And came there never again as a living man.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

My family watched disk two of the Fellowship of the Ring last night and just for fun I brought my own battered copy upstairs to the TV room and pointed out the inaccuracies. This has nothing to do with my question, but it is when I found this passage...

Originally Posted by Fellowship of the Ring, book two, Lothlorien

And taking Frodo's hand in his, he left the hill of Cerin Amroth and came there never again as a living man. (emphassis added)

I was wondering what this means. Whether it mans that Aragorn had died and went to Lothlorien after or what? It just puzzled me that it says "came there never again as a living man."

[Inziladun]

I always took that to mean simply that he never returned there for the rest of his life.
As for his spirit, who can say?

[Gordis]

I think it is the same sort of seemingly ambiguous, poetic statement as the words about the Witch-King:

But lo! the mantle and hauberk were empty. Shapeless they lay now on the ground, torn and tumbled; and a cry went up into the shuddering air, and faded to a shrill wailing, passing with the wind, a voice bodiless and thin that died, and was swallowed up, and was never heard again in that age of this world.

The ultimate fate of Men remains a big unanswered question...

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

So, you're saying that it is just a poetic statement, that it just means that Aragorn just didn't go there again? It has noting to do with him going there after death?

[Oddwen]

Right. He may have returned there in thought, but never again in body.

[Sardy]

I'd never noticed that passage, or at least never gave thought to its implications. The question that I'm left with now is why did Aragorn, as King Elessar in the Fourth age, not ever visit Lothlorien? After the War of the Ring had ended, my impression was that he had spent much time travelling Middle-earth, even visiting the Shire. Was he simply too busy to ever return to Lothlorien?

One would think that his relationship with the elves, and his marriage to Arwen in particular, would almost necessitate a visit at some point...

I wonder if there is a particular reason that he never returned? Was he unwelcome there?

[Laurinquë]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

And taking Frodo's hand in his, he left the hill of Cerin Amroth and came there never again as a living man. (emphassis added)

I remember reading that line over and over again when I read FotR for the first time; it really struck as being poetic and somehow hopeful. It always seemed to me to imply that he would return some day, as a dead man I suppose. All the same, it's a favourite quote of mine.

[Bêthberry]

I've always thought that, with the passing of Nenya and Galadriel, Lothlorien ultimately faded away. The land itself may still exist, but it's nature altered in that it now admitted of change and decay. This was one reason, to me, why the site of Arwen's grave became lost to human knowledge.