Valinor (
Quenya'': Land of the Valar'') or the Blessed Realms is a
fictional location
Fictional locations are places that exist only in fiction and not in reality, such as the Negaverse or Planet X. Writers may create and describe such places to serve as backdrop for their fictional works. Fictional locations are also created for ...
in
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
's
legendarium
Tolkien's legendarium is the body of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic writing, unpublished in his lifetime, that forms the background to his ''The Lord of the Rings'', and which his son Christopher summarized in his compilation of ''The Silmaril ...
, the home of the immortal
Valar on the continent of Aman, far to the west of
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the '' Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is ...
; he used the name Aman mainly to mean Valinor. It included Eldamar, the land of the
Elves
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes " ...
, who as immortals were permitted to live in Valinor.
Aman was known somewhat misleadingly as "the Undying Lands", but the land itself does not cause mortals to live forever.
[, #156 to Father R. Murray, SJ, November 1954] However, only immortal beings were generally allowed to reside there. Exceptions were made for the surviving bearers of the
One Ring
The One Ring, also called the Ruling Ring and Isildur's Bane, is a central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' (1954–55). It first appeared in the earlier story ''The Hobbit'' (1937) as a magic ring that grants the ...
:
Bilbo and
Frodo Baggins
Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, and one of the protagonists in '' The Lord of the Rings''. Frodo is a hobbit of the Shire who inherits the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins, described familiarly ...
and
Sam Gamgee
Sam, SAM or variants may refer to:
Places
* Sam, Benin
* Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Iran
* Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place
People and fictional ...
, who dwelt there for a time, and the dwarf
Gimli.
[, "The Grey Havens", and Appendix B, entry for S.R. 1482 and 1541.][, #249 to Michael George Tolkien, October 1963]
Scholars have described the similarity of Tolkien's myth of the attempt of
Númenor
Númenor, also called Elenna-nórë or Westernesse, is a fictional place in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings. It was the kingdom occupying a large island to the west of Middle-earth, the main setting of Tolkien's writings, and was the greatest civ ...
to capture Aman to the biblical
Tower of Babel
The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages.
According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...
and the
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
Atlantis
Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...
, and the resulting destruction in both cases. They note, too, that a mortal's stay in Valinor is only temporary, not conferring immortality, just as in
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...
's ''
Paradiso'', the Earthly Paradise is only a preparation for the Celestial Paradise that is above.
Others have compared the account of the beautiful Elvish part of the Undying Lands to the
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
poem ''
Pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...
'', stating that the closest literary equivalents of Tolkien's descriptions of these lands are the ''
imrama'' Celtic tales such as those about
Saint Brendan
Brendan of Clonfert (c. AD 484 - c.577), is one of the early Irish monastic saints and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is also referred to as Brendan the Navigator, Brendan the Voyager, Brendan the Anchorite, Brendan the Bold. The ...
from the early
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
. The
Christian theme of good and light (from Valinor) opposing evil and dark (from
Mordor
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor (pronounced ; from Sindarin ''Black Land'' and Quenya ''Land of Shadow'') is the realm and base of the evil Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, an ...
) has also been discussed.
Geography
Physical
Valinor lies in Aman, a continent on the west of
Belegaer, the ocean to the west of Middle-earth.
Ekkaia
The cosmology of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium combines aspects of Christian theology and metaphysics with pre-modern cosmological concepts in the flat Earth paradigm, along with the modern spherical Earth view of the Solar System.
The created ...
, the encircling sea, surrounds both Aman and Middle-earth. Tolkien wrote that the name "Aman" was "chiefly used as the name of the land in which the Valar dwelt"
.e. Valinor[, "Quendi and Eldar".] The land has a warm climate generally, though snow falls on the peaks of the
Pelóri mountains, the highest being Taniquetil. Tolkien created no detailed maps of Aman; those drawn by
Karen Wynn Fonstad
Karen Lea Wynn Fonstad (April 18, 1945 – March 11, 2005) was an American cartographer and academic who designed several atlases of fictional worlds, including her 1981 ''The Atlas of Middle-earth'' about J. R. R. Tolkien's creations.
Early li ...
, based on Tolkien's rough sketch of
Arda's landmasses and seas, show Valinor about 800 miles wide, west to east (from the Great Sea to the Outer Sea), and about 3000 miles long north to south – similar in size to the United States. The entire
continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...
of Aman runs from the Arctic latitudes of the
Helcaraxë
Valinor (Quenya'': Land of the Valar'') or the Blessed Realms is a fictional location in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the home of the immortal Valar on the continent of Aman, far to the west of Middle-earth; he used the name Aman mainly to m ...
to the subarctic southern region of Middle-earth – about 7000 miles.
