Epiloge 1: Akallabéth

[Wayfarer]

Akallabéth, The Downfall of Númenor, is not strictly a part of the Silmarillion. Although the events this chapter describes take place long after the War of the Jewels has come to its conclusion, they nonetheless have their origins in that same war. It is for this reason I give this chapter (and the next) the title of Epilogue.

Chapter Summary:

The War of the Jewels ends. Middle Earth is abandoned to the servants of Morgoth. The Eldar are allowed to return into the west, where they settle on Tol Eressëa. For the Edain, they raise a new island, which goes by many names, but is best remembered as Númenórë.

The Island of Numenore

Eönwë comes among the Edain and teaches them, the Eldar hang out with them, and the get all kinds of neat stuff. They become known as the Dúnedain (or Númenóreans), and Elros becomes their first king. The Dúnedain are, in almost every way, more like elves than men - but still mortal.

Life goes great for the next couple of thousand of years. Well, Middle Earth is currently going through a dark age worse than any that’s been before, but the Númenóreans have it good. Because of this little Ban the Valar have put on them, the can’t go too far west. So they make a habit of going east, doing some favors for their less enlightened brethren and alleviating the suffering in some small parts of the world.

The Númenóreans suspect that grass must be greener on the other side of the world. They complain about not being able to go west and schmooze with the immortal types. They complain about the Ban, and complain about Mortality. Messengers trying to explain the difference in fates between men and elves are ignored. 2000 years into the Second Age, the Dúnedain have fallen back into the fear of death, and the 13th king (Tar Atanamir) clings to life until senility takes him.

When he does finally die, Númenórë is split into two factions. The Kings Men fear death, and increasingly reject the Elves, the Valar and the One. The Faithful have less fear of death, and remain on good terms with Valinor.

Númenórë is no longer a happy place. The Dúnedain obsess over death, and utterly failing to make themselves immortal still manage to fill the land with tombs, wherein the store perfectly preserved dead bodies. Still the lords of Neat Stuff, they now turn their hands to less benign purposes, and begin to conquer the people of Middle Earth.

Sauron, who by now had been in Mordor for several centuries, is peeved.

Corruption continues, with a brief arrest during the reign of Tar-Palantir, who was Faithful, but couldn’t stop the decline of the people and (although everybody feared and respected his wisdom), held less loyalty than his brother.

Pharazon, his nephew, seizes the throne upon Tar-Palantir’s death, and takes his cousin Miriel (who would have been queen) by force as his wife. He is the worst king yet.

Ar Pharazon builds a huge army and navy. When he hears Sauron is making a bid to be the Lord of Men, the throws a fit, takes his whole massive force to Middle Earth, and sits down to demand Sauron’s fealty. He gets it.

Sauron is taken back to Númenórë, and within three years is Pharazon's closes advisor. He quickly corrupts the king, introduces Morgoth worship into the land, and does lots of nasty stuff. Amandil, one of the King’s friends in youth and one of the Faithful, rallies the Elf-Friends around himself.
Sauron tries to convince Pharazon to destroy Nimloth, the white tree that was the symbol of the royal line, but the king hesitates. Isildur, the son of Elendil (the son of Amandil), manages to steal one of the fruits from the tree before Pharazon finally gives in.

Sauron offers up Nimloth as the first sacrifice on a temple he has built to Melkor. Sacrifices continue basically nonstop - including human sacrifices often taken from among the Faithful.

Things continue miserably until Pharazon is getting old and nears death. Sauron finally convinces him that if he wants to be immortal, he can achieve it by taking Aman from the Valar. Work commences on the greatest armament ever see in history.

Amandil, hearing of this, sets out to warn the Valar. He presumably doesn’t make it. Elendil and the remaining faithful resolve to wait. Meanwhile, even the weather has turned bad, with huge eagle-shaped clouds dropping lightning on Numenor. Hearts harden against the Valar. Sauron’s temple is blasted, but he stands on the spire and defies the lightning, which convinces the people he’s a god.

Ar Pharazon takes his fleet and heads to Aman. He wavers, but presses on, setting foot on Valinor and encamping his army about Túna. The Valar call upon Eru, who rends the world. The fleet is drawn down into the abyss and drowned, the King and his warriors are buried, and doom comes upon Numenor which goes down into the sea.

Numenore Falls

Elendil and the Faithful escape on nine ships. The wild wind carries him and his ships far away, to land on the shores of middle earth. The world is made round, and all the coastlines changed, but Elendil and his ships survive to found kingdoms in Middle Earth.

