Quote:
Originally Posted by Mithadan
Hookbill, nice map. Pitchwife is correct, however. The scale is wrong, although the gerneral location is correct. Beleriand did not extend very far south of the end of the Blue Mountains as shown in the LoTR map, although there may be undescribed lands south of the main body of Beleriand that do not appear in the Silmarillion map (beyond Taur-im Duinath)
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Perhaps I should explain how I went about making the map;
I got the two source maps together and cut the sea out of the M-E one. Then, I made the M-E map semitransparent and tried to line it up as best I could with the Beleriand map. It took me ages to get to what looked about right, but I came to the conclusion that they weren't made strictly with one another in mind. The lines of the Ered Luin are almost entirely different in M-E to what they are in Beleriand.
But, the point is not important, I think, as it was only for personal investigation purposes... originally.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mithadan
But this is, I think, simply part of the nature of the myth and is not directly related to the distance between Valinor and Middle Earth. It was fated that the Elves would wane and Man would become ascendant. Similarly, by the end of the Third Age we see a complete fading of the mythological, the Valar, the Elves etc
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I would argue that there is a relationship between the sundering of Valinor and the Valars increased inactivity. Not that the sundering
caused them to stop interacting physically, but that it is representative and almost a consequence of their disconnection. They withdraw from a world they don't understand.
This brings up an interesting thought to me. Something about the different attitudes of the Ainur towards Middle Earth. It seems that none of them really 'get' it; the vision of Eru was taken away from them before its fulfilment and they seem distinctly disconnected from the children. The land itself they are fine with, moulding it to their individual whims.
But then come the children of Illuvatar. Most of the Valar react with curiosity and yet misunderstand what is going on. As Tolkien himself said in an
interview 'instead of letting the elves and men find their own way under god, they decided to take them away and protect them...' Melkor, on the other hand, rather than seeking to protect them, seeks to destroy and / or control them. Neither seem satisfied with what Eru had in mind.
So, the Valar, in what you might call a sense of discomfort, remove themselves and any who are like-minded, away from that whole path. Either by physically taking them elsewhere, or destroying them / controlling them. Freedom doesn't seem to be high on their priorities.