''Eldamar'' is "Elvenhome", the "coastal region of Aman, settled by the Elves", wrote Tolkien.
[Kept in a folder labelled "Phan, Mbar, Bal and other Elvish etymologies", published in '']Parma Eldalamberon
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
'', 17. Eldamar was the true Eldarin name of Aman.
['']Parma Eldalamberon
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
'', 17, p. 106. In ''
The Hobbit
''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ''N ...
'' it is referred to as "Faerie". The land was well-wooded, as
Finrod "walk
dwith his father under the trees in Eldamar" and the
Teleri
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Elf (Middle-earth), Elves or Quendi are a sundered (divided) people. They awoke at Cuiviénen on the continent of Middle-earth, where they were divided into three tribes: Minyar (the Firsts), Tatyar (the Se ...
had timber to build their ships. The city of the Teleri, on the north shore of the Bay is Alqualondë, the Haven of the Swans, whose halls and mansions are made of pearl. The harbour is entered through a natural arch of rock, and the beaches are strewn with gems given by the
Noldor.
[, ch. 9 "Of the Flight of the Noldor"] In the bay is the island of Tol Eressëa.
[
''Calacirya'' ( Quenya: "Light Cleft", for the light of the ]Two Trees
2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultu ...
that streamed through the pass into the world beyond) is the pass in the Pelóri mountains where the Elven city Tirion was set. After the hiding of Valinor, this was the only gap through the mountains of Aman. The Valar would have closed the mountains entirely but, realizing that the Elves needed to be able to breathe the outside air, they kept Calacirya open. They also did not want to wholly separate the Vanyar and Noldor from the Teleri on the coast.[, ch. 5 "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"]
The city of the Noldor (and for a time the Vanyar also) is Tirion, which was built on the hill of Túna, raised inside the Calacirya mountain pass, just north of Taniquetil, facing both the Two Trees
2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultu ...
and the starlit seas. The city had a central square at the top of the hill and a tower called the Mindon Eldaliéva, a beacon visible from the seashore miles to the east.[, ch. 7 "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor"]
In the extreme north-east, beyond the Pelóri, was the Helcaraxë, a vast ice sheet that joined the two continents of Aman and Middle-earth before the War of Wrath.[, ch. 3 "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor"]
To prevent anyone from reaching the main part of Valinor's east coast by sea, the Valar created the Shadowy Seas, and within these seas they set a long chain of islands called the Enchanted Isles.[, ch. 11 "Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor"]
Political
Valinor is the home of the Valar (singular Vala), spirits that often take humanoid form, sometimes called "gods" by the Men
A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chro ...
of Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the '' Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is ...
.[, "Valaquenta"] Other residents of Valinor include the related but less powerful spirits, the Maiar, and most of the Eldar.[, ch. 1 "Of the Beginning of Days"]
Each Vala
Vala or VALA may refer to:
Religion and mythology
* Vala (Vedic), a demon or a stone cavern in the Hindu scriptures
* Völva, also spelled Vala, a priestess in Norse mythology and Norse paganism
Fiction
* Vala (Middle-earth), an angelic being in ...
has his or her own region of the land. The Mansions of Manwë and Varda, two of the most powerful spirits, stood upon Taniquetil, the highest mountain of the Pelóri. Yavanna, the Vala of Earth, Growth, and Harvest, resided in the Pastures of Yavanna in the south of the land, west of the Pelóri. Near-by were the mansions of Yavanna's spouse, Aulë the Smith, who made the Dwarves.[, ch. 2 "Of Aulë and Yavanna"] Oromë, the Vala of the Hunt, lived in the Woods of Oromë to the north-east of the pastures. Nienna, the lonely Vala of Sorrow and Endurance, lived in the far west of the island where she spent her days crying about all the evil of the world, looking out to sea. Just south of Nienna's home, and to the north of the pastures, were the Halls of Mandos. Mandos was the Vala of the After-life. Also living in the Halls of Mandos was his spouse Vairë the weaver, who weaves the threads of time. To the east of the Halls of Mandos is the Isle of Estë, which is situated in the middle of the lake of Lórellin, which in turn lies to the north of the Gardens of Lórien.
In east-central Valinor at the Girdle of Arda (the Equator of Tolkien's world) is Valmar, the capital of Valinor (also called Valimar or the City of Bells), the residence of the Valar and the Maiar in Valinor. The first house of the Elves, the Vanyar
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Elves or Quendi are a sundered (divided) people. They awoke at Cuiviénen on the continent of Middle-earth, where they were divided into three tribes: Minyar (the Firsts), Tatyar (the Seconds) and Nelyar ( ...
