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Originally Posted by Child of the 7th Age
II think Davem has made an excellent point by indicating the central importance of the Sun in this entire discussion. But it could also be said that the Sun rises in the East so that is the point where "light" comes from.
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With regards to Men, and the Rising of the Sun, it is important to remember a point that I don't recall being raised yet in this discussion: when the Sun first rose, it rose from the WEST, not the East. At the same time as the Rising of the Sun, Men were supposed to have first awakened. It was only later, after the re-organisation of the celestial movements by Varda that the Sun and Moon moved East to West.
Of course, this ignores the questions Tolkien himself later brought up with his pondered changes to the cosmology of Arda, and doesn't touch on WHY Tolkien placed Valinor (and thus the Sun and Moon's original rising point) in the West, but it is perhaps important to be noted.
I believe that it was Tolkien's original intention that Men, rising to see the Sun in the West, and then later seeing it seek Westward every day, would naturally be drawn Westward. Later, like the Elves, they were drawn by rumours of safety and peace.