Aman

Aman (Quenya; "blessed realm") was a continent that lay west of Middle-earth, across the great ocean Belegaer. It contained Valinor, home of the Valar and Maiar, as well as Eldamar, home to the three kindreds of Elves: the Vanyar, the Ñoldor and the Teleri. The island of Tol Eressëa lay just off the eastern shore.
== History ==
Upon the destruction of Almaren in very ancient times of Arda, the Valar fled to the great continent of Aman in the far west of Arda, and there established the realm of Valinor. Seeking to isolate themselves, they raised a great mountain fence, called the Pelóri, on the eastern coast, and set the Enchanted Isles in the ocean to prevent travellers by sea from reaching Aman.
For reasons untold, the Valar left two lands outside the wall of the Pelóri: Araman to the northeast and Avathar to the southeast. Ungoliant, a great spider of unknown origin, had managed to escape notice in Avathar. When Melkor was released from his captivity, he fled to Avathar, scaled the mountains with Ungoliant's help, and wrought the destruction of the Two Trees of Valinor.
The first navigator to succeed in passing the Isles of Enchantment was Eärendil, who came to Valinor to seek the aid of the Valar against Melkor, now called Morgoth. His quest was successful, the Valar went to war again, and also decided to remove the Isles.
Soon after this, the great island of Númenor was raised out of Belegaer, close to the shores of Aman, and the Three Houses of the Edain were brought to live there. Henceforth, they were called the Dúnedain, or Men of the West, and were blessed with many gifts by the Valar and the Elves of Tol Eressëa. The Valar feared— rightly— that the Númenóreans would seek to enter Aman to gain immortality (even though a mortal in Aman remains mortal), so they forbade them from sailing west of the westernmost promontory of Númenor. In time, and not without some corrupting help from Sauron, the Númenóreans violated the Ban of the Valar, and sailed to Aman with a Great Armament under the command of Ar-Pharazôn the Golden. Eru Ilúvatar collapsed a part of the Pelóri on this army, trapping but not killing them. It is said that the army still lies beneath the pile of rock in the Caves of the Forgotten.
As a result of the Númenórean attack, the Valar laid down their governance of Arda and called upon Eru Ilúvatar, and he changed the shape of the world, making Arda round and removing Aman from it, so that a mariner sailing west along Eärendil's route would simply emerge in the far east. For the Elves, however, he crafted a Straight Road that peeled away from the curvature of the earth and passed to Aman.The Atlas of Middle-earth, The First Age, The Elder Days, "Introduction" A very few non-Elves are known to have passed along this road, including the Hobbits Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee and the Dwarf Gimli.The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "Later Events concerning the Members of the Fellowship of the Ring"
== Geography ==
== Etymology ==
The Quenya name Aman is glossed as "Blessed Land",J.R.R. Tolkien, "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals and Related Writings — Part Three" (ed. by Patrick H. Wynne) in Vinyar Tengwar, no. 49, pgs. 26-7 "blessed, free from evil",The War of the Jewels, Part Four: Quendi and Eldar, pg. 399 or "The Unmarred State".The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor", Notes and Commentary
The etymology of the name Aman changed over time in Tolkien's writings. In early linguistic writings, Aman was intended to be a "native Quenya form", derived from the root MAN ("good"). However, in later writings (such as Quendi and Eldar), the name is said to derive from a Valarin word.[6]
== Notes ==
* Tolkien may have based Aman on Heaven from his own religion, Christianity, as Aman, like Heaven, is accessible only to beings whose (first) life on Earth has ended, and is inaccessible to any still-mortal beings.
== Translations ==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Amharic 	ዓማን
Arabic 	آمان
Armenian 	Աման
Assamese 	অমান
Belarusian Cyrillic	Аман
Bengali 	আমান
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Аман
Cantonese 	阿曼
Chinese (Hong Kong)	阿門洲
Danish 	Aman (De Udødelige Lande)
French 	Terres Immortelles (Immortal lands)
Georgian 	ამან
German 	Aman (Unsterbliche Länder)
Greek 	Άμαν
Gujarati 	આમન
Hebrew 	אמאן
Hindi 	आमन
Hungarian 	Halhatatlanföld
Japanese 	アマン
Kannada 	ಅಮನ್
Kazakh 	Аман (Cyrillic) Aman (Latin)
Korean 	암안
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Аман
Laotian 	ະມະນ
Macedonian Cyrillic	Аман
Malayalam 	അമൻ
Marathi 	आमन
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Аман
Nepalese 	आमन
Pashto 	آمان
Persian 	امان
Russian 	Аман
Sanskrit 	आमन्
Sinhalese 	ආමන්
Tajik Cyrillic 	Аман
Tamil 	ஆமந்
Telugu 	ఆమన
Thai 	อามัน
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Аман
Urdu 	امان
Uzbek 	Аман (Cyrillic) Aman (Latin)
Yiddish 	ײַמאַן
== References ==
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Category:Quenya names & words
Category:Continents
 
Category:Arda