The Straight Road, also known as the Straight Way or the Lost Road, was an invisible bridge that curved from the earth and led westward from the Belegaer to the realm of the Valar.
History[]
It was a route that left Earth's curvature through sky and space to the land of Aman. The Straight Road, so called because it followed the old path across Belegaer from before the Akallabêth and Change of the World, was only kept open to Elves, who were allowed to sail by it under special grace of the Valar.
It is noted in earlier writings by J.R.R. Tolkien that some mortals besides those carried on Elven ships like the Ring-bearers could also come across this path, such as Ælfwine in The Book of Lost Tales.
According to unfinished notes for The Lost Road (and somewhat related to later in The Notion Club Papers), Tolkien saw the location of the Straight Road as possibly somewhere near the Azores in modern times. The first location reached from the hidden path was Tol Eressëa.
The end of the Akallabêth mentions tales and rumours concerning mariners lost at sea who, by fate or grace of the Valar, had entered the path until they reached Avallónë.
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Reguitpad |
| Albanian | Rruga e Drejt |
| Amharic | ቀጥተኛ መንገድ |
| Arabic | الطريق المستقيم |
| Armenian | Ուղիղ Ճանապարհ |
| Azerbaijani | Düz yol |
| Basque | Zuzen errepidea |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | прамая дарога |
| Bengali | সরল পথ |
| Bosnian | Ravne ceste |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Направо Път |
| Burmese | ဖြောင့်လမ်းမ |
| Cambodian | ត្រង់ផ្លូវ |
| Catalan | Camí Recte |
| Cebuano | Tul-id nga Dalan |
| Chinese | 筆直航道 |
| Croatian | Ravne ceste |
| Czech | Přímá cesta |
| Danish | Den Lige Vej |
| Dutch | Rechte Weg |
| Esperanto | Rekta Vojo |
| Estonian | Sirget teed |
| Faroese | Beinur Vegur |
| Finnish | Suora tie |
| French | Route droite |
| Galician | Camiño Recto |
| Georgian | სწორი გზა |
| German | Gerade Straße |
| Greek | Ίσιο δρόμο |
| Gujarati | સીધા રોડ |
| Haitian Creole | Wout Dwat |
| Hausa | Tafarki Madaidaici |
| Hebrew | דרך המישירה |
| Hindi | सीधी सड़क |
| Hmong | Txoj kev ncaj |
| Hungarian | Egyenes út |
| Icelandic | Bein Vegur |
| Indonesian | Jalan lurus |
| Irish Gaelic | Bóthar Dhíreach |
| Italian | Strada Diritta |
| Japanese | ストレートロード |
| Javanese | Dalan Lurus |
| Kannada | ಸ್ಟ್ರೈಟ್ ರೋಡ್ |
| Kazakh | Түзу жол (Cyrilic) Tüzw jol (Latin) |
| Korean | 스트레이트도로 |
| Kurdish | Rê Rast (Kurmanji) |
| Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Түз жол |
| Latin | Recta via |
| Latvian | Taisnā ceļa |
| Lithuanian | Tiesiu keliu |
| Luxembourgish | Riichter Strooss |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Прав патот |
| Malagasy | Lalana mahitsy |
| Malaysian | Jalan yang lurus |
| Malayalam | സ്ട്രെയിറ്റ് റോഡ് |
| Maltese | Triq dritta |
| Marathi | सरळ रस्ता |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Шулуун зам |
| Nepalese | सीधा रोड |
| Norwegian | Rettvei |
| Pashto | سپینو سړک |
| Persian | جاده مستقیم |
| Polish | Prosta Droga |
| Portuguese | Estrada Reta |
| Punjabi | ਸਟ੍ਰੇਟ ਰੋਡ |
| Romanian | Drumul drept |
| Romansh | dretg Stra ? |
| Russian | Прямой Путь |
| Scottish Gaelic | Dìreach Rathad |
| Serbian | Страигхт друм (Cyrillic) Ravni put (Latin) |
| Shona | Yakarurama mugwagwa |
| Sindhi | سڌو رستو |
| Sinhalese | කෙළින්ම පාර |
| Slovak | Priama cesta |
| Slovenian | Ravne ceste |
| Somali | Wadada toosan |
| Spanish | Camino Recto |
| Sundanese | Lempeng Jalan |
| Swahili | Barabara ya moja kwa moja |
| Swedish | Rakväg |
| Tamil | நேரடி சாலை |
| Tatar | Туры юл |
| Thai | เส้นทางมุ่งตรง |
| Turkish | Düz Yol |
| Turkmen | Göni Ýol |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Пряма дорога |
| Urdu | سیدھے راستے |
| Uzbek | Тўғри йўл (Cyrillic) To'g'ri yo'l (Latin) |
| Vietnamese | Đường thẳng |
| Welsh | Ffordd Syth |
| Yiddish | גלייַך וועג |