Numenor, Westward Movement, and Lust for Immortality

[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

Well this has brought up many things already that I hadn't thought about.

davem , who is certainly not being a pest , I never connected the direction of the sun, although I don't know why. It seems so obvious now that it has been brought up. Child 's point about where the sun comes from and yours about where it goes are both interesting considerations.

Turin :

The Numenoreans were a different kettle of fish all together. They had been granted a "reward" for their part in the overthrow of Morgoth, which included a peaceful, isolated dwelling AND long life.

Part of the lure of that reward was that they would be permitted to dwell closer to Aman than any mortals before or since. I'm not 100% sure of the accuracy of this map but it does show pretty vividly how close Numenor really was to Aman. Closer even than to Beleriand.

Aiwendil, I like the idea of Tolkien's personal sea longing as partial motivation for his choice of West. I too live on the East Coast of the US (although I'm currently and temporarily stranded in the Midwest) and now that it's pointed out East is the direction I think of when I think of the sea.

I guess I'm just enamoured of the idea of pepople with a half hidden longing for Aman sailing around the world westard and never reaching it.

Sophia