The Ships of the Faithful

Sauron goes down laughing into the abyss, and his fair form destroyed forever, but his spirit escapes and returns to Mordor, where he takes a new and dreadful form for himself.

Aman is separated from Middle Earth, and thereafter can never be freely reached again. Only the elves can now find the Straight Way that leads beyond the world.

[Wayfarer]

Discussion:

1) Then the Valar forsook for a time the Men of Middle-Earth who had refused their summons and had taken the friends of Morgoth to be their masters; and Men dwelt in darkness and were troubled b7y many evil things…And the lot of men was unhappy.”

Is it just me, or do the Valar seem to be a bunch of slackers? The avoid coming to Middle-earth and confronting Morgoth until the last possible chance, and then when he’s dealt with the practically hand over the world to his servants.

2) In all things they were more like the Firstborn than any other of the kindreds of Men…

Interesting. Do you think that it’s possible this was Eru’s original intent? I know that throughout ME History, it’s a common idea that ‘Elves are better than Men’, but couldn’t that really be a product of the Valar’s botched handling of things? Here we see that the Dúnedain are essentially ‘Elves that die‘. Could that have been how things should have been all along - that the only difference between them should be the Nature of their Fates?

3) ...the midst of the land was a mountain tall and steep, and it was named Meneltarma, the Pillar of Heaven, and upon it was a high place that was hallowed to Eru Ilúvatar, and it was open and unroofed, and no other temple or fan was there in the land of the Númenóreans.

This may very well be the only reference in all of the histories to anyone actively worshipping Eru. What’s the deal with that? Is reverence towards the creator just that uncommon, or is it there but not mentioned throughout history?

4) …if they [the Dúnedain] had had the mind they could easily have surpassed the evil kings of middle earth in the making of war and the forging of weapons; but they were become men of peace.

It seems that the Dúnedain learned from the Valar well. Even though the Edain fought valiantly for the freedom of Middle-earth, their descendants show no interest in doing so. They pursue their own arts while leaving these ‘evil kings’ alone. Middle-earth is basically abandoned to Darkness.

5) the design of Manwe was that the Númenóreans should not be tempted to seek for the Blessed realm, nor desire to overpass the limits set to their bliss…”
“…memorial of that which might have been if Morgoth has not cast his shadow on the world

I’m still confused as to who had the bright idea of hoarding away the ‘bliss’ of middle earth. Surely it was not the intention of the One that the greater part of the Joy in the world should be gathered in one place and forbidden to the larger part of his children? Why, now that Morgoth has been cast from the world, do the Valar not come to Middle -earth (which is, after all, their domain, while Valinor is only the seat of their power)?

6) Sauron with may arguments gainsaid all the Valar had taught…the king turned back to the worship of the Dark, and Melkor the Lord Thereof, at first in secret, but ere long openly and in the face of his people, and they for the most part followed him.

It seems strange to me that, even though Manwe at least must have known this was going on, the Valar ignored it and let Sauron work unhindered. At the very least they could have sent a Maia (someone equal to Sauron) to refute the arguments he used..

7) Then Manwe upon the Mountain called upon Ilúvatar, and for that time the Valar laid down their government of Arda…

Okay, a few things here. First of all, I’d seriously question whether the Valar had any ‘government’ left to lay down. All that happened in Middle-Earth happened as a result of their negligence and weakness. They never once attempted to ‘govern’ Arda - and only seldom would they intervene on the behalf of Eru’s Children.

Secondly, why don’t they deal with this problem themselves? It’s not like Ar-Pharazon could /kill/ them or anything. Couldn’t they have handled this themselves?

8) By the grace of the Valar Elendil and his sons and their people were spared from the ruin of that day…but the great wind took him, wilder than any wind that Men had known…and after many days cast them away upon the shores of Middle-Earth.

Passing strange - it was Eru that caused this disaster to happen, but the Valar get the credit for Elendil’s making it out alive.

I am also somewhat interested in the fact that, after all of this happens, Elendil and his family are sent back to Middle-earth to found Kingdoms there. Now, this may just be me, but it seems like the whole business - the removal of Aman, the sinking of Numenor, and the bringing of the Faithful to Middle-earth, could almost be Eru’s way of fixing all the problems that the Valar had caused themselves.

What I mean is this - By separating Aman and Numenor from Middle-earth, the Valar practically ensured that the knowledge and wisdom which the Dúnedain learned from them would have very little influence in combating Morgoth’s forces in Middle-earth. And because they’ve stopped fighting the darkness, the Dúnedain no longer recognize it, and are susceptible to it. But the final result of all this trouble - Elendil returning to Middle-earth, would set the foundations of Gondor and Arnor, and in turn prove to be the major driving force in Sauron’s eventual defeat. This never would have happened if the Dúnedain had just stayed fat and happy on their little Island.

