Valinor - Geography and Residents

Geography and Residents

In Tolkien's works Valinor is the home of the Valar (singular Vala), spirits that often take humanoid form, sometimes called "gods" by the Men of Middle-earth. Other residents of Valinor include the related but less powerful spirits, the Maiar, and most of the Eldar. Valinor lies in Aman, west of which is Ekkaia, or the encircling sea; it surrounds both Aman and Middle-earth.

Valinor is located in the middle of Aman, in the tropical and subtropical latitudes. The land has a warm climate overall but experiences snow on the peaks of the Pelóri. Every animal and plant found elsewhere in Middle-earth exists in Valinor along with species endemic to Valinor.

While Valinor proper is the part of Aman inside the Pelóri, the "shore of Valinor" where the Elves live is considered a part of Valinor as well.

Each of the Valar has their own region of the land where they reside and alter things as they please. The Mansions of Manwë and Varda, two of the most powerful spirits, resided upon the highest mountain of the Pelóri, Taniquetil. Yavanna, the Vala of Nature, Growth, and Harvest, resided in the Pastures of Yavanna in the south of the land west of the Pelóri. Nearby were the Mansions of Aulë, the Smith who created the Dwarves, and who was the spouse of Yavanna. Oromë, the Vala of the Hunt, lived in the Woods of Oromë to the north-east of the pastures. Nienna, the lonely Vala of Sorrow and Endurance, lived in the far west of the island where she spent her days crying about all the Evil of the World, looking out to sea. Just south of Nienna's home and to the north of the pastures, there were the Halls of Mandos. Mandos was the Vala of the Afterlife. Also living in the Halls of Mandos was his spouse Vairë the weaver, who weaves the threads of Time. To the east of the Halls of Mandos is the Isle of Estë, which is situated in the middle of the lake of Lórellin which is in turn to the north of the Gardens of Lórien (not to be confused with Lothlórien in Middle-earth). Estë and Lórien were married.

In east-central Valinor at the Girdle of Arda (the term for Middle-earth's Equator) is Valmar, the capital of Valinor, otherwise known as the City of Bells and as Valimar, where the Valar gather, and the Maiar spirits and the Vanyar Elves live. It is the residence of the Valar and the Vanyar in the realm of Valinor. The mound of Ezellohar, on which stood the Two Trees, and Máhanaxar, the Ring of Doom, are outside Valmar. Further east is the Calacirya, the only easy pass through the Pelóri, a huge mountain range fencing Valinor on three sides, created to keep out Morgoth. In the pass is the city Tirion, built on a hill, the city of the Noldor Elves. By the shore of the sea, north-east of Tirion, is the Teleri Elves' port Alqualondë, which is described as being fairly close to Tirion but may be as much as several hundred miles to the north.

Directly east of the shore of Valinor is the isle of Tol Eressëa, where the Elves later built the city of Avallónë and where the Teleri lived for centuries before moving to Valinor itself.

In the northern inner foothills of the Pelóri, hundreds of miles north of Valmar was Fëanor's exile city of Formenos.

In the extreme northeast, beyond the Pelóri, was the Helcaraxë, a vast ice sheet that, in the beginning before Valinor was risen after the fall of Númenor into the sky to prevent people from travelling there, joined the two continents of Aman and Middle-earth. Also, for a time before the ruin of Númenor, a long chain of small islands called the Enchanted Isles ran the full length of the east coast to the continent. These were erected to prevent anyone, mortal or immortal, from reaching the land by sea.

After the destruction of Númenor, the Undying Lands were removed from Arda so that Men could not reach them and only the Elves could go there by the Straight Road and in ships capable of passing out of the Spheres of the earth. By special permission of the Valar, the Hobbits Frodo Baggins and Bilbo Baggins were also permitted to go to Valinor. Samwise Gamgee and Gimli the Dwarf were also permitted to go there.

The physical size of Valinor is never specified, and Tolkien created no detailed maps of Aman, but the maps of Karen Wynn Fonstad, based on a rough sketch Tolkien did of Arda's landmasses and seas, show Valinor as being about 800 miles wide west to east (from the Great Sea to the Outer Sea) and about 3000 miles long north to south - similar in size to the United States. The entire continent of Aman runs from the Arctic latitudes of the Helcaraxë to the subarctic far south of Middle-earth; about 7000 miles.