrived in Valinor, but the Valnar called upon the deity Eru, who destroyed them all and cut off Valinor from all mortals. Therefore, this serves as a kind of origin story for only immortals being allowed into Valinor in The Lord of the Rings, and another object lesson from the series on pride.

The main characters all find re-adjusting to their normal lives difficult, but none more so than Frodo. Frodo is also still afflicted by physical and psychological wounds from the time he spent carrying the One Ring and being poisoned by Shelbob. Because he bore the burden of carrying the Ring, the Valar allow Frodo to come to their domain. There, his lasting injuries cause him less pain than they would have in Middle-earth. However, this voyage did not make Frodo himself immortal.

Given everything that Frodo had experienced in his lifetime, looking back over all of it and trying to make sense of these events is characteristic.

7Frodo Baggins

Permitted To Enter Valinor For Being A Ring-Bearer