East and West in Tolkien and Lewis

[Calebblank]

A question I have long wondered about is concerning locations in Tolkien (but also Lewis).

Is there a particular reason why Tolkien designated the West as the location of the power of good and the East as the direction of evil? Valinor is the the West, but Morgoth or Sauron are situated as the East.

A follow question. Why is this reversed in Lewis? In the Narnia books, Aslan comes from the emperor over the sea in the east.

Is there any correlation or rationale to these two writers making this decision or is it just random?

 

[Lincoln Alpern]

I heard somewhere (I think in Dr. Michael Drout's "Great Courses" series on the topic) that for Tolkien, it comes out of English folklore. Remember that a big part of Tolkien's early motivation was to create a national mythology for England.

We know the sea was also a big deal in Tolkien's writings, a place of mystery and wonder, just like the West. Geographically, what's west of England? The Atlantic ocean, which, for several hundred years, was effectively the horizon of the world from an English perspective, and so probably had a lot of myths and legends told about the wondrous lands which lay beyond - like Valinor.

I can't remember what reason, if any, I heard for why East is identified with Evil. It might have been something as simple as just picking the opposite polar direction from the one identified with Good (i.e. West). It's all massively problematic if you connect this to the contemporary geopolitical landscape and nonsense like the "clash of civilizations" malarkey, but there you go.

I don't know about Lewis, because I haven't studied his mythology at all. It might have been as simple as east being the direction of the rising sun (generally a good sign in mythology), and west being the direction of the setting sun (generally a bad sign in mythology). But that's pure speculation on my part.

 

[Tungol]

A follow question. Why is this reversed in Lewis? In the Narnia books, Aslan comes from the emperor over the sea in the east.

I also don't know too much about Lewis' mythology, but I think that Aslan's Country, where the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea is, symbolizes the Garden of Eden? In the Bible, the Garden is said to be in the East of Eden.

The Garden is the meeting place between God and man, in the East (see discussion of this here). But generally, moving Westwards is moving closer to God. Tolkien is consistent with this, although as Lincoln pointed there are probably other associations that he had in mind with the West.

 

[Kyle Winiecki]

I don't have any fully formed thoughts on this, but here is a question that may lead to further discussion.

Is there a difference in the significance in East and West because there is something fundamentally different about the Elves? We know the Silmarillion is from a Elvish point of view and also that the Valar are more closely connected to the Elves than Men (at least in the sense of being present and showing themselves to the Elves and living with them in Valinor).

Again don't have any formed thoughts on this, more just an observation on the point of view we are looking at.