The “days of Pride and Glory” make up the second stage of their downfall. “In those days they would come amongst Wild Men as almost divine benefactors, bringing gifts of arts and knowledge, and passing away again – leaving many legends behind of kings and gods out of the sunset.” But it also includes quite a number of good things. Because they fought against Sauron, they “incur his undying hatred.” This is the first stage. Tolkien here explains that it comes in three stages. But it’s through all of this that their downfall comes. While reaching the shores of Middle-earth, they came into contact with Elves and other Men, aiding them in their fight against Sauron. They could, however, sail north and south, as well as east to Middle-earth. From the founding of the island, they were never allowed to sail west toward the Blessed Realm. The Valar (Tolkien calls them ‘gods’ in this letter), had placed a ban on the Numenoreans. “But this breeds a possessive attitude to these things, and desire awakes for more time for their enjoyment.” Through their longevity, they were able to accomplish a ridiculous amount of good, including great achievements in art and wisdom. Their reward is their undoing – or the means of their temptation.” “They became thus in appearance, and even in powers of mind, hardly distinguishable from the Elves – but they remained mortal, even though rewarded by a triple, or more than triple, span of years. While things were quickly going to hell in Middle-earth, life in Numenor was fairly blissful. In secret, Sauron forged the One Ring to rule them all (as the saying goes). This was when the rings of power were made. He was able to convince many of the Elves in Middle-earth that he was actually a pretty swell fellow. In Middle-earth, however, though Morgoth had been defeated, Sauron, his protégée, was hard at work. The Men who had helped the Elves in the fight against Morgoth and Sauron, the Enemies, “were rewarded for their valour and faithful alliance, by being allowed to dwell ‘western-most of all mortals’, in the great ‘Atlantis’ isle of Numenore.” The first king of Numenore was Elros, Earendil’s son and Elrond’s brother.Īs the greatest of all mariners, they set sail, leaving Middle-earth, to inhabit Numenor, a star-shaped island. “But it is on Earth a dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told.” Tolkien made it clear that the Silmarillion-proper ended with the First Age, when “the ship of Earendil adorned with the last Silmaril is set in heaven as they brightest star.” But there was another “cycle,” as he called it – the Second Age. He was asked to give an outline of both the Silmarillion and the sequel to The Hobbit, and ended up giving a 10,000 word dissertation on both and how they related to one another. The first time Tolkien mentioned Numenor in relation to Lord of the Rings was in a 1951 letter to a potential publisher.
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