Rainbows in Valinor

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Unless he saw the Noah legend as a worn-down memory of the Fall of Numenor. Or perhaps a dim memory of the destruction of Beleriand.

Which is perfectly plausible. Though it wouldn't explain why there are three rainbows in LotR, and all of them are in water spray, not rain. Which may not need an explanation, but then there's no reason to consider the Flood myth in the first place...

I think the Flood = Beleriand notion makes more sense than the Flood = Numenor one, given that Numenor = Atlantis, which has its own drowning. But the Drowning of Beleriand isn't presented as a punishment, while Noah's Flood is. Would Tolkien deliberately negate a Biblical Act of God? Perhaps (the Bible describes the creation of the Sun and Moon, which totally doesn't match the Middle-earth version), but I think he'd be more delicate than that.

hS