Is Arda the Same as the Earth?

Q: Is Arda the Same as the Earth?

ANSWER: Yes and No. Arda is translated as “(the) Realm” meaning “the realm of the Children of Iluvatar”. In Letter No. 211, which J.R.R. Tolkien wrote to Rhona Beare in October 1958, Tolkien wrote:

Question 5. Manwë, husband of Varda; or in Grey-elven Manwë and Elbereth. Since the Valar had no language of their own, not needing one, they had no ‘true’ names, only identities, and their names were conferred on them by the Elves, being in origin therefore all, as it were, ‘nicknames’, referring to some striking peculiarity, function, or deed. (The same is true of the ‘Istari’ or Wizards who were emissaries of the Valar, and of their kind.) In consequence each identity had several ‘nicknames’; and the names of the Valar were not necessarily related in different Elvish languages (or languages of Men deriving their knowledge from Elves). (Elbereth and Varda ‘Star-lady’ and ‘Lofty’ are not related words, but refer to the same person.) Manwë (Blessed Being) was Lord of the Valar, and therefore the high or Elder King of Arda. Arda ‘realm’ was the name given to our world or earth, as being the place, within the immensity of Eä, selected to be the seat and special domain of the King – because of his knowledge that the Children of God would appear there. In the cosmogonic myth Manwë is said to be ‘brother’ of Melkor, that is they were coëval and equipotent in the mind of the Creator. Melkor became the rebel, and the Diabolos of these tales, who disputed the kingdom of Arda with Manwë. (He was usually called Morgoth in Grey-elven.)

The One does not physically inhabit any part of Ea.

This would seem to be definitive, then. However, within a year Tolkien apparently changed his mind. In a note attached to the posthumously published story “Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth” (‘The Debate of Finrod and Andreth”, which was composed as a dialog in the classical Greek style), Tolkien had this to say:

Note 2. Arda, or ‘The Kingdom of Arda’ (as being directly under the kingship of Eru’s vice-gerent Manwë) is not easy to translate, since neither ‘earth’ nor ‘world’ are entirely suitable. Physically Arda was what we should call the Solar System. Presumably the Eldar could have had as much and as accurate information concerning this, its structure, origin, and its relation to the rest of Eä (the Universe) as they could comprehend. Probably those who were interested did acquire this knowledge. Not all the Eldar were interested in everything; most of them concentrated their attention on (or as they said ‘were in love with’) the Earth.

The traditions here referred to have come down from the Eldar of the First Age, through Elves who never were directly acquainted with the Valar, and through Men who received ‘lore’ from the Elves, but who had myths and cosmogonic legends, and astronomical guesses, of their own. There is, however, nothing in them that seriously conflicts with present human notions of the Solar System, and its size and position relative to the Universe. It must be remembered, however, that it does not necessarily follow that ‘True Information’ concerning Arda (such as the ancient Eldar might have received from the Valar) must agree with Men’s present theories. Also, the Eldar (and the Valar) were not overwhelmed or even principally impressed by notions of size and distance. Their interest, certainly the interest of the Silmarillion and all related matter, may be termed ‘dramatic’. Places or worlds were interesting or important because of what happened in them.

It is certainly the case with the Elvish traditions that the principal part of Arda was the Earth (Imbar ‘The Habitation’), as the scene of the Drama of the war of the Valar and the Children of Eru with Melkor: so that loosely used Arda often seems to mean the Earth: and that from this point of view the function of the Solar System was to make possible the existence of Imbar. With regard to the relation of Arda to Eä, the assertion that the principal demiurgic Ainur (the Valar), including the originally greatest of all, Melkor, had taken up their ‘residence’ in Arda, ever since its establishment, also implies that however minute Arda was dramatically the chief point in Eä.

These views are not mathematical or astronomical, or even biological, and so cannot be held necessarily to conflict with the theories of our physical sciences. We cannot say that there ‘must’ be elsewhere in Eä other solar systems ‘like’ Arda, still less that, if there are, they or any one of them must contain a parallel to Imbar. We cannot even say that these things are mathematically very ‘likely’. But even if the presence elsewhere in Eä of biological ‘life’ was demonstrable, it would not invalidate the Elvish view that Arda (at least while it endures) is the dramatic centre. The demonstration that there existed elsewhere Incarnates, parallel to the Children of Eru, would of course modify the picture, though not wholly invalidate it. The Elvish answer would probably be: ‘Well, that is another Tale. It is not our Tale. Eru can no doubt bring to pass more than one. Not everything is adumbrated in the Ainulindalë; or the Ainulindalë may have a wider reference than we knew: other dramas, like in kind if different in process and result, may have gone on in Eä, or may yet go on.’ But they would certainly add: ‘But they are not going on now. The drama of Arda is the present concern of Eä.’ Actually it is plainly the view of the Elvish tradition that the Drama of Arda is unique. We cannot at present assert that this is untrue.

This fuller, more philosophical explanation of the meaning of Arda seems to reveal an evolution in Tolkien’s thought on the nature of Arda although we cannot be sure he didn’t simply invent a wholly alternate history for the word after having forgotten the first definition he provided in the letter.

It is on the basis of the “Athrabeth” that I and other people have definitively identified Arda with the Solar System; however, to be fair, neither source is nor can be canonical. It is simply impossible to know what the final decision would have been about any of these momentary or experimental ideas had Tolkien lived long enough to produce a coherent Silmarillion and companion works for The Lord of the Rings. There was no final decision in these matters. We only have a “most recent choice or experiment”, and one should be careful not to assume that Tolkien’s final written thought on any topic actually represented what he would have felt completely bound by.

For my part I will probably always identify Arda with the Solar System. That said, you are free to make your own choices.

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