Is Valinor Heaven?

Q: Is Valinor Heaven?

ANSWER: Valinor is not “heaven” in The Lord of the Rings, in the sense that it is not the abode of God (Ilúvatar). In Tolkien’s original “mythology for England”, the Valar were gods — in fact, they were intended to be identified with the lost pantheon of ancient Germanic gods — and their homeland would have been a pagan heaven, just as Mount Olympus is heaven in Greek mythology.

In Christian teaching, heaven is the place where God dwells. With him are the angels who serve him constantly. According to the Book of Job, the Devil (Lucifer) also visits or dwells in heaven, so heaven is not necessarily a place where evil is not permitted to enter. Heaven is simply God’s home.

In the mythology of Middle-earth, as represented by The Silmarillion, Ilúvatar dwells in the Timeless Halls, which exist outside of Space and Time (Ëa). The Valar are those Ainur (Holy Ones, angels or the first children of Ilúvatar’s thought) who first entered Space and Time in order to make Ilúvatar’s Vision real and watch it unfold.

For many “ages of the stars” the Valar had no specific dwelling place. They wandered throughout the universe making stars and worlds. After these early labors were completed they realized the time had come to create the dwelling place for the Children of Ilúvatar within the halls of Ëa. This dwelling place became Arda, which contrary to popular belief is not the Earth. Tolkien said that Arda was equivalent to the Solar System.

In the Silmarillion creation myth, Arda begins as a single “flat” world (meaning that all life and activity occur on one face or side) where the Valar create two sources of light, the lamps Illuin (in the north) and Ormal (in the south). After Melkor’s treachery destroys the lamps the Valar retreat to the westernmost region of Arda and there build up the land of Aman (“Blessed (realm)”) to be a refuge for themselves: a fortress from which they can monitor Middle-earth. In Aman the Valar create two trees, Telperion and Laurelin, to give light only to their own land. The rest of Arda is still illuminated only by the stars.

After the Elves awake the Valar fight a war with Melkor in which much of Arda is damaged. They take Melkor prisoner and hold him in Valinor. They then invite the Elves to come live with them in Aman, but only some of the Elves accept the invitation. After Melkor is released he plots against the Valar and the Elves and ultimately conspires with the evil creature Ungoliant to destroy the two trees of the Valar. After Melkor and Ungoliant flee the Valar take the last remaining leaves of the trees and create the Moon and Sun, which remain a part of Arda but are not part of the physical world, which is called either Imbar or Ambar. Men awaken when the Sun rises over the world for the first time.

At the beginning of the First Age in the Years of the Sun, the Valar wage another war against Melkor. This time they are aided by Eärendil, a warrior of both Elven and Mannish lineage, whose flying ship carries a Silmaril — one of the three great jewels Fëanor made with the light of Telperion and Laurelin — and that ship becomes the star Venus.

The final transformation for Arda occurred near the end of the Second Age, when the Numenoreans (led by descendants of Eärendil) rebelled against the authority of the Valar and invaded Valinor in an attempt to seize immortality. Ilúvatar, answering the prayer of the Valar for help, changed the world: he destroyed Numenor and separated Aman from the mortal lands. Middle-earth, once just a part of Arda’s physical world, became THE physical world. Aman would still have physicality but only in another place. It is assumed that other place must still be within Ëa but it is not necessarily still part of Arda.

Within J.R.R. Tolkien’s thought, this is all “mythical” in the sense that these are stories handed down from generation to generation that attempt to explain how things came to be. He struggled to reconcile these myths with his assertions that the Elves were students of the Valar and Maiar, who having been angels serving God would know the truth about the physical universe’s construction — hence, the Elves should have understood that the Earth was a round world floating in space, orbiting the Sun and orbited by the Moon.

To ask if Valinor is heaven is natural but the idea that Valinor is heaven represents a misunderstanding of Tolkien’s literary process. He gradually transformed a series of stories that depicted one mythology (the reconstructed “Old English mythology”) into a series of other stories that depicted different mythologies, ultimately combining many separate storylines into a single overall “mythology of Middle-earth”.

In this mythology of Middle-earth Valinor could be equated with the Biblical Paradise, although opinions differ on whether that was the Garden of Eden or a separate world where the souls of people go when they die. The Halls of Mandos in Valinor are also called the Halls of Waiting. There the souls or spirits of Dwarves go to wait until the end of the world; the spirits of Elves are sent there for a period of reflection, after which time most if not all of them are offered an opportunity to live again; the spirits of Men are said to pass through the Halls of Mandos, abiding there for a time until they pass on to a place Ilúvatar has appointed them.

In New Testament teachings the dead go either to a place called Torment or to Paradise, where in both places they await the final judgement of God. Mythologically, the Halls of Mandos appear to be most equivalent to these Biblical places for Elves and possibly Dwarves. The Halls of Mandos are not quite the same as Purgatory for Men although they might be equated with a Purgatory for Elves.

So Valinor is not intended to be heaven in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Valinor is simply a place that the Valar have made for themselves so that they can dwell near to the Children of Ilúvatar. Heaven is the Timeless Halls of Ilúvatar.

See Also:

• What are the Ages of the Children of the Iluvatar?
• What are the Ages of the Sun?
• Why Didn’t the Valar Visit Tol Eressea?
• How Long was the Voyage from Middle-earth to Valinor?
• Where Do Elves Go When They Leave Middle-earth?
• Why Did Frodo Leave Middle-earth and the Shire?

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