Frodo and Sam shared an incredibly strong bond, so it is heartwarming to know that they could have reunited — but there is no guarantee. Contrary to popular belief, mortals did not become immortal in the Undying Lands. In Tolkien’s lore, there was no way for mortals to permanently avoid death; even the Rings of Power that Sauron used to transform Men into Nazgûl merely delayed the inevitable. But does this mean that Frodo passed away before Sam reached the Undying Lands? Tolkien neither confirmed nor denied this, but he left plenty of clues for fans to analyze.
Mortals’ Bodies Were Affected By the Undying Lands
The Undying Lands were known as Aman in the Elvish language of Quenya.
The most pertinent piece of information is the timeline. Sam did not leave Middle-earth until the year 61 of the Fourth Age, shortly after his wife, Rosie, passed away. Frodo was born in 2968 of the Third Age, so by the time Sam reached the Undying Lands, Frodo would have been 114 years old. This certainly would have been elderly for a hobbit, but not exceptionally so. Gerontius Took, better known as the Old Took, lived to be 130 years old, and Bilbo Baggins surpassed his record by at least one year. Yet there is reason to believe that Frodo did not survive for as long in the Undying Lands as he would have if he had remained in Middle-earth.
In Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, which outlined the ancient history of Middle-earth, the mortal Númenóreans grew jealous of the Elves in the Undying Lands and wanted to invade their land. In the section “Akallabêth,” a messenger from the godlike Valar tried to explain to the Númenóreans that this was unwise. He implied that the holy light and beauty of the Undying Lands were too much for mortal bodies to withstand:
Were you so to voyage that escaping all deceits and snares you came indeed to Aman, the Blessed Realm, little would it profit you. For it is not the land of Manwë that makes its people deathless, but the Deathless that dwell therein have hallowed the land; and there you would but wither and grow weary the sooner, as moths in a light too strong and steadfast.
Frodo Was an Honored Guest in the Undying Lands
Frodo and Sam seeing each other once again, even if only briefly, would line up with the recurring themes of Tolkien’s work. He often mentioned Elves reuniting with their loved ones in the Undying Lands as a reward for their suffering in life. Hobbits’ souls worked differently from those of Elves, but narratively speaking, Frodo and Sam deserved a similar reward. Though many tragedies occurred in The Lord of the Rings, it was ultimately an optimistic story. Even if Frodo had passed away by the time Sam reached the Undying Lands, they still might have had an opportunity to reunite. When Elves died, their spirits went to the Halls of Mandos in Valinor, but Tolkien left the fate of mortal souls a mystery, stating only that they left the world. Given Tolkien’s strong Catholic beliefs, he likely imagined a heavenly afterlife for the non-Elven inhabitants of Middle-earth.