The Fall of Númenor, page 16
It was to Tar-Atanamir that the Messengers came; and he was the thirteenth King, and in his day the Realm of Númenor had endured for more than two thousand years, and was come to the zenith of its bliss, if not yet of its power.
But Atanamir was ill pleased with the counsel of the Messengers and gave little heed to it, and the greater part of his people followed him; for they wished still to escape death in their own day, not waiting upon hope. And Atanamir lived to a great age, clinging to his life beyond the end of all joy; and he was the first of the Númenóreans to do this, refusing to depart until he was witless and unmanned, and denying to his son the kingship at the height of his days. For the Lords of Númenor had been wont to wed late in their long lives and to depart and leave the mastery to their sons when these were come to full stature of body and mind.9
[Thus Tar-Atanamir] is called also the Unwilling, for he was the first of the Kings to refuse to lay down his life, or to renounce the sceptre; and he lived until death took him perforce in dotage.10
In this Age, as is elsewhere told, Sauron arose again in Middle-earth, and grew, and turned back to the evil in which he was nurtured by Morgoth, becoming mighty in his service. Already in the days of Tar-Minastir, the eleventh King of Númenor, he had fortified the land of Mordor and had built there the Tower of Barad-dûr, and thereafter he strove ever for the dominion of Middle-earth, to become a king over all kings and as a god unto Men. And Sauron hated the Númenóreans, because of the deeds of their fathers and their ancient alliance with the Elves and allegiance to the Valar; nor did he forget the aid that Tar-Minastir had rendered to Gil-galad of old, in that time when the One Ring was forged and there was war between Sauron and the Elves in Eriador. Now he learned that the kings of Númenor had increased in power and splendour, and he hated them the more; and he feared them, lest they should invade his lands and wrest from him the dominion of the East. But for a long time he did not dare to challenge the Lords of the Sea, and he withdrew from the coasts.11
2251 – DEATH OF TAR-ATANAMIR. TAR-ANCALIMON TAKES THE SCEPTRE.1 REBELLION AND DIVISION OF THE NÚMENÓREANS BEGINS. ABOUT THIS TIME THE NAZGÛL OR RINGWRAITHS, SLAVES OF THE NINE RINGS, FIRST APPEAR.
KINGS AND QUEENS OF NÚMENOR XIV:
Tar-Ancalimon
Born: SA 1986; Died: SA 2386 (age 400)
Rule: SA 2221-2386 (165 years)
Then Tar-Ancalimon, son of Atanamir, became King, and he was of like mind; and in his day the people of Númenor became divided. On the one hand was the greater party, and they were called the King’s Men, and they grew proud and were estranged from the Eldar and the Valar. And on the other hand was the lesser party, and they were called the Elendili, the Elf-friends; for though they remained loyal indeed to the King and the House of Elros, they wished to keep the friendship of the Eldar, and they hearkened to the counsel of the Lords of the West. Nonetheless even they, who named themselves the Faithful, did not wholly escape from the affliction of their people, and they were troubled by the thought of death.
