When
Glorfindel was slain his spirit would then go to
Mandos and be
judged, and then would remain in the
Halls of Waiting until
Manwe granted him release.
The
Elves were destined to be by nature 'immortal', within
the unknown limits of the life of the Earth as a habitable
realm, and their disembodiment was a grievous thing. It was the duty, therefore, of the
Valar to restore
them, if they were slain, to incarnate life, if they desired it -
unless for some grave (and rare) reason: such as deeds of great
evil, or any works of malice of which they remained obdurately
unrepentant. When they were re-embodied they could remain in
Valinor, or return to
Middle-earth if their home had been there.
We can therefore reasonably suppose that Glorfindel, after the
purging or forgiveness of his part in the rebellion of the
Noldor,
was released from Mandos and became himself again, but
remained in the Blessed Realm - for
Gondolin was destroyed
and all or most of his kin had perished. We can thus understand
why he seems so powerful a figure and almost 'angelic'. For he
had returned to the primitive innocence of the First-born, and
had then lived among those Elves who had never rebelled, and
in the companionship of the
Maiar for
ages: from the last years
of the
First Age, through the
Second Age, to the end of the first
millennium of the Third Age: before he returned to Middle-
earth.
