28 In terms of the larger worldview, what exactly took place at the Fall of Numenor? (General History Of Middle-Earth - Tolkien)
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This article is from the Tolkien FAQ, by William D.B. Loos loos@hudce.harvard.edu with numerous contributions by others.
28 In terms of the larger worldview, what exactly took place at the Fall of Numenor? (General History Of Middle-Earth - Tolkien)
The world was changed from a flat medieval world to the round world of
today. Middle-earth was meant to be our own world (see FAQ, Tolkien, 6),
and Tolkien's overall conception was of a progression, with "Mythological
Time" changing into "Historical Time". The events accompanying the Fall of
Numenor were a major step in the process.
Originally, the "fashion" of Middle-earth was the flat world of the
medieval universe. Valinor (the equivalent of Heaven in that the "gods"
dwelt there) was physically connected to the rest of the world and could be
reached by ship. When Numenor sank (see LFAQ, Humans, 1) "the fashion of
the world was changed": the flat world was bent into a round one, with new
lands also being created; and Valinor was removed "from the circles of the
World", and could no longer be reached by ordinary physical means. The
Elves alone were still allowed to make a one-way journey to Valinor along
"the Straight Road". (An elven ship on such a journey would grow smaller
and smaller with distance until if vanished rather than sinking over the
horizon as a human ships do.)
References to "bent seas", "bent skies", "the straight road", "straight
sight", "the World Made Round", and the like all refer to the change in the
world's "fashion". (The palantir at Emyn Beriad "looked only to the Sea.
Elendil set it there so that he could look back with 'straight sight' and
see Eressea in the vanished West; but the bent seas below covered Numenor
for ever." (RK, p. 322)
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