Editing Valinor (section)

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{{short description|Fictional location in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox fictional location
| name         = Valinor
| source       = [[Tolkien's legendarium]]
| creator      = [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]
| first        = ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''
| ruler        = [[Manwë (Middle-earth)|Manwë]]
| people       = [[Vala (Middle-earth)|Valar]], [[Maia (Middle-earth)|Maiar]], [[Sundering of the Elves|Elves]]
| alt_name     = The Undying Lands, The Blessed Realm, The Uttermost West, Faerie, Aman
| type         = Continent
| blank_label  = Location
| blank_data   = On the west of [[Belegaer|The Great Sea]], far to the West of [[Middle-earth]]
}}
'''Valinor''' ([[Quenya]]'': Land of the Valar''), the '''Blessed Realm''', or the '''Undying Lands''' is a [[fictional location]] in [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s [[legendarium]], the home of the immortal [[Vala (Middle-earth)|Valar]] and [[Maia (Middle-earth)|Maiar]] on the continent of '''Aman''', far to the west of [[Middle-earth]]; he used the name Aman mainly to mean Valinor. It includes '''Eldamar''', the land of the [[Elves (Middle-Earth)|Elves]], who as immortals are permitted to live in Valinor.

The name "the Undying Lands" does not mean that the land itself causes mortals to live forever.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#156 to Father R. Murray, SJ, November 1954 }}</ref> Generally, only immortal beings are allowed to reside there. Exceptions are made for the surviving bearers of the [[One Ring]]: [[Bilbo Baggins|Bilbo]] and [[Frodo Baggins]] and [[Sam Gamgee]], who dwell there for a time, and the dwarf [[Gimli (Middle-earth)|Gimli]].<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, "The Grey Havens", and Appendix B, entry for S.R. 1482 and 1541.</ref><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#249 to [[Tolkien family#Michael George R. Tolkien|Michael Tolkien]], October 1963 }}</ref>

Tolkien's myth of the attempt of [[Númenor]] to capture Aman has been likened to the biblical [[Tower of Babel]] and the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] [[Atlantis]], and the resulting destruction in both cases. They note, too, that a mortal's stay in Valinor is only temporary, not conferring immortality, just as, in medieval Christian theology, the [[Earthly Paradise]] is only a preparation for the [[Paradise|Celestial Paradise]] that is above.

Others have compared the account of the beautiful Elvish part of the Undying Lands to the place dreamed of in the [[Middle English]] poem ''[[Pearl (poem)|Pearl]]'', and stated that the closest literary equivalents of Tolkien's descriptions of these lands are the ''[[Immram|imrama]]'' Celtic tales such as those about [[Saint Brendan]] from the early [[Middle Ages]]. The [[Christianity|Christian]] theme of good and light (from Valinor) opposing [[Evil in Middle-earth|evil]] and dark (from [[Mordor]]) has also been discussed.