[Mithadan]

Child, last week you asked about canon and HoME. This week you raise the question of Tol Eressea and whether Elves in the Third/Fourth Age can reach Aman. The two questions are inter-related. In his earlier conceptions of the Silmarillion, Elves who rejected the summons to Valinor were not to be allowed to reach Aman even after they chose to travel into the West. The implication was that the refusal of the summons was a rejection of or rebellion against the Valar's rightful authority. Similarly the Gnomish (Noldorin) rebels could not return.

Tol Eressea became a solution to this exclusion, allowing Elves to leave Middle Earth without reaching Valinor. It seems that Tolkien softened this position as his work evolved. The published Silmarillion says the Noldor would dwell in Tol Eressea from whence they might come even to Valinor (or words to that effect). In HoME 5, the conclusion of Quenta Silmarillion, paragraph 27, uses different language but also says that Elves may both visit or dwell in Valinor upon their return into the West. There is an implication that some preferred to dwell in the Lonely Isle which lay to the East of Valinor, perhaps because of its "proximity" to Middle Earth.

[ June 10, 2002: Message edited by: Mithadan ]