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Before the Changing of the World, anyone could get to Valinor by simply sailing west. Even the hostile, invading army of Numenor landed there without much difficulty, it seems.

Then Eru stepped in, and...

...responded by creating an enormous rift between Númenor and the Blessed Realm, into which Ar-Pharazôn's fleet and, ultimately, his land were swept. Meanwhile, the flat world bent back upon itself and met at this rift. The final result was a round planet of which Aman and Tol Eressëa were no longer a physical part. After the Changing of the World, only the Elves could find the Straight Way and reach the ancient West by ship.

So what does that mean for Men sailing west in the Third Age? Would they just pass innocently through the "rift" that the Elves could penetrate, sail around the world like Magellan and land on the far eastern shore of Middle Earth without noticing anything was amiss? Or is there a danger to sailing that course, some risk to approaching that rift if you are not an Elf (or being escorted by one, like Frodo)?

Obviously Middle Earth is supposed to become our world, so at some point any discernible "border" would have disappeared, but given that Third Age maps of Arda are still radically different from modern Earth, such a "seam in the world" could easily have been removed once all the Elves had left.

Do we ever get any indication about the ability of Men to sail west? Were they forbidden, or cautioned not to attempt the voyage, as part of the punishment for Numenor's indiscretions? Or would they just pass harmlessly over the waves, oblivious to the experiences of their Elven counterparts?

Rand al'Thor
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Nerrolken
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    I would highly recommend you to read Yeskov's "The Last Ring-Bearer". It's of course not canonical - but addresses the geophysics of Arda in an amazing way (and designed to do so). – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 18 '14 at 02:26
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    Actually, it isn't supposed to become "our world" - though I used to think so too. It is something akin to a parallel Earth and its history, rather than a history of our own Earth version. – balanced mama Jan 18 '14 at 02:34
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    @balancedmama Actually yes, that is how Tolkien envisioned it – Izkata Jan 18 '14 at 04:37
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    @Izkata, like I said, I used to believe that too. Just because there is another question and answers here with the same notion it negates my statement. Wikipedia is helpful but full of inaccuracies and lost bits as well. Tolkein's description of things is, contradictory and sometimes he described it both ways, but I distinctly remember a quote he gave in an interview or letter where he indicates it is not actually the Earth but a kind of "other Earth" on an imaginary plain kind of like how he saw the land of Faery. I don't know if I'll be able to find it online, but I'll see. – balanced mama Jan 18 '14 at 16:33
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    @balancedmama: Tolkien often referred to it his "his imaginary mythical world" or "mythical pre-history", but he clarified in 183 that "Middle-Earth is not an imaginary world[...it is] the objectively real world, in use specific ally opposed to imaginary worlds (as Fairyland) or unseen words (as Heaven or Hell)[...] but the historical period is imaginary." I think you could say it's our world, but with a wink that it's mere myth and not literally true, as fiction. It that sense, you could say it's a parallel Earth, but I don't think that's what he meant. – Shamshiel Jan 18 '14 at 17:10
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    It was an interview I can now only find references to online that are "broken" where he corrects the interviewer who asks if middle earth is this world, but in a different time (which there are a lot of quotes from different sources to back up.) but Tolkien responds, "No. a different stage of imagination." So it is Earth, but not quite - and "parallel" was the best word I could come up with. Here is an article that also quotes the interview by the BBC – balanced mama Jan 18 '14 at 17:42
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    Here it is! News from Bree I don't think this negates the idea that he was setting up Middle Earth as Earth in a different time - Earth inspires much of the setting itself, but it does show that in Tolkien's mind it isn't quite as simple as just Earth, but earlier. – balanced mama Jan 18 '14 at 17:48
  • Above user is right, Middle-earth is another planet probably the size and mass of Earth, like an Earth twin. When the Rohirrim come to help Gondor in the battle of the Pelennor fields, you can see the Sun rising behind them. Since they come from the West, the Sun is rising in the West above Middle-earth. – Aragorn Elessar Aug 07 '21 at 08:12
  • @AragornElessar That is an incorrect interpretation. The sun rises in the east just like on Earth, the "moving behind them" line is a description of its progress across the sky. There's actually a question about that exact line on this very site: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/89921/20221 – Nerrolken Aug 07 '21 at 10:38
  • @Nerrolken The Sun actually rises behind the Rohirrim, and the Rohirrim come from the west: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tgi-j56ueU&ab_channel=RokujyuuyonShou – Aragorn Elessar Aug 07 '21 at 11:02
  • @AragornElessar That’s the movie, which isn’t the same canon as the books, and they’re riding in from the north. The sunlight you’re referring to is coming from the north because of the black clouds covering the sky on the east-west axis. They talk about it in the Behind The Scenes documentaries of the Extended Edition, how the black clouds allowed them to light the scene from two directions (north and south) so they always had dramatic lighting. – Nerrolken Aug 07 '21 at 11:07
  • @Nerrolken Of course, north-west from Anorien. If the Sun rose from the east it would rise above the Shadow Mountains (Ephel Dúath) but as you say the shadow of Mordor from the Orodruin is above them and at that time even above Osgiliath, therefore a sunrise from the east wouldn't be seen at all. – Aragorn Elessar Aug 07 '21 at 11:13
  • @AragornElessar I don’t know what to tell you, the sun doesn’t rise in the West in Middle earth. You’re pointing to one scene of poetic license in the movie as your only evidence, it’s not even a sunrise just a general golden sky in the morning. If it was rising in the West, it’d be directly behind Minas Tirith, to the riders’ right. There are TONS of quotes from the book and scenes from the movies where the sun is in the east in the morning and west in the evening. That one scene, which is explicitly described in the BTS docs as being a trick of the clouds, doesn’t override all that. – Nerrolken Aug 07 '21 at 11:26
  • @Nerrolken In my link the Sun actually rises at the end of King Théoden's speech from behind the horizon. You might still consider Middle-earth an upside down Earth (in which Antarctica is actually north) so that Gondor would be about where Korea and Mongolia are and Rohan about where Tibet is. But as you see, your planet looks entirely different from Middle-earth. I think Middle-earth's Sun is an F-type main sequence star btw, your Sun is G-type. – Aragorn Elessar Aug 07 '21 at 11:33

2 Answers2

15

After the Downfall of Numenor, Men could and did sail west. But they found themselves back where they started - the world was round.

And those that sailed far came only to the new lands, and found them like the old lands, and subject to death. And those who sailed farthest set but a girdle about the Earth and returned weary at last to the place of their beginning; and they said: 'All roads are now bent.'

Well, almost all men.

And tales and rumors arose along the shores of the sea concerning mariners and men forlorn upon the water who, by some fate or grace or favour of the Valar, had entered in upon the Straight Way and seen the face of the world sink below them, and so had come to the lamplit quays of Avallone, or verily to the last beaches on the margin of Aman, and there had looked upon the White Mountain, dreadful, and beautiful before they died.

(Quotes from the Akallabeth)

Shamshiel
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After the 'bending of the world', one now travels in a circle on the spherical world. But the Elves were able to hold to the original path, the straight non-spherical path.

Like a laser, the Elves would point west- sail straight- and upon reaching a certain point would lift off the spherical world and head straight to their destination... keeping with the original path, (a straight line).

The Western Lands are now rendered inaccessible by the inhabitants of the world and are safe from invasion anymore.

guesty
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