September 19, 2002

Re: I Wonder About Beyond Seas
Jeff C.

Well, originally Valinor was basically a small continent (at least the Elves thought it was small) that was West of Middle Earth.

Upon Numenor attempting to reach Valinor (thinking the continent itself gave immortality), and also falling into worshiping Sauron, Numenor was destroyed and Valinor was removed from the confines of the world. Not to say it wasn't part of the earth itself, it was just made impossible to reach.

Tolkien does say that even if one were to sail west as far as possible, he would just return back where he started. I suppose only the Elves could actually find their way back to Valinor.

I know this really doesn't explain it in a physics or geographical manner, but Tolkien also does not explain Valinor in that way after the destruction of Numenor.

Basically, it would appear that he was trying to say that before the Valar shut off the West, the world was flat, and then after they shut off all roads, the world was round; quote: "All roads are now bent".

He says Elves can still find the road through memory.

You will find that towards the end of AkallaBêth (Part of the Silmarillion book).

You also have to remember Tolkien was trying to create a myth, and a mythology. At some point, your layers in such things have to end with a bit of mystery. :)