Part 6/8:
Tolkien's exploration of life after death poses questions regarding the fates of the Ents and Dwarves. The original plan for the afterlife was that Elves would dwell in Valinor and Men would journey to Mandos, but the emergence of the Ents and Dwarves complicates this schema. Scholars have proposed various theories on the ultimate resting place of these beings, from returning to their original forms to maintaining a distinct afterlife. However, Tolkien himself left this open-ended, reflecting the ongoing evolution of his mythology.