Atlantis

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Revision as of 14:05, 9 April 2008 by Ederchil (talk | contribs) ("Real-world" refers to the complex/haunting, not to Atlantis...)

Atlantis-haunting or Atlantic complex refers to J.R.R. Tolkien's recurring dreams of the city of Atlantis being consumed by the ocean.

"This legend or myth or dim memory of some ancient history has always troubled me. In sleep I had the dreadful dream of the ineluctable Wave, either coming out of the quiet sea, or coming in towering over the green inlands. It still occurs occasionally, though now exorcized by writing about it. It always ends by surrender, and I awake gasping out of deep water. I used to draw it or write bad poems about it."
J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 257

It was this dream that inspired the story of the Downfall of Númenor. In The Lord of the Rings, the Professor transfers his dream to Faramir who dreams of the Downfall of Númenor. Tolkien believed his dream may have been passed down from his parents as his son, Michael, had similar dreams and Tolkien had never mentioned it to him.

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See also