I had hoped to have at least the beginnings of a blog post on fëar and hröar (specifically, whether or not it is possible for Elvish fëar (spirit) can occupy a Mannish hröar (body) if they reincarnated), but there has been too much material to sort through, dissect, discuss, and dismantle. I want to build a strong case, one way or the other. That will take time.
Meanwhile, I want to share a paragraph from Morgoth’s Ring (History of Middle-Earth, Volume III, p.320). I don’t believe any commentary is necessary.
‘Alas, lord!’ she said. ‘What then is to be done now? For we speak as if these things are, or as if they will assuredly be. But Men have been diminished and their power is taken away. We look for no Arda Remade: darkness lies before us, into which we stare in vain. If by our aid your lasting mansions were to be prepared, they will not be builded now.’
‘Have ye then no hope?’ said Finrod.
‘What is hope?’ she said. ‘An expectation of good, which though uncertain has some foundation in what is known? Then we have none.’
‘That is one thing that Men call “hope,”‘ said Finrod. ‘Amdir we call it, “looking up.” But there is another which is founded deeper. Estel we call it, that is “trust.” It is not defeated by the ways of the world, for it does not come from experience, but from our nature and first being. If we are indeed the Eruhin, the Children of the One, then He will not suffer Himself to be deprived of His own, not by an Enemy, not even by ourselves. This is the last foundation of Estel, which we keep even when we contemplate the End: of all His designs the issue must be for His Children’s joy. Amdir you have not, you say. Does no Estel at all abide?’
Journey To Reimagination 