The Changing of Middle Earth

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Something that has always interested me is the relationship between Beleriand and the lands we know from The Lord of the Rings. I had, for a long time, been under the impression that Beleriand had been located somewhere north of the Northern Wastes, but have since revised this opinion.

In the introduction to The Children of Húrin there is an explanation given by Christopher Tolkien that helped me visualise it in a better way. Here it is;

Originally Posted by Children of Hurin, Introduction, C. Tolkien

The memory of Treebeard, 'Ent the earthborn, old as mountains', was long indeed. He was remembering ancient forests in the great country of Beleriand which was destroyed in the tumults of the Great Battle at the end of the Elder Days. The Great Sea poured in and drowned the lands west of the blue mountains, called Ered Luin and Lered Lindon: so that the map accompanying The Silmarillion ends in the east with that mountain-chain, whereas the map accompanying The Lord of the Rings ends in the west with that same range; and the coastal lands beyond the mountains named on that map Forlindon and Harlindon (North Lindon and South Lindon) were all that remained in the Third Age of the country called both Ossiriand, Land of Seven Rivers, and also Lindon, in whose elm-woods Treebeard once walked.

Based on this explanation, I attempted to make a map joining the two lands together in a rough estimation. I left most of the names and towns for two reasons; firstly for a greater point of reference, and secondly removing them would have been tiresome. I am also aware of the fact that it is likely that the courses of many of the rivers would have changed during the catastrophe. As there is no way of knowing their previous routes, I have left them in tact (except to end them in lakes where they would otherwise have met the sea; not much else I could do with them).

MAP OF BELERIAND AND THE EASTERN LANDS

And here is a rough approximation of the sea's coverage of Beleriand...

THE FLOODED LANDS

As I was making these I started to wonder about why this happened and I came up with a few thoughts on the subject...

One of the primary reasons I suspect Tolkien made the lands flood was in order to make the connection between The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings times. Justifying both maps as being accurate. But I think there are other interesting things to not about the greater implications of the flooding.

In the times of the Silmarillion, the Valar are very much more active in the events. In the beginning they roam around Middle Earth, making mountains, forests and so on. Then they separate themselves from Middle Earth and make Valinor. They become slightly less active in the hither lands, but do pop in frequently. Oromë, hunting in the lands of Middle-earth, discovers the newly awakened Elves and brings them over to Valinor.
After the Noldor go into exile, the Valar close Valinor off from Middle Earth. But there is still some remnant of their power in Middle Earth throughout the battles and wars that follow. The Eagles seem much closer connected to Manwe, the rivers still carry much of Ulmo's power (which he, from time to time, uses to help his favourites). Ultimately, it is the interfearence of the Valar which leads to the downfall of Melkor and the world becomes changed.

Beleriand is drowned, leaving the shores of Middle Earth further away from the shores of Valinor. Here is my point; the further away and more cut off the hither lands are, the less the Valar interact with the story, it seems. I recall and interview in which Tolkien talks about Middle Earth being a place where everyone makes mistakes "even the divine beings under God".
In The Lord of the Rings there is a distinct lack of Valar intervention. The closest we get is them working through agents (the Istari). But they are forbidden from using their powers in certain ways and must only guide the peoples of Middle Earth. Here is the interesting thing; now there is this greater distance between Valinor and Middle Earth, there is more emphasis on it being the efforts of the people with little help from outside.

The Downfall of Numenor illustrates this nicely. Being so close to Valinor, their interaction with the powers could be seen as more potent. Because of their eventual downfall, not only is the closest region to Valinor destroyed, but Valinor itself is taken out of the world, leaving their influence very much limited.

Another point that has just sprung to mind is that the Elves leaving Middle Earth are heading back to a realm where the Valar are interacting more. Does this indicate a dependency on their part? That they feel the need to be with the powers more than the mortal races do? Or is it simply that they, being aware of the Valar in a much deeper and more personal sense, can identify with them; for example, the fact that they are both immortal. Do they prefer the security of the sheltered Valinor to the wild Middle Earth? Do they long to be closer to the divine beings in a way that men, Hobbits and so on do not?

So, my main point is, do you think that the flooding of Beleriand and the further sundering of Middle Earth from Valinor had a greater affect on how involved the Valar became in the story?