It may be that I’m reading to much into this, but it seems awfully like the problems Numenor had would never have occurred if the Valar hadn’t insisted on a policy of isolationism for themselves and their favored siblings (the Elves and the Dúnedain). Now, with Numenor gone and Aman removed from the world, those Elves and (especially) Men that remain in it are actually forced to be effective in combating the forces Morgoth left in middle earth. So an age later, when Elessar becomes King, he ends up finishing the tasks that the Valar should have done years ago.

[azalea]

I completely agree with you.
Do you think Tolkien hadn't thought through how to incorporate the Valar into the story more smoothly, after having done such a great job creating them? I mean, The Silm wasn't finished, so maybe he would have eventually changed that.
But it seems after setting them up so wonderfully, he tucks them away as a way to get the story(ies) going, since having them around would interfere too much ("...and then the Valar came and saved them," "...and then the Valar came and saved them again," etc.). But in doing so, he makes them come off as almost less noble than the elves; almost ineffectual aside from the occasional great act. *must go before finishing post -- oops!*

[Valandil]

Hey Wayfarer... thanks for getting this posted. I think you'd like my 'Were the Valar Shirking Their Duty' thread!

As a counterpoint to all that though, I'd say azalea's point is the best. Without the Valar hanging back and allowing Melkor free reign, things would not have happened as they did, and the stories wouldn't be as they are. They would be stories about 'gods' or angelic beings, rather than stories of Elves and Men.

If we want to find ways to justify it, we could do so:

For one, remember that when Numenor was first given to the Edain, they were a pretty decimated group of people. How many...? I dunno - maybe 5,000 - maybe only 1,000? Such a small group might have vanished entirely if left on Middle-earth - either assimilated into the rest of the people, or been subject to the wrath of the more numerous enemies of the Eldar. Perhaps they were given this land of their own to protect and nurture them. Maybe the intent was for them to become what they became at first... instructors and teachers of men. Growing strong to protect the rest of Men when they had achieved their strength.

Intentional or not - I see some parallels with ancient Israel. These were a 'chosen people', given a 'promised land' of their own. This happened that God might demonstrate Himself to all nations... and yet, the Israelites fell short of God's ideal and pretty much kept 'Him' to themselves.

Now that I've brought up a parallel with God, another point I have is that some ask the same questions of God that you would ask of the Valar. 'Why would a good God allow evil to exist / flourish?' Yet, Christians can certainly come up with solid theological answers to that.

One more possibility to toss out here: As the Elves of Middle-earth were 'fading' - were the Valar also 'fading' in a sense? In power at least? This would certainly give JRRT an 'out' anyway. Maybe it took all their strength to wrest a victory from Morgoth at the end of the First Age? Maybe they didn't have the energy to keep on top of things after that (like inhibiting the ambitions of the Numenorean Kings - or fighting Sauron personally) - other than gathering information? Or maybe - having invested themselves in Aman... their power and influence were ultimately limited to Aman - and they had to work through others' hands in Middle-earth.

A thought about the mention of Middle-earth being abandoned to the servants of Morgoth: This was all written as an account from after the destruction of Numenor - and the events referred to here predate that by over 3000 years. So perhaps this can be taken as how things would seem 3000 years later - rather than the intent of the Valar - it's the perception of how things ended up once the Edain were removed. Remember also that SOME Eldar stayed behind... Gil-galad, Elrond, Galadriel, Cirdan - and enough 'ordinary' Elves to mount a considerable force some 3400 years later in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men... as well as to be visibly hanging around still 3000 years later than that.

Nice work, btw!

[Wayfarer]

Hmmm... You both make good points. It certainly is easier to understand why things would have been let progress the way they did if you look at it from a story angle.

You're right, Valandil. The Edain would have been sorely outnumbered to start with. However... the Valar don't really give any indication that they want the Dunedain to ever return to middle earth - and looking at their behavior in respect to other races (like the Noldor) I think it's highly unlikely that they ever intended that to be the case.

I really do think that the Valar's insistance in hoarding away to good in Middle-earth and cloistering the best of Eru's Children away with them is one of the largest causes for the later corruption that both Elves and Men fall into. Because, strangely enough, Feanor seems to have been right. The Valar kept both Elves and Men from the lands which Eru created them to inhabit.

