The Straight Road

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Talk about planes of existence is extremely interesting. The following thoughts occur to me now.

The blessed lands were not before on a different plane, and I don't think they became so. How can you remove part of the world (Valinor) to a different plane, and what does that mean? Physical removal? Surely that would completely rupture everything, with remarkable geological effects in both Middle-earth and Valinor.

I think that once a thing (e.g. land) is created for a particular plane it cannot later be attuned to a different one.

Intellects, though, can 'see' different planes. The Valar, I am sure, could experience separate modes of reality. This is perhaps touched upon with the Ringwraiths, and their being able to experience different 'worlds' -- which could be thought of as planes of existence.

I tend to think there was simply a magical trick played on the mariners: the gods of the sea, if you will, threw them off course; and they guided those permitted into the blessed realm. I don't think it was anything to do with separate planes, because separate planes, to me, imply substantial metaphysical alteration, and the idea of the blessed realm as becoming a sort of VIP club just seems more plausible.