Ar-Pharazôn now rules in Númenor, but he craves much more than a scepter. He seeks something forbidden to men: eternal life. Not even the gods will stop him from trying to attain it. In The Rings of Power season two’s fifth episode, Númenor’s ambitious new king turned his gaze west across the sea to The Undying Lands. That is home to immortal beings like the Valar, Maiar, and elves. What is that very real place? Why are men are barred from entering it? And why will The Undying Lands soon vanish from sight entirely? It all began the moment Ar-Pharazôn set his sights on a kingdom he could never have.
The Lord of the Rings fans know The Undying Lands ( which we explained in-depth during season one) as a special plane of existence hidden to those on Middle-earth. One day Círdan the Shipwright will bring Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf, to the realm of gods and elves. It exists outside of the physical world Hobbits and men call home know, but that wasn’t always the case.
Also known as Valinor, the Undying Lands sits on the continent of Aman. During the First Age of the world mortals were permitted to travel there. In The Rings of Power‘s first season Galadriel sailed there to live out eternity before she jumped to stay behind and fight Sauron. It’s where Gil-galad said all elves would go if they could not restore the light of the Valar in Middle-earth. All elves will go there eventually. Some never left it at all.
Mortal beings were no longer permitted to walk in Valinor after the defeat of Morgoth during the War of Wrath. At the end of the First Age the Valar rewarded the men who suffered greatest in the fight by raising up a grand island from the sea. Those who lived there were also granted vastly longer lifespans then normal men.
For generations Nûmenoreans thrived, building beautiful cities full of skilled craftsmen and warriors. The Valar only placed one limit on the otherwise privileged Nûmenorans. The gods banned them sailing west beyond sight of their island. The Undying Lands were no longer open to mortals.
For centuries those on the island obeyed the rules. Even when they began conquering the mainland they did not sail west. That changed when evil came back with them…
The Lord of the Rings fans know Nûmenorean survivors will go on to found great kingdoms of men in Middle-earth. The Rings of Power series will show us how they lost their island home in the first place. It will explain why the universe’s supreme being, Eru Ilúvatar, will soon make the world round so no mortal can ever sail to Valinor again. The Prime Video series has now began telling the story of Nûmenor’s end.
Ar-Pharazôn’s followers are destroying temples as he rejects something better than eternal life. The Valar barred men from their land, but Eru Ilúvatar gave men something special instead. He called their mortality “the Gift.” But when Nûmenor’s greedy King looks across the sea to the White Tower of Eressëa in The Undying Lands he only sees a limit. He wants to climb higher. In doing so he will help bring his own land down.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist who would simply not be mad about Valinor. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