Thus the bliss of Westernesse became diminished; but still its might and splendour increased. For the kings and their people had not yet abandoned wisdom, and if they loved the Valar no longer at least they still feared them. They did not dare openly to break the Ban or to sail beyond the limits that had been appointed. Eastwards still they steered their tall ships. But the fear of death grew ever darker upon them, and they delayed it by all means that they could; and they began to build great houses for their dead, while their wise men laboured unceasingly to discover if they might the secret of recalling life, or at the least of the prolonging of Men’s days. Yet they achieved only the art of preserving incorrupt the dead flesh of Men, and they filled all the land with silent tombs in which the thought of death was enshrined in the darkness.2
And some taught that there was a land of shades filled with the wraiths of the things that they had known and loved upon the mortal earth, and that in shadow the dead should come there bearing with them the shadows of their possessions.3
But those that lived turned the more eagerly to pleasure and revelry, desiring ever more goods and more riches; and after the days of Tar-Ancalimon the offering of the first fruits to Eru was neglected, and men went seldom any more to the Hallow upon the heights of Meneltarma in the midst of the land.4
Many of the King’s Men began to forsake the use of the Elven-tongues, and to teach them no longer to their children. But the royal titles were still given in Quenya, out of ancient custom rather than love, for fear lest the breaking of the old usage should bring ill-fortune.5
Sauron gathered into his hands all the remaining Rings of Power; and he dealt them out to the other peoples of Middle-earth, hoping thus to bring under his sway all those that desired secret power beyond the measure of their kind. Seven rings he gave to the Dwarves; but to Men he gave nine, for Men proved in this matter as in others the readiest to his will.6
In his letter to Milton Waldman, Tolkien would write: ‘All through the twilight of the Second Age the Shadow is growing in the East of Middle-earth, spreading its sway more and more over Men – who multiply as the Elves begin to fade.’7
And all those rings that he governed he perverted, the more easily since he had a part in their making, and they were accursed, and they betrayed in the end all those that used them. The Dwarves indeed proved tough and hard to tame; they ill endure the domination of others, and the thoughts of their hearts are hard to fathom, nor can they be turned to shadows. They used their rings only for the getting of wealth; but wrath and an overmastering greed of gold were kindled in their hearts, of which evil enough after came to the profit of Sauron. It is said that the foundation of each of the Seven Hoards of the Dwarf-kings of old was a golden ring; but all those hoards long ago were plundered and the Dragons devoured them, and of the Seven Rings some were consumed in fire and some Sauron recovered.
Men proved easier to ensnare. Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thraldom of the ring that they bore and under the domination of the One, which was Sauron’s. And they became for ever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows. The Nazgûl were they, the Ringwraiths, the Enemy’s most terrible servants; darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of death. 8
Yet Sauron was ever guileful, and it is said that among those whom he ensnared with the Nine Rings three were great lords of Númenórean race.9
In The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien creates a vivid image of the Nazgûl as, centuries later in the Third Age, they appeared to Frodo when wearing the One Ring: ‘So black were they that they seemed like black holes in the deep shade behind them. [He] thought that he heard a faint hiss as of venomous breath and felt a thin piercing chill…
Though everything else remained as before, dim and dark, the shapes became terribly clear. He was able to see beneath their black wrappings… In their white faces burned keen and merciless eyes; under their mantles were long grey robes; upon their grey hairs were helms of silver; in their haggard hands were swords of steel. Their eyes fell on him and pierced him, as they rushed towards him.’10
Later, in The Two Towers, the author has Faramir speak of the Nazgûl’s origins: ‘It is said that their lords were men of Númenor who had fallen into dark wickedness; to them the Enemy had given rings of power, and he had devoured them: living ghosts they were become, terrible and evil.’11
2280 – UMBAR IS MADE INTO A GREAT FORTRESS OF NÚMENOR.
*
2350 – PELARGIR IS BUILT. IT BECOMES THE CHIEF HAVEN OF THE FAITHFUL NÚMENÓREANS.
Thus it came to pass in that time that the Númenóreans first made great settlements upon the west shores of the ancient lands; for their own land seemed to them shrunken, and they had no rest or content therein, and they desired now wealth and dominion in Middle-earth, since the West was denied. Great harbours and strong towers they made, and there many of them took up their abode; but they appeared now rather as lords and masters and gatherers of tribute than as helpers and teachers. And the great ships of the Númenóreans were borne east on the winds and returned ever laden, and the power and majesty of their kings were increased; and they drank and they feasted and they clad themselves in silver and gold.
In all this the Elf-friends had small part. They alone came now ever to the north and the land of Gil-galad, keeping their friendship with the Elves and lending them aid against Sauron… But the King’s Men sailed far away to the south, and though the kingdoms and strongholds they made have left many rumours in the legends of Men, the Eldar know naught of them. Only Pelargir they remember, for there was the haven of the Elf-friends above the mouths of Anduin the Great.1
The Númenóreans, who had first gone to Middle-earth ‘seeking wealth and dominion’, were driven to build fortifications and defences on its coastal regions as a result of Sauron’s relentless ambition and the coming of the Úlairi, as the Nazgûl are named in Quenya.
And when the Úlairi arose that were the Ringwraiths, [Sauron’s] servants, and the strength of his terror and mastery over Men had grown exceedingly great, he began to assail the strong places of the Númenóreans upon the shores of the sea.2
The Elf-friends go chiefly to the North-west, but their strongest place is at Pelargir above the Mouths of Anduin. The King’s Folk establish lordships in Umbar and Harad and in many other places on the coasts of the Great Lands.
