The restoration of Numenor

Rising again from the wave

I've referenced the chapter 'Many Partings' from the LOTR a few times in posts from the last week or two.  In that same chapter, Galadriel makes a fairly remarkable prophecy that I think is too narrowly defined by any who notice it and have written on it.  Here is the dialogue between Treebeard, Celeborn, and Galadriel from which the prophecy comes from:

Then Treebeard said farewell to each of them in turn, and he bowed three times slowly and with great reverence to Celeborn and Galadriel.  'It is long, long since we met by stock or by stone, A vanimar, vanimalion nostari!' he said.  'It is sad that we should meet only thus at the ending.  For the world is changing:  I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air.  I do not think we shall meet again.'

And Celeborn said: 'I do not know, Eldest.'  But Galadriel said:  'Not in Middle-earth, nor until the lands that lie under the wave are lifted up again.  Then in the willow-meads of Tasarinan we may meet in the Spring.  Farewell!"

Here, Galadriel with her foresight seems to suggest that there will be a reunion, but not until lands are lifted up again from under a wave.  Now, others have suggested that this isn't a prophecy at all, but more like a statement of the the improbability of such a meeting, like "We have as much a chance of meeting again, as does Beleriand have of rising up from beneath the sea".

And that could be.  I tend to think not, though, and that Galadriel is giving something of a prophecy, or at least conditions that must happen prior to their being a larger reunion that would include Treebeard.

I mention Beleriand above, and that is where most people go to in interpreting Galadriel's comments.  And the context would seem to support this.  The 'willow-meads of Tasarinan' is a reference to an area within Beleriand.  For those not familiar, Beleriand is the land that was mostly sunk during the War of Wrath at the end of the 1st age.  Very little of Beleriand remained after this War (which was a battle between the Host of the Valar and Melkor), with the struggle itself violent enough to cause major changes to ME, including the sinking of almost all of Beleriand.  So, it is more than likely that Tasarinan was part of the lands that sunk.

I don't disagree with this interpretation of Galadriel's words.  I only disagree with the notion that her comments are limited only to Beleriand.

There are other lands that have been buried under 'a wave', with Numenor being the foremost example of this.  In fact, if you were to think of a wave burying land in the context of Tolkien's stories, it is usually to Numenor that you would first go to in thought.

Tolkien admitted himself having a "Numenor Complex", and dreams of what he called The Great Wave would haunt him through much of his life, with writing about them being somewhat helpful in both coping and 'exorcising' or reducing how often they occurred.  From one of his letters (letter #257):

This legend or myth or dim memory of some ancient history has always troubled me. In sleep I had the dreadful dream of the ineluctable Wave, either coming out of the quiet sea, or coming in towering over the green inlands. It still occurs occasionally, though now exorcized by writing about it. It always ends by surrender, and I awake gasping out of deep water. I used to draw it or write bad poems about it.

This 'wave' is the Numenorean wave that completely submerged that 'island'.  Tolkien would associate this event, and Numenor itself, with the myth of Atlantis.  In fact, the Quenyan/Elvish name for Numenor is "Atalante", meaning "the Downfallen".  Tolkien called it a 'happy accident' that the name matched up so well with Atlantis.

Interestingly for Mormons in particular, but also others, is that in the language of the Numenoreans themselves their island was called "Yozayan" (the Land of Gift - because it was given as a gift to Men). Breaking this into "Yo" and "Zayan", one can easily see and even say the name of "Zion" in that second component of the word.

Anyway, Tolkien had these recurring dreams/ nightmares about the Great Wave.  In LOTR, it is through Faramir that we learn of this wave, with Faramir telling Eowyn that he had these recurring dreams of the Wave and Numenor's destruction.  Tolkien would say that he gave his dream to Faramir.  My view is that he was likely giving his dream back to its source.  In other words, Faramir likely did have this dream, was probably the Being who was the source of these thoughts and dreams for Tolkien, and so Tolkien, in a way, is giving the dream back to Faramir.  Perhaps.

This is all to say that when Galadriel talks of 'lands' (plural) now buried under a wave that would need to be raised up from under that before there is any large reunion, I think we have to include Numenor in the scope of her statement.  Numenor is part of what I call "Earth", and if we are talking about Earth's restoration, then I think you can't leave it out.

