> According to the Letters, everything in Middle Earth > (including Elves and > Wizards) grows old over time and dies. I'd pull up a > cite but I don't > usually bring my copy to work. This is a pretty > natural outgrowth of > Tolkien's Catholicism (which is, of course, the > underpinning for the > entire enterprise). Disease I'm less sure about. Are you sure about that? From what I remember of _The Samrillion_ [sp], Elves do not die unless killed. The half elf/half humans of the same father as Elrond have extremely long life but eventually die, but 'purebred' elves leave middle earth on ships rather than thru their death. ===== "she had a walk that would make a bishop kick in a stain glass window" - Raymond Chandler