, settled there as well. The mound of Ezellohar, on which stood the Two Trees
2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultu ...
, and Máhanaxar, the Ring of Doom, are outside Valmar.[ Farther east is the Calacirya, the only easy pass through the Pelóri, a huge mountain range fencing Valinor on three sides, created to keep Morgoth's forces out. In the pass is the city Tirion, built on a hill, the city of the Noldor Elves.
In the northern inner foothills of the Pelóri, hundreds of miles north of Valmar, was Fëanor's city of Formenos, built upon his banishment from Tirion.
]
History
Years of the Trees
Valinor was established on the western continent Aman
Aman may refer to:Poli
People First names
* Aman Hambleton (born 1992), Canadian chess grandmaster
* Aman Hayer (born 1979), Bhangra musician
* Aman Verma (actor) (born 1971), Indian actor
Surnames
* Mohammed Aman (born 1994), Ethiopian mi ...
when Melkor
Morgoth Bauglir (; originally Melkor ) is a character, one of the godlike Valar, from Tolkien's legendarium. He is the main antagonist of ''The Silmarillion'', ''The Children of Húrin'', '' Beren and Lúthien'' and ''The Fall of Gondolin''.
...
(a Vala later named Morgoth, "the black foe", by the Elves
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes " ...
) destroyed the Valar's original home on the island Almaren in primeval Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the '' Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is ...
, ending the Years of the Lamps.[ To defend their new home from attack, they raised the Pelóri Mountains. They also established Valimar, the radiant ]Two Trees
2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultu ...
, and their dwelling-places. Valinor was said to have surpassed Almaren in beauty. Later, the Valar heard of the awakening of the Elves
In J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, Elves are the first fictional race to appear in Middle-earth. Unlike Men and Dwarves, Elves are immortal. They feature in ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. Their history is described in detail in ''T ...
in Middle-earth, where Melkor was unopposed. They proposed to bring the Elves to the safety of Valinor, but to do that, they needed to get Melkor out of the way. A war was fought, and Melkor's stronghold Utumno was destroyed. Then, many Elves came to Valinor, and established their cities Tirion and Alqualondë, beginning Valinor's age of glory. But Melkor had come back to Valinor as a prisoner, and after three Ages was brought before the Valar and he sued for pardon, vowing to assist the Valar and make amends for the hurts he had done. Manwë granted him pardon, but confined him within Valmar to remain under watch. After his release, Melkor started planting seeds of dissent in the minds of the Elves, including between Fëanor and his brothers Fingolfin
Fingolfin () is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, appearing in ''The Silmarillion''. He was the son of Finwë, High King of the Noldor. He was threatened by his half-brother Fëanor, who held him in contempt for not being a pure-br ...
and Finarfin.
The Darkening of Valinor
Belatedly, the Valar learned what Melkor
Morgoth Bauglir (; originally Melkor ) is a character, one of the godlike Valar, from Tolkien's legendarium. He is the main antagonist of ''The Silmarillion'', ''The Children of Húrin'', '' Beren and Lúthien'' and ''The Fall of Gondolin''.
...
had done. Knowing that he was discovered, Melkor went to the home of the Noldorin elves' High King Finwë, killed him and stole the prized jewels, the Silmarils. He then destroyed the Two Trees with the help of Ungoliant
Ungoliant () is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, described as an evil spirit in the form of a spider. Her name means "dark spider" in Sindarin. She is mentioned briefly in ''The Lord of the Rings'', and plays a supporting ...
, plunging Valinor into darkness, the Long Night, relieved only by stars. Melkor and Ungoliant fled to Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the '' Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is ...
.[, ch. 8 "Of the Darkening of Valinor"]
The Hiding of Valinor
The Valar managed to save one last luminous flower from Telperion, and one last luminous fruit from Laurelin. These became the Moon and the Sun. The Valar carried out further titanic labours to improve the defences of Valinor. They raised the Pelóri mountains to even greater and sheerer heights. Off the coast, eastwards of Tol Eressëa, they created the Shadowy Seas and their Enchanted Isles; both the Seas and the Isles presented numerous perils to anyone attempting to get to Valinor by sea.[
]
Later history
For centuries Valinor took no part in the struggles between the Noldor and Morgoth in Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the '' Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is ...
