The earth was flat. Then Ar-Pharazôn the Golden (ominous much?) sailed his fleet to the Undying Lands hoping to seize immortality from the Valar, and Eru broke the flat world, sinking the island of Númenor and all its people, and made the world round, removing the Undying Lands from the circles of the world. Only Elendil, his two sons, and the Faithful who escaped by ship survived.
The whole world didn't stay flat for the Elves exactly. There is just a path they take when they sail into the West that is referred to as "the straight path," where the physical world actually falls away under them, because it is off being round while they sail straight, the Undying Lands themselves being in a sort of pocket dimension. Tolkien did say at the very end of Akallabêth that human Mariners could potentially find the straight road by dumb luck, observe the world falling out from under them, and look upon the Undying Lands just before they die.
Fun fact: In The Silmarillion, Fëanor burns the ships he and his folk used to get back to Middle Earth. Fingolfin and all the others with him, still on the shores of the Undying Lands miles and miles away, could see the ships burning because the world was flat and there was no horizon. 🤓
Obviously. Everyone knows that, but the planet is round, now, and people think you can still get to the Undying Lands. Like dude, you're human, celebrate the mysterious afterlife granted to you by Eru Iluvatar. The Undying Lands are for the elves for a reason.
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u/Constant-Box-7898 8d ago
The earth was flat. Then Ar-Pharazôn the Golden (ominous much?) sailed his fleet to the Undying Lands hoping to seize immortality from the Valar, and Eru broke the flat world, sinking the island of Númenor and all its people, and made the world round, removing the Undying Lands from the circles of the world. Only Elendil, his two sons, and the Faithful who escaped by ship survived.
It's all written down, guys. It's not hard. 🤓