Posted: March 23, 1998 at 12:22:54: by Michael Martinez
: We know that Thangorodorim was broken (how? - if the Valar
: could not uproot its darkest dungeons for fear of the
: destruction that would be wreaked upon Middle Earth in the days
: of the awakening of the elves) in 587 and that the Eldar began
: to sail back to Aman/Valinor/Eressea in 590 when was Beleriand
: actually drowned - at the moment of the breaking of
: Thangorodrim? or at some later point. There must have been
: massive loss of life if it were sudden. If not, why did the
: Eldar / Edain not go back to Gondolin/Nargothrond/Menegroth etc
: to reclaim their works?I think that's an open book. Of course, it might be that the land wasn't broken until the Valar went into Angband itself, rooting out Morgoth and whatever remained of his creatures. : Also, if Maglor threw 'his' silmaril into the seas, surely Ulmo
: or Osse would know of its location and bring it forth.
: Similarly for Aule and the jewel that ended up in the fires
: (O.K a fair amount of breaking/making but surely if they can
: drown Numenor without fear of drowning maidens/children etc why
: should they worry about remaking the earth anyway. Were they omniscient? Manwe sees everything, and he might know where the Silmarils lay, but this is also part of the power of the myth (IMO). And technically it was Iluvatar who destroyed Numenor, not the Valar. Also, the drowning of Numenor caused massive destruction in Middle-earth (and the overthrow of Ar-Pharazôn resulted in the destruction of Tirion). The Elves, at least, would have been protected by the Valar, or warned by them to prepare for the destruction. But these questions have intrigued me as well, but all we can do is imagine for ourselves what Tolkien might have envisioned. Michael
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Parma Endorion: Essays On Middle-earth, Revised Edition
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