. But near the end of the First Age, when the Noldor were in total defeat, the mariner Eärendil convinced the Valar to make a last attack on Morgoth. A mighty host of Maiar, Vanyar and the remaining Noldor in Valinor destroyed Morgoth's gigantic army and his stronghold Angband, and cast Morgoth into the void.[, ch. 24 "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath"]
During the Second Age
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the history of Arda, also called the history of Middle-earth, began when the Ainur entered Arda, following the creation events in the Ainulindalë and long ages of labour throughout Eä, the fictional unive ...
, the Valar created the island of Númenor
Númenor, also called Elenna-nórë or Westernesse, is a fictional place in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings. It was the kingdom occupying a large island to the west of Middle-earth, the main setting of Tolkien's writings, and was the greatest civ ...
as a reward to the Edain
In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fiction, Man and Men denote humans, whether male or female, in contrast to Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and other humanoid races.
Men are described as the second or younger people, created after the Elves, and di ...
, Men who had fought alongside the Noldor. Centuries later the kingdom of Númenor grew so powerful and so arrogant that Ar-Pharazôn, the twenty-fifth and last king, dared to attempt an invasion of Valinor. When Eru Ilúvatar
The cosmology of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium combines aspects of Christian theology and metaphysics with pre-modern cosmological concepts in the flat Earth paradigm, along with the modern spherical Earth view of the Solar System.
The created ...
was called upon by the Valar, Númenor sank into the sea, and Aman was removed beyond the reach of the Men of Arda. Arda itself became spherical, and was left for Men to govern. The Elves could go there only by the Straight Road and in ships capable of passing out of the spheres of the earth.[, "Akallabêth"]
Analysis
Paradise
Keith Kelly and Michael Livingston, writing in ''Mythlore
''Mythlore'' is a biannual (originally quarterly) peer-reviewed academic journal founded by Glen GoodKnight and published by the Mythopoeic Society. Although it publishes articles that explore the genres of myth and fantasy in general, special a ...
'', note that Frodo's final destination is Aman, the Undying Lands. In Tolkien's mythology, they write, the islands of Aman were initially just the dwelling-places of the Valar (in the Ages of the Trees, while the rest of the world lay in darkness) who helped The One, Eru Iluvatar
The cosmology of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium combines aspects of Christian theology and metaphysics with pre-modern cosmological concepts in the flat Earth paradigm, along with the modern spherical Earth view of the Solar System.
The created ...
, to create the world, but gradually some of the immortal and ageless Elves were allowed to live there as well, sailing across the ocean to the West. After the fall of Númenor and the reshaping of the world, Aman becomes the place "''between'' (sic) Over-heaven and Middle-earth", accessible only in special circumstances like Frodo's, allowed to come to Aman through the offices of the Valar and of Gandalf, one of the Valar's emissaries, the Maiar. However, Aman is not, they write, exactly paradise
In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...
: firstly, being there does not confer immortality, contrary to what the Númenoreans supposed; and secondly, those mortals like Frodo who are allowed to go there will eventually choose to die. They note that in another of Tolkien's writings, ''Leaf by Niggle'', understood to be a journey through Purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
(the Catholic precursor stage to paradise), Tolkien avoids describing paradise at all; they suggest that to the Catholic Tolkien, it is impossible to describe Heaven, and it might be sacrilege to make the attempt. The Tolkien scholar Michael D. C. Drout comments that Tolkien's accounts of Eldamar "give us a good idea of his conceptions of absolute beauty
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
," and notes that these resemble the paradise described in the Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
poem ''Pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...
''.
The Tolkien critic Tom Shippey
Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...
adds that in 1927 Tolkien wrote a poem, ''The Nameless Land'', in the complex stanza-form of ''Pearl'' which spoke of a land further away than paradise, and more beautiful than the Irish Tir nan Og, the deathless otherworld. Kelly and Livingston similarly draw on ''Pearl'', noting that it states that "fair as was the hither shore, far lovelier was the further land" where the Dreamer could not pass. So, they write, each stage looks like paradise, until the traveller realises that beyond it lies something even more paradisiacal, glimpsed and beyond description. The Earthly Paradise can be described; Aman, the Undying Lands, can thus be compared to the Garden of Eden, the paradise that the Bible says once existed upon Earth before the Fall of Man
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience.
*
*
*
* The doctrine of the ...
, while the Celestial Paradise lies "beyond (or above)", as it does, they note, in Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...
's '' Paradiso''.
Good against evil
The scholar of English literature Marjorie Burns Marjorie Burns is a scholar of English literature, best known for her studies of J. R. R. Tolkien.
Biography
Marjorie Jean Burns was born in 1940. She gained her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley.
