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Re: Is Tol Eressea a part of the Undying Lands?

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  Posted by Michael Martinez on September 01, 1999 at 18:46:43
In Reply to: Is Tol Eressea a part of the Undying Lands? posted by Dave C-Q on September 01, 1999 at 15:15:06:



: I don't have my Silmarillion at the moment - on loan to a : friend - so I was wondering if anyone out there remembers a : reference in which it is said that Tol Eressea was "the : westernmost of mortal lands." Anybody? If so, I think I've : found the solution to the problem of Mortals (i.e., the : ringbearers and Gimli) going to dwell in the Uttermost West. : : My problem was that the Valar forbade the Numenoreans to set : foot on - and even to come within sight of - the Undying Lands, : and killed the majority of its people because their army : entered the Undying Lands. Presumably this was because : something bad would happen if Mortals mixed and mingled in the : Immortal Realm. But then the Valar up and let four puny mortals : come into the west, like it was no problem all along. A : compelling conclusion (though not of course the only one) is : that the Valar are guilty of genocide.

The difference between the Numenoreans and the Ringbearers (and Gimli) is that the Numenoreans wanted eternal life. Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam all went to the Uttermost West to find healing before they died. Gimli most certainly died as well, though his story is so vaguely told we don't know what that was all about.

Really, the only thing that could happen to a mortal in the Undying Lands would be that his death would be hastened, according to the Elven messengers sent by Manwe in "Akallabeth". The lands were not the source of immortality, but instead had been made blessed by immortal beings who dwelt there.

And neither the Valar nor Iluvatar could be held guilty of genocide. Many Numenoreans survived the Downfall. The destruction of Numenor was initiated by Iluvatar as a just punishment for the rebellion of the Numenoreans (it wasn't like they hadn't been given plenty of warnings) after they defied the authority of his representatives and broke the ban on their sailing West.

The Fairy Tales of J.R.R. Tolkien: Roverandom, Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major


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