# Travel between Aman & Middle Earth



## Ninauth (Mar 30, 2015)

I've been wondering if the elves who dwelt in the Undying Lands ever traveled back to Middle Earth, I'm not talking about anything war-related like after Finwe was slain. The Ainur traveled back and forth, like Orome and Melian (though she remained in Middle Earth for a long while). Surely there were some resources in Middle Earth that weren't present in the Undying Lands or maybe some elves accompanied some of the Ainur occasionally. Like maybe there were elves who manned the boats that brought elves to the Undying Lands who traveled back and forth constantly. The reason I'm so interested in this is because I found a flaw in the plot of my newest story. So feel free to share your opinions and ideas.




Thanks.


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## Alcuin (Mar 31, 2015)

Glorfindel traveled back from Aman to Middle-earth, as did the (as far as we know) five Istari, or Wizards. Depending upon which telling of the tale you follow, Glorfindel, and perhaps the two Blue Wizards, arrived midway through the seventeenth century of the Second Age to strengthen Elven resistance to Sauron; in another telling, the Blue Wizards came sometime around 1000 in the Third Age. Saruman came around 1000 in the Third Age, accompanied by Radagast (whom Saruman resented), and Gandalf came last, either by himself or with Glorfindel. (I.e., there are conflicting stories about when Glorfindel and the Blue Wizards arrived.) 

For nearly 3000 years, the Eldar of Tol Eressëa visited Númenor, coming to port at Andúnië or Eldalondë on the western coast of the island. Presumably, any Elf who wanted to return to Middle-earth could do so: I don’t believe they were forbidden. And Elves passing into the Uttermost West from Middle-earth sometimes sojourned for a time in Númenor, as did the scholar Pengoloð of Gondolin, who taught the Númenóreans a great deal of the history of Arda that would otherwise have been lost to them. 

From this, we can surmise that some information passed back and forth between the Eldar in Middle-earth and their friends and kinfolk in Aman, though we cannot tell if there were any correspondence as such (letters, for instance). The Eldar of Aman (and Tol Eressëa) seem to have been tight-lipped about some aspects of their land and people: for instance, the Númenóreans seem to have learned more from Pengoloð about the history of Arda than from visitors from Tol Eressëa or Eldamar. (Many of Tolkien’s writings begin, “Thus spoke Pengoloð…”) When Tar-Atanamir upon receiving an embassy from Valinor concerning his complaint about having to die, asked them of the fate of Eärendil, his ancestor, they answered him vaguely, even evasively. 

From around 2900 in the Second Age, the Eldar came “few and secretly” to Númenor because of the hostility of Ar-Adûnakhôr, the twentieth king; and from about 3100, when Ar-Gimilzôr, the twenty-third king took the throne, they stopped coming altogether. It was around this time that the Eldar sent the seven palantíri to Amandil, last Lord of Andúnië and father of Elendil, in order that they might maintain communication with their friends in Númenor. 

After Elendil arrived in Middle-earth, the palantír of Emyn Beraid (the Tower Hills, just west of the Shire) remained in communication with the Master Stone in Avallónë in Tol Eressëa; but after Elendil died, only the Eldar of Middle-earth used it. Gildor Inglorion and his companions were returning from a pilgrimage to look into that seeing-stone, and discovered Frodo, Pippin, and Sam pursued by a Ringwraith. When Elrond left Middle-earth with Gandalf, Galadriel, Bilbo and Frodo, he took that palantír with him aboard ship, forever breaking communication between Middle-earth and Aman.

You are correct, though, that Elves manned the boats that brought the Istari to Middle-earth; though it seems they returned immediately, and did not remain.


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## Elthir (Mar 31, 2015)

I would add (not that anyone doesn't know) that we only have certain "windows of time" with respect to crossing the Sea. In the First Age there was a closed window after the Exiled Noldor departed for Middle-earth, and after the removal of Aman from the Circles of the World (in the Second Age) it seems that Elves could pass West but could not normally return...

... Tolkien even considered that Glorfindel should not return to Middle-earth after the removal of Aman, as it would place too much importance upon this return. The Istari were important enough to break this rule it seems (although in Glorfindel essay I, Tolkien has Glorfindel return _with_ Gandalf in the Third Age, which I think could have been employed since Glorfindel wasn't really going by himself in this conception, but as a companion to Gandalf, but JRRT appears to have rejected the notion anyway).

Anyway, here's a look at some relevant comments about reincarnated Elves returning to Middle-earth: "The re-housed fea will normally remain in Aman. Only in very exceptional cases, as Beren and Luthien, will they be transported back to Middle-earth..." But later, in his commentary to the _Athrabeth_, Tolkien notes why the Elves 'normally' remained in Aman:

'They 'normally remained in Aman'. Simply because they were, when rehoused, again in actual physical bodies, and return to Middle-earth was therefore very difficult and perilous. Also during the period of the Exile of the Noldor the Valar had for the time being cut all communications (by physical means) between Aman and Middle-earth." JRRT, author's commentary, note 3, _Athrabeth Finrod Ah Andreth_

In the latest of these explanations, the matter seems quite optional: "When they were re-embodied they could remain in Valinor, or return to Middle-earth if their home had been there." JRRT, _Last Writings_, Glorfindel I, 1972

Again I take that to mean, before the removal of Aman.

just to note it, since it came up, and not that Alcuin said otherwise...

For me the matter of the arrivals of Glorfindel and the "other two wizards" is an easy enough choice. Glorfindel essay II appears to have followed Glorindel essay I (in external time), so in my opinion essay II has the greater weight. Thus Glorfindel returns in the Second Age (not the Third with Gandalf, as in essay I), but not with any wizards...

... as in Appendix B Tolkien published that the Istari arrived in the Third Age, which to my mind includes all five. The very late, hard to read note in which the "other two" arrive _much_ earlier in the Second Age, not only contradicts Appendix B in enough measure (again for me)...

... but on the reverse side of the same paper (as this note about their earlier arrival) Tolkien wrote another note in which he seems to say that the Istari came at a crucial point in history, suggesting all of them came at (basically) the same time, in my opinion.

off into the blue

Also I can't call the "other two" the Blue Wizards, as I can't (yet) find a passage where Tolkien does, at least _after_ he wrote his letter in which he (says he) doubts that the other two wizards had distinctive colours.


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