In the mythology created by JRR Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, Hobbits (as well as Men, Elves, and Dwarves) will pass into an afterlife called the Halls of Mandos, where they wait and are sorted to a permanent afterlife.
Much like the Dwarves, The Lord of the Rings mentions Hobbits slowly faded away over time as Middle-earth became the real-life Earth of today. However, Tolkien also claimed that Men later forced Hobbits into hiding and even hunted them for sport.
Generally, Men do not come back to life and their purpose after death will not be revealed until the end of the world. In the Tolkien universe, much the same as our own, it is not explicitly stated precisely what happens after we're done in the mortal realm.
The purity of Valinor gives Frodo relief from his wounds since the presence of evil in Middle-earth keeps them fresh, and he likely lives a considerably longer life than he would have. Still, he doesn't live forever.
Girion: Burned off-screen by Smaug during the introductory scenes. Thrór: (Flashback) Decapitated by Azog. Tom, Bert, and William: Petrified with the onset of dawn, when Gandalf split the stone. Yazneg: Stabbed by Azog and eaten by Wargs.
Did Hobbits and Men have an Afterlife? | Lord of the Rings Lore | Middle-Earth
Did Frodo eventually die?
As the ring-bearer, Frodo, against all odds, completed his mission and didn't die at the end of the trilogy, but instead sailed towards a new chapter in his life. That said, Tolkien has a lot of Christian parallels in his work, and the Undying Lands are still a very clear metaphor for Heaven or the Garden of Eden.
"Some indeterminate time after the end of the Third Age, the Hobbits regressed as a people and lost their arts due to the Big Folk becoming more and more numerous and usurping the fertile lands of the Shire. They regressed into "pygmies" and were hunted by cruel men for sport as if they were animals."
After Aragorn's death, Legolas made a ship in Ithilien and left Middle-earth to go over the sea. His strong friendship with Gimli prompted Legolas to invite him to accompany him to the Undying Lands; making him the first and only Dwarf to do so. He was never seen again in Middle-earth.
In the novel, there is a 17-year gap between Frodo taken possession of The One Ring and leaving the Shire on his quest. Gandalf has no reason to suspect Bilbo's ring was The One Ring, and it took him 17 years of searching before he could reach that conclusion.
Unfortunately, as you've probably guessed, that's not the case. Frodo, Sam, Bilbo, and Gimli all go West to die. Living in Aman extends their life somewhat, so Sam could have met Frodo one last time, but this is not the happy ending you think it is.
They may be restored by the Will of the Valar, and then go to live with the Valar in Valinor, like an Earthly Paradise, though just being in the place does not confer immortality, as Men supposed. Men are mortal, and when they die they go beyond the circles of the world, even the Elves not knowing where that might be.
The elves do go to Valinor when they die (to the Halls of Mandos) because they are immortal and will be in the world until it ends. Men however, leave the circles of the world when they die and cannot go to the undying lands.
Their deaths and Thorin's did not end Durin's line, although did end the branch which had Thror, Thrain, and Thorin Oakenshield. Thorin's cousin, Dain Ironfoot, became King after Thorin's death. Dain's son, Thorin Stonehelm, became King after Dain died in the Battle of Dale. The line continued on after that.
At the age of 102, Merry returned to Rohan and Gondor with Pippin; they died in Gondor, and were laid to rest among the Kings of Gondor in Rath Dínen, the street of tombs, then moved to lie next to Aragorn.
However, after that, it simply says, "The world grew old and the days of Durin's race ended." This is vague enough for speculation, but the wording definitely sounds like the race of Dwarves passed away to extinction. It's a somewhat depressing end to the tale, with an entire race simply fading away from the planet.
There's a big reason why this coincidence didn't clock with Gandalf, and it's because the idea of Bilbo finding the One Ring seemed out of the realm of possibility. For close to 3000 years, the One Ring was missing, with no hints as to its whereabouts.
Well, Bilbo and Frodo are actually cousins. To be specific, Frodo's mother Primula Brandybuck-Baggins was Bilbo's first cousin on his mother's side while Frodo's father Drogo Baggins was his second cousin on his father's side. This would make Frodo his first and second cousin, once removed on both sides.
Legolas does not marry or have any children, based on the appendix of The Lord of the Rings. Regardless of who his mother was, Legolas is the last of his line. When he sails into the West at the beginning of the Fourth Age, he leaves no family members behind.
Yes. In appendix B of the Return of the King, there is a chronology of some events that took place after the story, and that includes a few times Sam, Merry, and Pippin met Aragorn.
It is later mentioned that Tauriel is a talented warrior and was therefore made leader of the Mirkwood border guards. Legolas, the son of Mirkwood's Elven king Thranduil, is indicated to be attracted to her, but as she is a lowly Silvan Elf, she does not believe herself worthy of him.
Since Sam was a ring bearer for a brief time, he was granted passage into the Undying Lands, and he crossed over to once again reunite with Frodo. Nothing is known about Samwise's fate, or what the Undying Lands are even like, but it still feels like an appropriate end for the character.
In the year 121 of the Fourth Age, after Aragorn's death, Arwen died of a broken heart at Cerin Amroth in Lórien, and was buried there one year after the death of Aragorn, to whom she had been wedded for 122 years. She was 2901 years old.
Frodo gave Sam the estate of Bag End, and the Red Book of Westmarch for Sam to continue, hinting that Sam might also be allowed to travel into the West eventually. Sam returned to meet his family at Bag End, ending the story with the words "Well, I'm back."
