[Hookbill the Goomba]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

It seems rather like they were never quite sure how to handle difficult situations

Yes, they didn't seem to be very confident at decision making. They don't seem to like getting involved very much, with the exception of Ulmo who, at times, can't seem to stop himself.
So, is the physical separation of Valinor from Middle Earth a sort of sign of how disconnected the Valar, in a way, always were with it? I mean, they weren't great, as you say, at handling things and needed a lot of pepping to get up off their backsides.

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Perhaps Eru erred when he showed the Ainur only part of the puzzle during creation, as the Valar never seemed able to conclusively resolve a problem, as it took several attempts to finally contain Morgoth, and by that time so much damage was done that the elves never really recovered.

That's a good point, about Morgoth. The Silmarillion makes a statement about how Manwe couldn't comprehend Morgoth's evil and so didn't really know how to deal with it, or even if Melkor could have been reconciled with. Who knows? But maybe this is a picture of the larger issues of how little the divine beings seem to understand the mortal ones.
This probably comes back to other mythologies, many of whom have the gods making humanity as sort of help or slaves to do the work for / with them. The Summerian story of the flood comes to mind with the gods getting angry when the humans don't do enough work. It shows the lack of understanding about the children / created beings in each story. And I think something similar is going on with the Valar and the elves and men. And, probably to a higher degree, the Hobbits.

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Good job with the maps: they look nice.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I think the seemingly reduced intervention of the Valar after the First Age was not necessarily due to the Sundering, but rather with the realisation that their earlier acts may have done more harm to the Children than good.

That seems to be the main thing. But what I suppose I'm getting at is the question of whether the physical sundering is some sort of representation of the, um, psychological (?) sundering? I mean, in the fact that the Valar never seemed to 'get' Middle Earth and so move further and further away from it...