How Long Does it Take to Get to Valinor?

[Puddleglum]

Interestingly, I just ran across something I had forgotten in HoME volume 4 "The Shaping of Middle Earth". In the section "The Ambarkanta" (The shape of the world), there is a diagram drawn by Tolkien (Diagram III) which shows the world after it was made round.

The diagram includes a line, tangential to the surface of the round world, labeled "The Straight Path."

And on that line, at a distance from the tangent point of about 1-1/2 radii, is a dot labeled "Valinor"!

So, if the round world (post downfall) is equivalent to our modern Earth in size, then Valinor would be about 6000 miles out.

Of course, this is just one diagram and Tolkien's ideas may have changed - but at least it suggests the theory may have more documentary basis (in Tolkien's writings) than I had originally thought.

[Pitchwife]

Nice find, Puddleglum! There are also several world maps reproduced in that section (one of them, with the shapes of the continents starting to look similar to what they are now, can be seen here). Judging from those, I'd say Belegaer pre-Fall looks like it's roughly the size of the Atlantic - which is something between 3000 and 6000 km wide, and it took Christopher Columbus a little over three months to cross it; which fits your guess of about 12-14 weeks quite nicely.

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

Interestingly, I just ran across something I had forgotten in HoME volume 4 "The Shaping of Middle Earth". In the section "The Ambarkanta" (The shape of the world), there is a diagram drawn by Tolkien (Diagram III) which shows the world after it was made round.

The diagram includes a line, tangential to the surface of the round world, labeled "The Straight Path."

And on that line, at a distance from the tangent point of about 1-1/2 radii, is a dot labeled "Valinor"!

So, if the round world (post downfall) is equivalent to our modern Earth in size, then Valinor would be about 6000 miles out.

Of course, this is just one diagram and Tolkien's ideas may have changed - but at least it suggests the theory may have more documentary basis (in Tolkien's writings) than I had originally thought.

Wow! That's a great find, as pitchwife said. Thanks a lot! But I think I'm going to stick to Galadriel55's answer

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

Interestingly, I just ran across something I had forgotten in HoME volume 4 "The Shaping of Middle Earth". In the section "The Ambarkanta" (The shape of the world), there is a diagram drawn by Tolkien (Diagram III) which shows the world after it was made round.

The diagram includes a line, tangential to the surface of the round world, labeled "The Straight Path."

And on that line, at a distance from the tangent point of about 1-1/2 radii, is a dot labeled "Valinor"!

So, if the round world (post downfall) is equivalent to our modern Earth in size, then Valinor would be about 6000 miles out.

Anyone want to buy me the HOME for Christmas?

Anyway, it still seems to me that one's perception of time would change when making the transition from the "new" world to the "old".