During the same time Sauron extends his dominion slowly over the great part of Middle-earth; but his power reaches out eastward, since he is withheld from the coasts by the Númenóreans.3
In successive years, the divisions were to deepen between Númenóreans known as ‘The King’s Folk’ or ‘The King’s Men’ and those who were ‘Elf-friends’ and who retained an unswerving loyalty to the Eldar.
The Kings and their followers little by little abandoned the use of the Eldarin tongues; and at last the twentieth King took his royal name, in Númenórean form, calling himself Ar-Adûnakhôr, ‘Lord of the West’. This seemed ill-omened to the Faithful, for hitherto they had given that title only to one of the Valar, or to the Elder King himself.4
Now Sauron’s lust and pride increased, until he knew no bounds, and he determined to make himself master of all things in Middle-earth, and to destroy the Elves, and to compass, if he might, the downfall of Númenor. He brooked no freedom nor any rivalry, and he named himself Lord of the Earth. A mask he still could wear so that if he wished he might deceive the eyes of Men, seeming to them wise and fair. But he ruled rather by force and fear, if they might avail; and those who perceived his shadow spreading over the world called him the Dark Lord and named him the Enemy; and he gathered again under his government all the evil things of the days of Morgoth that remained on earth or beneath it, and the Orcs were at his command and multiplied like flies. Thus the Black Years began, which the Elves call the Days of Flight. In that time many of the Elves of Middle-earth fled to Lindon and thence over the seas never to return; and many were destroyed by Sauron and his servants. But in Lindon Gil-galad still maintained his power, and Sauron dared not as yet to pass the Mountains of Ered Luin nor to assail the Havens; and Gil-galad was aided by the Númenóreans. Elsewhere Sauron reigned, and those who would be free took refuge in the fastnesses of wood and mountain, and ever fear pursued them. In the east and south well nigh all Men were under his dominion, and they grew strong in those days and built many towns and walls of stone, and they were numerous and fierce in war and armed with iron. To them Sauron was both king and god; and they feared him exceedingly, for he surrounded his abode with fire.5
2386 – KINGS AND QUEENS OF NÚMENOR XV:
Tar-Telemmaitë
Born: SA 2136; Died: SA 2526 (age 390)
Rule: SA 2386-2526 (140 years)
Hereafter the Kings ruled in name from the death of their father to their own death, though the actual power passed often to their sons or counsellors; and the days of the descendants of Elros waned under the Shadow. The fifteenth Ruler of Númenor is said to have been called [Telemmaitë] (‘silver-handed’) because of his love of silver, ‘and he bade his servants to seek ever for mithril’.6
2526 – KINGS AND QUEENS OF NÚMENOR XVI:
Tar-Vanimeldë
Born: SA 2277; Died: SA 2637 (age 360)
Rule: SA 2526-2637 (111 years)
[Tar-Vanimeldë] was the third Ruling Queen… She gave little heed to ruling, loving rather music and dance; and the power was wielded by her husband Herucalmo, younger than she, but a descendant of the same degree from Tar-Atanamir.
2637 – KINGS AND QUEENS OF NÚMENOR [USURPER]
Tar-Anducal (Herucalmo)
Born: SA 2286; Died: SA 2657 (age 371)
Rule: (illégalement) SA 2637-2657 (20 years)
Herucalmo took the sceptre upon his wife’s death, calling himself Tar-Anducal, and withholding the rule from his son Alcarin; yet some do not reckon him in the Line of Kings as seventeenth, and pass to Alcarin.
2657 – KINGS AND QUEENS OF NÚMENOR XVII:
Tar-Alcarin
Born: SA 2406; Died: SA 2737 (age 331)
Rule: (de jure) SA 2637-2737 (100 years)
(de facto) SA 2657-2737 (80 years)
Due to the usurpation by his father, Herucalmo (the so called Tar-Anducal) Tar-Alcarin only ruled as King for eighty years.
