the waters of cuivienen

[carlrodd]

this portion of tolkien's history is quite possibly my favorite; i suppose since so little is known of it, but it was presumably a long period of time that the elves resided here. i have been reading through 'the shaping of middle earth', and i still cannot place where the inland sea of helcar would have been. i understand that the surface and shape of the world was altered numerous times after the elves awoke, but even tolkien's diagrams seem to conflict. it appears to have occupied a large area just over the blue mountains originally, which would seem to have placed it in the better known NW middle earth of the third age. any ideas, insight? i am also intrigued by how perhaps an oblique reference is made to perhaps the elves longing for their place of awakening, when tolkien says, 'to cuivienen there is no returning'. that statement automatically makes it a place i want to go to.