I, also, thought there might be a parallel in Christainity. But thinking about it for a while, I decided that the arguments that apply to Christianity wouldn't work for Eru and the Valar - For one thing, the fact that they let evil run free in most of middle earth, but maintain places where evil is very rare.

I'm not sure I'd say theres any evidence the Valar were getting weaker... but perhaps you're right, again, that the story is distorted by perception. Except that I remember seeing somewhere that the Akallabeth was written by Elendil, so that puts it very close to the source.

[Valandil]

Originally posted by Wayfarer
I'm not sure I'd say theres any evidence the Valar were getting weaker... but perhaps you're right, again, that the story is distorted by perception. Except that I remember seeing somewhere that the Akallabeth was written by Elendil, so that puts it very close to the source.

No - probably no evidence at all that the Valar were weakening... but just saying it would be an easy 'out' for JRRT to claim so.

On the other... yes, but even Elendil would be writing this 3300 years after Numenor was established... so it's still sort of viewed through the lens of history.

You're correct about the breakdown in the analogy with Christianity... unless one takes Aman to be a sort of 'Heaven' or even 'Eden'... hmmmm. Of course, all analogies break down at some point.

Still... like I said, very nice work. I look forward to others contributing - and also look forward to your final installment when the time comes for that.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Valandil
No - probably no evidence at all that the Valar were weakening... but just saying it would be an easy 'out' for JRRT to claim so.

In fact in his later writings JRRT did say the Valar was weakening, or 'fading'. I don't think it was an easy way out though - it is a natural cause of the Valar's limited knowledge of the music. Morgoth's Ring, Myths transformed:

The Valar 'fade' and become more impotent, precisely in proportion as the shape and constitution of things becomes more defined and settled. The longer the Past, the more nearly defined the Future, and the less room for important change (untrammelled action, on a physical plane, that is not destructive in purpose). The Past, once 'achieved', has become part of the 'Music in being'. Only Eru may or can alter the 'Music'.

[AntiXZer01]

in response to Wayfarers first coments(sorry if i repeat whats already been said, im rather new to this board after TookTalk went down.) anyways, it seems that you have the same theme of it being... the Valars fault, or the Valars right or whatever. I think though that it was not really the choice of the valr, they seemed to have a fate just like elves and men, they did what they were ment to do and nothing more. it was not there problem to defeat morgoth or sauron, or to train men and elves to fight. it was those that were in ME to do all that.
as for the seperation of valinor, it was not favoritism of the elves it wastheir fate. men hate their own fate, to die and be in another "blessed realm" with eru. it is said that when men die it is not the end and that when the world ends elves will join them. so men are not being excluded they are mearly following their own fate.

[Rían]

Originally posted by Artanis
In fact in his later writings JRRT did say the Valar was weakening, or 'fading'. I don't think it was an easy way out though - it is a natural cause of the Valar's limited knowledge of the music. Morgoth's Ring, Myths transformed: .....

Interesting quote, Arty! I didn't remember that concept, even tho Morgoth's Ring is one of my favorites.

[Lefty Scaevola]

I have always found the contrast between the actions of the Valar and Eru with repsect to the Morgoth threat and the Ar Pharazon threat very strange. Sit back and wait and do little about Morgoth (in each of the 2nd & 3rd Melkor wars), versus call upon God to obliterate the Numenorians. There is something here that does not add up to me, and i do not have a good theory about it.

[Minielin]

Then Manwe upon the Mountain called upon Iluvatar, and for that time the Valar laid down their government of Arda.

So the Valar sit back and watch the huge battle between elves and men and Morgoth. However, when Sauron starts corrupting the Numenoreans, they suddenly decide to lay down their rule and call on Iluvatar to destroy them all. Why not earlier? I can only think of two reasons. Either it was simply author's license, making a story actually be able to take place, or, if the "fading of power" thing is what made them hold back from attacking Morgoth, they decided to just go over Sauron's head this time. The first hypothesis seems more reasonable to me, personally.

Also, this section has always reminded me of the whole Noah's Ark thing. (Elendil's Ark? )

[Maedhros]

I’m still confused as to who had the bright idea of hoarding away the ‘bliss’ of middle earth. Surely it was not the intention of the One that the greater part of the Joy in the world should be gathered in one place and forbidden to the larger part of his children? Why, now that Morgoth has been cast from the world, do the Valar not come to Middle -earth (which is, after all, their domain, while Valinor is only the seat of their power)?