2737 – KINGS AND QUEENS OF NÚMENOR XVIII:
Tar-Calmacil (Ar-Belzagar)
Born: SA 2516; Died: SA 2825 (age 309)
Rule: SA 2737-2825 (88 years)
He took [the name Tar-Calmacil], for in his youth he was a great captain, and won wide lands along the coasts of Middle-earth. Thus he kindled the hate of Sauron, who nonetheless withdrew, and built his power in the East, far from the shores, biding his time. In the days of Tar-Calmacil the name of the King was first spoken in Adûnaic; and by the King’s Men he was called Ar-Belzagar.
2825 – KINGS AND QUEENS OF NÚMENOR XIX:
Tar-Ardamin (Ar-Abattârik)
Born: SA 2618; Died: SA 2899 (age 281)
Rule: SA 2825-2899 (74 years)
Tar-Ardamin was the last of the Númenórean kings to take the sceptre using a Quenya-styled royal name.7
2899 – AR-ADÛNAKHÔR TAKES THE SCEPTRE.
2899 – KINGS AND QUEENS OF NÚMENOR XX:
Ar-Adûnakhôr (Tar-Herunúmen)
Born: SA 2709; Died: SA 2962 (age 253)
Rule: SA 2899-2962 (63 years)
In those days the Shadow grew deeper upon Númenor; and the lives of the Kings of the House of Elros waned because of their rebellion, but they hardened their hearts the more against the Valar. And the twentieth king took the sceptre of his fathers, and he ascended the throne in the name of Adûnakhôr, Lord of the West, forsaking the Elven-tongues and forbidding their use in his hearing. Yet in the Scroll of Kings the name Herunúmen was inscribed in the High-elven speech, because of ancient custom, which the kings feared to break utterly, lest evil befall. Now this title seemed to the Faithful over-proud, being the title of the Valar; and their hearts were sorely tried between their loyalty to the House of Elros and their reverence of the appointed Powers. But worse was yet to come.1
In this reign the Elven-tongues were no longer used, nor permitted to be taught, but were maintained in secret by the Faithful; and the ships from Eressëa came seldom and secretly to the west shores of Númenor thereafter.2
And indeed Ar-Adûnakhôr began to persecute the Faithful and punished those who used the Elven-tongues openly; and the Eldar came no more to Númenor.
The power and wealth of the Númenóreans nonetheless continued to increase; but their years lessened as their fear of death grew, and their joy departed.3
2962 – KINGS AND QUEENS OF NÚMENOR XXI:
Ar-Zimrathôn (Tar-Hostamir)
Born: SA 2798; Died: SA 3033 (age 235)
Rule: SA 2962-3033 (71 years)
3033 – KINGS AND QUEENS OF NÚMENOR XXII:
Ar-Sakalthôr (Tar-Falassion)
Born: SA 2876; Died: SA 3102 (age 226)
Rule: SA 3033-3102 (69 years)
3102 – KINGS AND QUEENS OF NÚMENOR XXIII:
Ar-Gimilzôr (Tar-Telemnar)
Born: SA 2960; Died: SA 3175 (age 215)
Rule: SA 3102-3175 (73 years)4
Ar-Gimilzôr the [twenty-third] king was the greatest enemy of the Faithful that had yet arisen. In his day the White Tree was untended and began to decline; and he forbade utterly the use of the Elven-tongues, and punished those that welcomed the ships of Eressëa, that still came secretly to the west-shores of the land.5
He revered nothing, and went never to the Hallow of Eru.6
Now the Elendili [the Faithful] dwelt mostly in the western regions of Númenor; but Ar-Gimilzôr commanded all that he could discover to be of this party to remove from the west and dwell in the east of the land; and there they were watched. And the chief dwelling of the Faithful in the later days was thus nigh to the harbour of Rómenna; thence many set sail to Middle-earth, seeking the northern coasts where they might speak still with the Eldar in the kingdom of Gil-galad. This was known to the kings, but they hindered it not, so long as the Elendili departed from their land and did not return; for they desired to end all friendship between their people and the Eldar of Eressëa, whom they named the Spies of the Valar, hoping to keep their deeds and their counsels hidden from the Lords of the West. But all that they did was known to Manwë, and the Valar were wroth with the Kings of Númenor, and gave them counsel and protection no more; and the ships of Eressëa came never again out of the sunset, and the havens of Andúnië were forlorn.
