Elves Wimp Out?

[Willow Oran]

I had never had the impression the Sauron's influence actually extended all the way east and south. It seems like he was too busy trying to take over the West and failing to really consolidate his power over two more entire continents. And who knows if Tolkien had imagined the N./S. American continents to be in place where Aman used to be by that point and how many islands were in between. Theoretically, the ships they had at their disposal would have been perfectly capable of making the trip given enough northern islands to hop.

That would have been a vastly different story though - some sort of fusion of fantasy and post-apocalyptic fiction...