The Straight Road

[Lalwendë]

I'm fascinated by The Straight Road. By what is it, what it means, what it symbolises, even by how to find it.

What exactly is it?

It seems that at the point Eru changed the world he broke it into two 'planes' of existence. Before, it was flat and it was possible to travel from Valinor to Middle-earth and vice versa, even if it was forbidden to Men to do so, and against their nature for Elves to return to Middle-earth. Afterwards, the earth was curved and if you set sail from Middle-earth's western shores you'd just eventually come back to the eastern ones (presumably a bit thirsty and as bonkers as the Ancient Mariner by then).

But not for the Elves. They could find the Straight Road and land in Valinor, and so, it seems, could those special enough to gain what seems to have been an actual title - Elf-friend.

What bugs me is whether they got there. We've no way of knowing. Am I alone in finding that Frodo's final journey has a double meaning? On one level you think it's fantastic that he's going off to this place where he can be healed. But on the other, you have a niggling worry about whether he ever got there. Yes, there is a description of him going there, but it's not logically possible for us to know that - given the translator conceit.

And then there's the question of How Does It Work? I always like to know how things work.

So, would a ship set sail and then suddenly hit a secret point known only to Elves/Ainur at which point it departs normal existence and enters another dimension/plane? Or is it that the ship would hit a point where it enters a kid of static world which is unchanging, almost like going through a wormhole? And does being able to find the Road depend upon knowing where it is? Upon being able to see it? Or upon having permission?

Your thoughts, please.