It is interesting but I don't agree with that statement. While it is true that Aman was the most beautiful place in the world, I don't think that the rest of ME had no joy in there or beauty.
I really don't see that the elves in Aman were altogether happy in there. When I read the Athrabeth, it gave me the impression that they were content but had something in there about their final fate that made them unhappy. Was it not Manwë himself that wondered who should envy who?
Do you think that if the Valar were given the chance to alter their fate with men, would they do it?

[Beren3000]

On the same topic:

I don't think that the Elves of Middle Earth were completely deprived of joy. If they couldn't be in Valinor, it's their own fault (or rather their ancestors's fault). Kind of like Adam's fall condemning all humanity. The thing that strikes me as unfair is that Men never got to see Valinor. Even if "they couldn't stand it" and "Illuvatar prepared another fate for them", I think the Valar should have given them a chance rather than distrust them because of Feanor's actions...But after all, life is unfair ( )

[Minielin]

Originally posted by Beren3000
The thing that strikes me as unfair is that Men never got to see Valinor.

I agree. Especially if we hold with the Numenoreans being like "elves that die", why is it that only the Firstborn are allowed to see Valinor? And I don't see the Valar warning any humans like Ulmo did Turgon in Gondolin. Is it just me, or do they seem to play favorites?

[Maedhros]

I agree. Especially if we hold with the Numenoreans being like "elves that die", why is it that only the Firstborn are allowed to see Valinor? And I don't see the Valar warning any humans like Ulmo did Turgon in Gondolin. Is it just me, or do they seem to play favorites?

It seems that way but, have you ever asked: How come the Valar or Elves were not allowed to go were Men go after they die?
In the end, the Valar probably would be more envious of the gift of Men.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Minielin
I agree. Especially if we hold with the Numenoreans being like "elves that die", why is it that only the Firstborn are allowed to see Valinor? And I don't see the Valar warning any humans like Ulmo did Turgon in Gondolin. Is it just me, or do they seem to play favorites?

If there was any favourites, I would say it was Men. It is true that their life on earth is short, but after death their fëar lives on and goes to another place, out of Ea, presumably to Eru. Whereas the Elves exist only as long as the earth exists, and after that they do not know anything certain about their fate. And the Valar are also bound to Arda until its end.

The sad thing is that the Elves and the Valar do not recognise how great this gift to Men is, not until they and the world is getting old and their seeming advantage of immortality becomes more like a prison.

[Beor]

The sad thing is that men dont either. Only the Edain, and then only a percentage of them, gave up their lives willingly (as it was supposed to be, to cut out mid-party and go bar-hopping). Men never really looked at death as a gift, thus all the fuss over Numenor and Sauron. Also, I would venture a guess that a possible reason for the difference between the way the Valar and Eru handled the Morgoth wars and the Treason of Numenor, was that the Numenorians, who were origionally happy little elf-friends, suddenly became worshipers of the dark who sacrificed living people in worship of Sauron and Morgoth, and they basically publicly told Eru and his Valar to go something something something, so it was personal. Additionally, Morgoth, with the exception of the incident with the trees, never outright built a fleet and attacked Valinor, he was content to rule in Middle-earth. So, with him, the Valar could say, "aint our problem, man, those Noldor choose to go. We told em *nods of agreement from other Valar*." I think it was just the circumstances of the treachery.

Oh, and Morgoth was the most powerful Vala at first, maybe they were scared, whereas Pharazon was just a man with an ego (and a fleet of ships, with men and swords and what not).

[Minielin]

Originally posted by Artanis
If there was any favourites, I would say it was Men. It is true that their life on earth is short, but after death their fëar lives on and goes to another place, out of Ea, presumably to Eru. Whereas the Elves exist only as long as the earth exists, and after that they do not know anything certain about their fate. And the Valar are also bound to Arda until its end.

Okay, so maybe Eru played favorites, but it still seems like the Valar short-change men a little bit by keeping them out of Valinor. Unless they were trying to compensate for their privileges after life by making their life less of a pleasure than that of the elves? Even that sounds a little... hm. Can't think of the right word. Snobbish, maybe?

Only the Edain, and then only a percentage of them, gave up their lives willingly (as it was supposed to be, to cut out mid-party and go bar-hopping)... and they basically publicly told Eru and his Valar to go something something something, so it was personal.

*dies laughing* oh, goodness, that's hilarious.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Minielin
*dies laughing* oh, goodness, that's hilarious.

That's Beor-ish.
And that's a compliment , Beor.

[Beor]

You know, I try to be serious and make a point, but it is so much easier to understand if I put it in my own terms . Eh, what can ya do?

Oh, and thank you for the compliment, Artanis