Q: Why Didn’t the Elves Sail to Númenor?
ANSWER: A reader wants to know why Cirdan’s people are never said to have sailed to Numenor during the Second Age. The full question reads:
Why didn’t the Elves of Middle-Earth ever sail to Númenor? This question had been on my mind for quite some time, but when I read your post about why Elrond never sailed to Númenor I had to ask it. The Elves of Lindon had the ships and the people who could do it, so why wouldn’t they? If they took the journey they didn’t have to go to Aman so they always could’ve returned to Middle-Earth. Not only could they meet the Edain again, who were good friends of the Elves of Beleriand and who helped them in their wars, but they also could have met Elves of Tol Eressëa who visited Númenor. As far as I know the Elves of Middle-Earth weren’t forbidden by the Valar to go there.
It’s true there is no text that says Cirdan’s people visited Númenor after they ferried the Edain to that island early in the Second Age. The absence of such references does not necessarily imply that Tolkien meant for the Elves of Middle-earth to never again concern themselves with Númenor. In fact, in the story of Aldarion and Erendis Gil-galad called upon Númenor’s help to eventually form an alliance.
The safest answer to this question is to say that Tolkien never thought of a reason to tell a story about an Elf (or Elves) who needed to visit Númenor. His stories were about conflict and struggle. What type of conflict or struggle would compel an Elf of Middle-earth to visit Númenor? Nothing really seems to fit into his themes.
Nonetheless, Tolkien’s mentions of things in passing always implies that ordinary, day-to-day civilization in Middle-earth and Númenor required shipping between the two regions for all sorts of mundane purposes. There is no reason to assume that Elves of Middle-earth never visited Númenor any more than there is reason to assume that they did.
But Númenor was also far removed from Lindon. Any journey from northern Middle-earth to Aman did not necessarily require a lengthy journey across open waters. Until the changing of the world the fastest, safest route from Lindon to Aman would still be due west. Once an Elf ship reached Aman’s coastal waters it could sail south to Alqualonde.
This passage was never attempted during the First Age before the rebellion of the Noldor. Cirdan’s people learned the art of ship-building and they could indeed have sailed to Aman without much trouble. But they never chose to do so. Their concerns were not with the Elves of Aman.
We can infer from Tolkien’s historical narrative that the Elves of Middle-earth were simply not interested in long ocean voyages. The only mention of such voyages are Turgon’s seven ships, which he sent out in the hope of securing aid from the Valar against Morgoth. Of course those voyages were doomed to failure because the Valar had forbidden any passage to their land after the rebellion.
At the beginning of the Second Age many surviving Elves built ships and sailed over Sea. These were the Elves who settled in Tol Eressëa and became the friends of the Númenoreans. They were the only Elves whom Tolkien specifically mentions taking a considerable interest in Númenor. Of these Elves only Glorfindel (who was resurrected) is said to have sailed to Númenor and then gone on to Middle-earth. In the essay Christopher Tolkien dubbed “Glorfindel II” his father seems to conclude that Glorfindel probably returned to Middle-earth around the year Second Age 1600 and most likely via Númenorean ship. Although this is a “late” essay written near the end of his life, Tolkien seems never to have contemplated much interaction between Lindon and Númenor via Elvish transportation.
The passage of Glorfindel therefore does not support the idea that Cirdan’s people were actively traveling to Númenor. The absence of any such evidence suggests that Elvish shipping was less sophisticated than Númenorean shipping, not for lack of expertise and resources but rather because of where the Elves directed their interests. Cirdan only reluctantly left Middle-earth. Many of his people may have shared his reluctance. Their need for adventure, whatever it was, must have been satisfied by the voyages they undertook in the northern coastal waters of Middle-earth.
I think that we can summarize the reasons for a lack of references to Elvish visitation to Númenor as:
- Tolkien thought of no stories to tell that involved such journeys
- He consistently portrayed the Elves of Middle-earth as mostly disinterested in the Sea
- The shortest and safest path to Aman would have taken them far north of Númenor
If you are writing fan fiction or creating adventures for role-playing games and you want to send Elves from Lindon to Númenor I don’t think you would be “violating canon” but your readers and players may be more comfortable with the idea that only a few Elves would make such a journey and that they probably would seek passage on a Númenorean ship rather than on an Elvish ship. Númenor was simply well beyond the area of Gil-galad’s sea power.
See also:
- Did Elrond Ever Visit His Brother Elros in Númenor?
- Life In An Elven Fishing Town
- To Havens and Havens Not
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