In addition, I view Numenor as a critical piece of the "new and old" way that will be restored - the pathway that will be re-created for as many Beings who wish to one day find themselves and their own stories on Valinor, and then beyond.  Without Numenor, the path remains broken/ incomplete, or perhaps too far a divide for some Beings to cross all at once.

A land covered in water and ice

As I've mentioned before, I have this notion that Numenor today is a world that is surrounded by water and ice.  I don't really have a definitive reason for why I picture it that way.  I just do right now.  If this is so (big if), it literally still resides under at least part of the wave that swept over it as it was separated from the other worlds to which it was linked.  Thus, part of its restoration isn't just restoring its position, but also recovering it from this 'wave'.  This will mean, obviously, that the ice and water that currently cover it will need to be taken away from it.

This may happen all as part of the same process.  Perhaps as planets move into closer proximity to each other, the layer of ice and water is pulled away or removed from Numenor.  I had a dream that might support this notion (but really I don't even know if the dream is about this).  

In this dream, after some preceding events, I found myself in a large glass structure.  It was something like a massive meeting hall, with very high glass walls and ceilings.  There were a number of people there, including myself, who were kind of milling about, very peacefully.   Suddenly, however, someone looked up to the glass ceiling, pointed, and yelled "Ice!".  As he finished saying this, an extremely large chunk of ice - like an iceberg - crashed through the ceiling and smashed into the crowd of people.  Soon, many of these ice chunks were crashing all over the place, and people were running around in quite a chaotic scene.    Suddenly, I noticed my children were with me, and my only thought was to get them to some kind of shelter, but there obviously wasn't one.  My last thought before we were presumably smashed by one of these ice chunks was "There aren't any places for us to stand!".

I would alter associate this dream of ice raining down from the sky and smashing into our glass building with the following passage from one of Joseph Smith's writings found in D&C.  It's a bit of longer passage and there is quite a bit going on in it or some things to call out, but the relevant passage for this dream is toward the end (I've highlighted in bold):

When the Lamb shall stand upon Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

Wherefore, prepare ye for the coming of the Bridegroom; go ye, go ye out to meet him.

For behold, he shall stand upon the mount of Olivet, and upon the mighty ocean, even the great deep, and upon the islands of the sea, and upon the land of Zion.

And he shall utter his voice out of Zion, and he shall speak from Jerusalem, and his voice shall be heard among all people;

And it shall be a voice as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, which shall break down the mountains, and the valleys shall not be found.

He shall command the great deep, and it shall be driven back into the north countries, and the islands shall become one land;

And the land of Jerusalem and the land of Zion shall be turned back into their own place, and the earth shall be like as it was in the days before it was divided.

And the Lord, even the Savior, shall stand in the midst of his people, and shall reign over all flesh.

And they who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord; and their prophets shall hear his voice, and shall no longer stay themselves; and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence.

And an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep.  (D&C 133)

Creatively (perhaps too creatively) I associate the ice in this situation as the same ice that covers Numenor but will be released and discharged in the events that surround the literal reuniting of worlds.

As such, and using my dream as one thing that goes into this though, I view the "Holy Places" that will be established in Jerusalem and Eressea as potentially not just protection for its inhabitants from other Beings, but also likely from the cataclysms themselves that will result from worlds coming back together.  Thus, in my dream this concern about no places 'to stand', which seems to me a direct reference to Holy Places.  Therefore, if these places had been established, all of those people milling about in that glass structure would have had a place to have safety in as the ice flowed down. 

Apparently there will be fire, too, at some point.  So, for those wondering whether fire or ice ends the world, perhaps Robert Frost was on to something in not being able to completely decide between the two:

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great

And would suffice.

(Fire and Ice, Robert Frost) 

 

The 'highway' in the 'midst of the great deep' becomes just that, I think.  A connection or link now established between our world, Numenor, and Aman (which will include Eressea and Valinor).  The Straight Road that will now be accessible not just for Gods and Elves, but also for Men.  The 'great deep' again being something like 'outer space' - some link or method of travel between these rejoined worlds.