She is an emeritus professor of En ...
writes that one of the female Vala, Varda (Elbereth to the Elves) is sung to by the Elf-queen of Middle-earth Galadriel
Galadriel (IPA: Help:IPA, aˈladri.ɛl is a Character (arts), character created by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Middle-earth writings. She appears in ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Silmarillion'', and ''Unfinished Tales''.
She ...
. Burns notes that Varda "sits far off in Valinor on Oiolossë", looking from her mountain-peak tower in Aman towards Middle-earth and the Dark Tower of Sauron
Sauron (pronounced ) is the title character and the primary antagonist, through the forging of the One Ring, of J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', where he rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Midd ...
in Mordor
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor (pronounced ; from Sindarin ''Black Land'' and Quenya ''Land of Shadow'') is the realm and base of the evil Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, an ...
: in her view, the white benevolent feminine symbol opposing the evil masculine symbol. Further, Burns suggests, Galadriel is an Elf from Valinor "in the Blessed Realm", bringing Varda's influence with her to Middle-earth. This is seen in the phial of light that she gives to Frodo
Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, and one of the protagonists in ''The Lord of the Rings''. Frodo is a hobbit of the Shire who inherits the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins, described familiarly a ...
, and that Sam uses to defeat the evil giant spider Shelob
Shelob is a fictional demon in the form of a giant spider from J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. Her lair lies in Cirith Ungol ("the pass of the spider") leading into Mordor. The creature Gollum deliberately leads the Hobbit prota ...
: Sam invokes Elbereth when he uses the phial. Burns comments that Sam's request to the "Lady" sounds distinctly Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, and that the "female principle, embodied in Varda of Valinor and Galadriel of Middle-earth, most clearly represents the charitable Christian heart."
Atlantis, Babel
Kelly and Livingston state that while Aman could be home to Elves as well as Valar, the same was not true of mortal Men. The "prideful" Men of Númenor, imagining they could acquire immortality by capturing the physical lands of Aman, were punished by the destruction of their own island, which is engulfed by the sea, and the permanent removal of Aman "from the circles of the world". Kelly and Livingston note the similarity to the ancient Greek myth of Atlantis
Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...
, the greatest human civilisation lost beneath the sea; and the resemblance to the biblical tale of the Tower of Babel
The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages.
According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...
, the hubristic and "sacrilegious
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...
" attempt by mortal men to climb up into God's realm.
Celtic influence
The scholar of English literature Paul H. Kocher writes that the Undying Lands of the Uttermost West including Eldamar and Valinor, is "so far outside our experience that Tolkien can only ask us to take it completely on faith." Kocher comments that these lands have an integral place both geographically and spiritually in Middle-earth, and that their closest literary equivalents are the '' imrama'' Celtic tales from the early Middle Ages. The ''imrama'' tales describe how Irish adventurers such as Saint Brendan
Brendan of Clonfert (c. AD 484 - c.577), is one of the early Irish monastic saints and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is also referred to as Brendan the Navigator, Brendan the Voyager, Brendan the Anchorite, Brendan the Bold. The ...
sailed the seas looking for the "Land of Promise". He notes that it is certain that Tolkien knew these stories, since in 1955 he wrote a poem, entitled ''Imram'', about Brendan's voyage.
See also
* Asgard
In Nordic mythology, Asgard (Old Norse: ''Ásgarðr'' ; "enclosure of the Æsir") is a location associated with the gods. It appears in a multitude of Old Norse sagas and mythological texts. It is described as the fortified home of the Æsir ...
, a similar location in Norse mythology
* Álfheimr
In Norse cosmology, Álfheimr (Old Norse: , "Land of the Elves" or "Elfland"; anglicized as Alfheim), also called "Ljósálfheimr" ( , "home of the Light Elves"), is home of the Light Elves.
Attestations
Álfheim as an abode of the Elves is me ...
, another similar location in Norse mythology
* Elysium and Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...
from Greek Mythology
* In Celtic accounts: Mag Mell
In Irish mythology, Mag Mell (modern spelling: Magh Meall, meaning "delightful plain") is one of the names for the Celtic Otherworld, a mythical realm achievable through death and/or glory. Unlike the underworld in some mythologies, Mag Mell was ...
, Tír na nÓg
In Irish mythology Tír na nÓg (; "Land of the Young") or Tír na hÓige ("Land of Youth") is one of the names for the Celtic Otherworld, or perhaps for a part of it. Tír na nÓg is best known from the tale of Oisín and Niamh.
Other Old Ir ...
Notes
References
Primary
::''This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings.''
Secondary
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Middle-earth realms
Fictional continents
Fiction about the afterlife
pl:Aman (Śródziemie)#Valinor