Where are the Undying Lands? Valinor & the Ban of the Valar in LOTR explained

Rings of Power just name-dropped the “Undying Lands”, a hallowed place in Lord of the Rings, so divine, the Ban of the Valar had to be enforced. You may be aware of somewhere called Valinor too, so let’s clear up any confusion with a comprehensive breakdown of the fabled location.

Middle-earth isn’t paradise, but it’s home to some of the most breathtaking realms in all of fiction.

The Kingdom of Lindon, with its gold leaves and radiant ambiance; Eregion, Celebrimbor’s home, and an extraordinary cityscape; Rivendell, a hidden valley that may be the most peaceful place in the entire continent (though this is only in the Lord of the Rings trilogy).

Rings of Power gave us a small peek at Valinor in the first season. In Season 2 Episode 5, Pharazon mentions the “Undying Lands.” As Robert Browning once wrote, “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?”

The Undying Lands is Valinor (basically)

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Firstly, the Undying Lands aren’t in Middle Earth: it’s effectively another name for the continent of Aman, but it also includes Valinor and the island of Tol Eressëa.

Valinor (or Valinórë) is a realm within Aman, also known as the Land of the Valar (gods who serve Arda’s supreme deity, Eru Ilúvatar, aka “the One”) and the Blessed Realm.

There’s a fair bit of backstory to get through, so here’s a basic rundown. It was first established after Morgoth (the big bad of Lord of the Rings before Sauron) destroyed the Valar’s original home in Middle-earth.

After the awakening of the Elves in Y.T. 1050 (around 2,100 years before Rings of Power), the Valar fought Morgoth (who used to go by the name Melkor, but don’t worry about that) and brought them over to Valinor.

Later, Morgoth returned to Valinor and seemingly wished to make amends for his misdeeds… but he was secretly plotting an Elven rebellion with his dark persuasions. He knew he’d been rumbled, so he enlisted the help of Ungoliath (a big spider) to destroy the Two Trees (big, holy trees) and plunge the entire realm into darkness. Grim.

But wait! The Valar saved a luminous flower and fruit from the trees… which became the Moon and the Sun! Understandably, they focused on reinforcing Valinor’s defenses, making it extremely difficult to get to.

Where is Valinor?

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Valinor is a country in Aman, which lies to the far west of the Belegaer, the ocean to the west of Middle-earth. It’s surrounded by Ekkai, a sea which also encircles Middle-earth.

While there’s no detailed maps of Valinor, it’s believed to be about 700 miles wide and 3,000 miles long, with Aman stretching 7,000 miles from Arda’s Arctic region to its equivalent of the South Pole.

Here’s something that will blow your mind: at this point in the Rings of Power timeline, the world isn’t round – it’s flat! This is an important detail because technically anyone could have sailed far enough east and found Aman – but that would be a very bad idea.

The Ban of the Valar explained

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The Ban of the Valar was a simple rule: the mortal men of Númenor were not allowed to sail so far to the west that they could no longer see their own shores. In other words, they were explicitly forbidden from coming to Valinor.

You probably want some context. After the whole perpetual darkness debacle, the Valar took measures to protect Valinor; more specifically, they created the Shadowy Seas and Enchanted Isles, which blocked any passage (from mortal beings or otherwise, without the go-ahead of the gods).

So, what does this have to do with Númenor? Well, towards the end of the First Age, after centuries of abstinence, the Valar assisted the Ñoldor (Deep-elves, including Galadriel) in the war against Morgoth.

They won, yay! And as a reward to the humans (Edain in Tolkien terms), the Valar gave them an incredible gift: the island kingdom of Númenor, raised from the sea.

As men are wont to do, they messed things up massively. Tar-Atanamir, the island’s first king, believed reaching Aman would grant humans immortality. After he died, Pharâzon – yes, the same one in Rings of Power – led a voyage to Valinor.

Amazingly, he made it, but the Valar weren’t happy. They called the big man upstairs for help, and his punishment wasn’t light.

“Ar-Pharazôn the King and the mortal warriors that had set foot upon the land of Aman were buried under falling hills; there it is said that they lie imprisoned in the Caves of the Forgotten, until the Last Battle and the Day of Doom,” The Silmarillion reads.

That’s not all: Eru literally changed the world (in an event called… the Changing of the World), transforming the flat Arda into a sphere. Oh yeah, and he sank Númenor into the sea.

After this point, Valinor (and the entire continent of Aman) is removed from men’s grasp, reachable only via the Straight Road in boats suitable for the journey, designed by Círdan the Shipwright.

How far is Valinor from Middle-earth?

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Before the Changing of the World, it took 39 days to sail to Valinor from Númenor. However, it’s never been stated exactly how far away it is, nor is it clear how long the voyage takes on the Straight Road.

This is made clear in The Silmarillion, which reads: “In an hour unlocked for by Men this doom befell, on the nine and thirtieth day since the passing of the fleets.”

It took Christopher Columbus 36 days to sail from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean Islands, a distance of over 3,800 miles. So, when the world was still whole, it was likely a similar gap between Valinor and Númenor.

The Straight Road can’t be measured in miles or any normal unit of time; if you were lucky enough to make the journey, your perception of that trip would be vastly different from those watching you vanish over the horizon.

At the end of Return of the King, Tolkien wrote: “And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed on into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water.

“And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.”

Maybe it takes 30 minutes, perhaps it’s a 20-hour voyage. But think about it like this: it’s technically not part of Arda, it’s basically heaven.

Do the Undying Lands make you immortal?

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No! The Undying Lands do not give immortality to mortal beings. The realm gets its name from its immortal inhabitants: Elves, as well as the Valar and Maia (known together as Ainur).

This was one of the main reasons behind the Ban of the Valar, so men wouldn’t long for something they could never have.

If anything, you’d kick the bucket even quicker if you made it to Valinor (and you weren’t an Elf or a god, obviously). “For it is not the land of Manwe that makes its people deathless, but the Deathless that dwell therein have hallowed the land; and there you would but wither and grow weary the sooner, as moths in a light too strong and steadfast,” The Silmarillion explains.

So… what about Frodo and Bilbo? The Valar gave them special permission to sail to Valinor, but they wouldn’t have lived forever. Their remaining days would have been restful, peaceful… and numbered. They likely healed from any injuries and enjoyed what time they had left in the Blessed Lands.

Make sure you catch up with our recaps of Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, and Episode 4. You should also read our guides on Tom Bombadil and Forodwaith, plus our 5 theories for the Dark Wizard’s identity.