| Ocean | |
| Ekkaia | |
|---|---|
| General Information | |
| Other names | The Encircling Sea, The Outer Sea |
| Location | Surrounding Arda |
| Type | Ocean |
| People and History | |
| Inhabitants | Ulmo |
Ekkaia (also called the Encircling Sea, the Outer Sea, or the Outer Ocean) was the mighty sea that surrounded all the lands of Arda, Middle-earth and Aman alike. Ulmo's halls were within the Outer Sea.
At its distant unknown edge stood the Walls of the Night.[1] Between its edge and the shores of the world was also a chasm,[2][3] into which Tilion plunged and carried the Moon beneath the roots of Arda.[4]
Its dark waters lapped the western shores of Valinor,[1] and during their time in Valinor Fëanor and his sons visited the shores of these waters.[5]
In the North, the Helcaraxë was the narrow strait between the Outer Sea and Belegaer, where in the chilled waters clashed hills of ice amidst vast fogs of deathly cold.[6]
Etymology
The name Ekkaia, commonly understood to be Quenya,[7][8] was not explained by Tolkien.
Helge Fauskanger has tried to explain Ekkaia by deriving it from the unattested form et-gaya ("out-sea"; cf. et "out").[7]
Robert Ireland links Ekkaia to the root KHAYA ("far, distant"), which appears to include among its derivatives an adverb similar in form: ekkaira ("far off, far away").[8][9]
Other versions of the legendarium
Ekkaia appears first time in The Later Quenta Silmarillion, replacing the earlier concept of Vaiya. In earlier works such as the Ambarkanta, Vaiya is not a sea, but an exotic material that encloses the flat Ambar, becoming air above it, and water below it. In the published Silmarillion Ekkaia is clearly mentioned only to be a sea. However in the cosmological models of The Atlas of Middle-earth (and fan-made maps), Ekkaia is conflated with the earlier concept of Vaiya, shown as an atmospheric layer that encloses the world.
The published Silmarillion mentions an unnamed chasm beyond Ekkaia into which the Moon plunges. Christopher Tolkien later wrote that this reference comes from a note from his father,[10][11] but that he actually settled with the Chasm to lie before the Outer Sea, rather than beyond it.[3] This seems to be derived from the earlier concept of the Chasm of Ilmen that lies between Ambar and Vaia, but it is hard to understand it with the concept of Ekkaia as a sea.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Beginning of Days"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, "Part Two: Valinor and Middle-earth before The Lord of the Rings, VI. Quenta Silmarillion", §78, p. 241-2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Two. The Annals of Aman: Commentary on the sixth and last section of the Annals of Aman", §177, pp. 136-7
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Flight of the Noldor"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Helge Fauskanger, "Quettaparma Quenyallo" at Ardalambion (accessed 27 October 2011)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Robert Ireland, The Silmarillion Dictionary (C-E) at A Tolkien Dictionary (accessed 27 October 2011)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", p. 364 (entry KHAYA-)
- ↑ Cf. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Two. The Annals of Aman": §177
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Shaping of Middle-earth, "V. The Ambarkanta: Commentary on the Ambarkanta", p.241, footnote