Removal Of Valinor

[GollumsPrecious]

At the end of the second age as we know Numenor is squished back into the sea, middle earth is reshaped again and the seas are bent...but what exactly is supposed to have happened to Valinor.

All I can find so far is that it was "removed from the circles of Arda". Karyn Wynn Fonstad's excellent book has a picture of Arda at the end of the 3rd age...and Valinor is nowhere to be seen. Are the Valar now back with Iluvatar ? Has Valinor become more of a spiritual thing as supposed to the real life city of Valmar, Alqualonde, Tuna etc.

I thought when it was removed from Arda that it may have moved to one of the outer circles but it seems to have gone altogether. My best guess is that the Valar have reverted to being Ainur and are back with the big man and his elves.

Hmm...

[Turgon_of_Gondolin]

Don't quote me on this but i think it said in the Silmarillion that the path to valinor became straight and the world became round, so only the elves were a ble to find the straight path to get to valinor
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[Ithilwen]

Valinor is still in the bounds of Ea, otherwise the Elves (who are by their created nature bound to the world) would not be able to reach it. It has just bee "hidden" so that only authorised persons (generally Elves) can find the path to it - perhaps some sort of dimensional warp. It's as if (metaphorically speaking) the world is a house; Iluvatar added a new room to the house (the new lands and seas of the round Earth) which is accessable to everyone, then walled off another room in the house and fitted it with a hidden door - only the Elves can find the door, and enter this now-hidden part of the original house, while everyone else sees only a wall when they look that direction.

[GollumsPrecious]

Hmm...nice analogy..I was actually having a quick squint at the Sil and in the Akallabeth it makes a reference to Valinor and Erressa being removed into the "..realm of hidden things"...so it sounds as if you could be right.

Paul.