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A comment on a recent question stated

The Undying Lands doesn't prevent mortals from dying so, in fact, [Frodo] died... maybe sixty years (or more, if his life was prolonged) after the end of the story.

If this is correct, Gimli certainly would have died. Is there any direct reference to his death (preferably with age)? Failing that, what canon states or implies that mortals will still die there?

The Undying Lands might not prevent death, but the One Ring seems to. Gollum lived for over 500 years because of it. Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam all aged slowly before making their way to Valinor, even after the Ring's destruction. My impression was that because of the Ring's influence they were expected to live forever, and their residence in Valinor served not only to make them comfortable, but also (perhaps even moreso) to protect them from becoming wraiths due to the Ring's effect.

So, did the Ring Bearers live until the End of Days in Valinor, or did they eventually expire, and at what age? Were they mortal once again because the Ring's power had been broken by its destruction, or the magic of the Undying Lands, or did the Valar themselves reverse it?

I'd also appreciate canonical references to age at death if it did happen.

Frodo is mortal, and going to Valinor doesn't change this. I don't remember this being explicitly stated in The Lord of the Rings. Book VI closes as Frodo sails away. Gandalf, Galadriel and the others do not make any prophecies regarding what will happen in Valinor. One of the appendices provides a timeline for “later events concerning the members of the Fellowship of the Ring”, but strictly limited to Middle-earth. The Ring is destroyed in 1422 by Shire reckoning, Sam sails West in 1482 when his wife dies, and Legolas and Gimli (“it is said”) are the last of the Fellowship to leave Middle-earth in 1541. That's all you'll find in The Lord of the Rings: that story is told from the point of Middle-earth and does not chronicle what happens in the Elven lands that Man cannot reach.

Mortality is a gift to Men (this is clearly established in the Simlarillion). This is a gift of Ilúvatar and not even the Valar can affect it. Although Hobbits are not mentioned, they are probably close enough cousins of Men to be mortal in the same way. The case of Dwarves may be less well-established but nothing indicates otherwise.

We can turn to Word of God in the form of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. There it is clearly stated (letter 246):

‘Alas! there are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured’, said Gandalf — not in Middle-earth. Frodo was sent or allowed to pass over Sea to heal him — if that could be done, before he died. He would have eventually to ‘pass away’: no mortal could, or can, abide for ever on earth, or within Time. So he went both to a purgatory and to a reward, for a while: a period of reflection and peace and a gaining of a truer understanding of his position in littleness and in greatness, spent still in Time amid the natural beauty of ‘Arda Unmarred’, the Earth unspoiled by evil.

Letter 325:

As for Frodo or other mortals, they could only dwell in Aman for a
limited time — whether brief or long. The Valar had neither the power nor
the right to confer ‘immortality’ upon them. Their sojourn was a
‘purgatory’, but one of peace and healing and they would eventually pass
away (die at their own desire and of free will) to destinations of which
the Elves knew nothing.

There you have it: the Ring-bearers were mortal, they remained mortal, and they eventually died in the manner of mortals, albeit after a time of their own choice.

A final note, still in letter 325:

(…) But the legends are mainly of ‘Mannish’ origin blended with those of the Sindar (Gray-elves) and others who had never left Middle-earth.

As this last passage shows, we don't know precisely what happened to Frodo and the other Ring-bearers in Valinor because what we know is the legends of Middle-earth. We have no knowledge of what happened in Valinor after it was removed from this Earth, save through what little contact it still had with Middle-earth until the end of the Third Age.

Yes, every mortal who goes to Aman (the Undying Lands) will eventually die. The Undying Lands were likely called that because immortals dwelled in them, not because they granted immortality.

Other important arguments against the immortality of the mortals who sailed to Aman can be found in a letter:

As for Frodo or other mortals, they could only dwell in Aman for a limited time – whether brief or long. The Valar had neither the power nor the right to confer 'immortality' upon them. Their sojourn was a 'purgatory', but one of peace and healing and they would eventually pass away (die at their own desire and of free will) to destinations of which the Elves knew nothing."

—Letter 325

And in a passage from The Akallabêth:

The Eldar reported these words to the Valar, and Manwë was grieved, seeing a cloud gather on the noontide of Númenor. And he sent messengers to the Dúnedain, who spoke earnestly to the King, and to all who would listen, concerning the fate and fashion of the world.

‘The Doom of the World,’ they said, ‘One alone can change who made it. And were you so to voyage that escaping all deceits and snares you came indeed to Aman, the Blessed Realm, little would it profit you. For it is not the land of Manwë that makes its people deathless, but the Deathless that dwell therein have hallowed the land; and there you would but wither and grow weary the sooner, as moths in a light too strong and steadfast.’

—J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Akallabêth: The Downfall of Númenor"

The elves believed that Tuor, a man, set sail from the havens at the mouth of Sirion with his elvish wife Idril, daughter of Turgon, King of Gondolin. The silmarrilion states that Tuor and Idril arrived safely in Valinor, bypassing the ban of the Valar, and that Tuor was accounted one of the elder race, and granted immortality after the manner of the elves.

It is possible, in other words, for a mortal to live on in the undying lands like an elf. However, Tolkien indicated in his private letters that Frodo and Sam and the others were not counted as elves, and indeed died, even in the "Undying Lands."

In addition to the other answers dealing with mortality in Valinor, it's clear from the books that the effects of the Ring are only temporary, and that they will wear off in time. For example, Gandalf's comment in Shadow of the Past:

he possessed the ring for many years, and used it, so it might take a long while for the influence to wear off...

So it's clear that:

• the effects of the Ring do wear off after you no longer have it,


• this wearing off takes time,


• how much time it takes depends on how long you have the Ring and how much you use it.

Looking now at the Ring-bearers, we see that

• Sam had it the least amount of time (excepting Déagol, who was killed almost immediately), 2 days maximum, and gave it up willingly, so it shouldn't be expected that it had much lasting effect on him.


• Frodo had it about 18 years, but the Ring completely claimed him at the end and was taken off him by force; that's obviously going to have a lasting effect.


• Bilbo had it about 60 years, only used the Ring for tricks (and escaping from the SBs), and also gave it up willingly; he was without it for almost 20 years when he went West.


• Gollum had it for almost 500 years, obtained it by force, used it for evil, lost it unwillingly, and was without it for close on 80 years at his death.

Obviously, in the light of Gandalf's statement, it's going to take longer for the effects of the Ring to wear off both Bilbo and Gollum. Even when we meet Bilbo in Many Partings they're still wearing off - he asks to see the Ring. Gollum of course still wants it right to the very end, and as such is still under its influence.