Chasm of Ilmen

From Tolkien Gateway
Revision as of 17:37, 22 January 2020 by Sage (talk | contribs)
Christopher Tolkien's sketch, showing how Hithlum and Helcaraxë are close to the Chasm at the northern edge of the world.

The Chasm of Ilmen is the gap between the edge of the World and Vaiya. It is filled with the air of Ilmen.

Where the interior seas fell down the Chasm of Ilmen, their waterfalls made bridges of ice which close the chasm. The ice extended to all Vaiya and even the Ilurambar.[1]

Other versions of the Legendarium

Christopher Tolkien notes[2] that in the Ambarkanta, as well as an earlier unfinished version of the Silmarillion (c. 1937), there is the Chasm of Ilmen between the Earth and Vaiya, into which Tilion guides the Moon. However for the published Silmarillion, he preferred a later passage (c. 1951) where Tilion plunges into a Chasm which is beyond the Outer Sea.[3]

References