[LadyDoc]

elves are children of earth. their existence is connected with earth, and when they die their souls go to the West and there is a hint that they are reincarnated (although Tolkein doesn't go into details).

Men however die, but the saying is that they have the gift of death, the implication is that they go elsewhere and have additional deeds to do when the world ends. Tolkien states that (God) did not reveal what would happen to the elves.

Pearce has several books on this, exploring how Tolkien makes his world consistant/parallel with traditional Christian beliefs...Joseph Pearce Tolkien man and myth has a lot of details about this

[Maigret]

Thanks for the excellent reply, I'll see if I can find a copy of Pierce's book.