UT Discussion - The Line of Elros

[hectorberlioz]

The Line of Elros

In this chapter of the Unfinished Tales, Tolkien provides us with a brief history of the Numenorean kings and ruling queens who ruled in the Second Age. I've numbered my topical observations.

1) These Numenorean rulers all have names in Quenya. The last seven have names also in Adunaic. The later rulers kept naming their successors in Quenya mainly because they were superstitious about abandoning a tradition so ingrained. King Ar-Gimilzar forbade the speaking of the Eldar language during his rule.

2) These rules were invairably long-lived, though none more so than Elros himself. As time went on their lives and reigns shortened. Their power lasted until the coming of the Shadow (Sauron 1.0). The mightiest king was Tar-Atanamir, called "the Great." He was greedy and demanded steep taxes from the people.

3) There were three ruling queens: Tar-Ancalime, who only married to spite her councilor Soronto, who had pressed her to resign. The second ruling queen was Tar-Telperien, who was long-lived. She remained unmarried throughout her reign, and gave up the scepter to Minastir. Christopher Tolkien says that Telperien might not have inherited the throne, except for the law established by that point the oldest child should inherit, no matter the gender (mentioned in Appendix B of LotR). The third ruling queen was Tar-Vanimelde, who was mainly occupied with music and dance. She let her husband do the heavy-lifting in matters of state.

4) Christopher Tolkien reminds us that Elros, the first in the line of kings, is brother to Elrond.

Questions:

~Is Tolkien being "ahead of his time" with his rule of the firstborn child taking the throne, or is he merely imitating some history we've forgotten about? Does anyone know of any civilization that did something exactly or similar to this?

~By making the mightiest Numenorean king also the cruellest, what do you think Tolkien is saying about power?

~I personally don't know very much about Elrond other than what is in The Lord of the Rings, so can anyone tell me a little more about the Elrond/Elros story?

PS: I apologize if my questions are too ambiguously big, in a very college-ish way. That's the way I was taught

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

~I personally don't know very much about Elrond other than what is in The Lord of the Rings, so can anyone tell me a little more about the Elrond/Elros story?

Elrond and Elros were the twin sons of Eärendil and Elwing. Eärendil was the son of Tuor and Idril (of Gondolin), and Elwing was the granddaughter of Beren and Luthien (of Doriath).

The twins were only about three years old when their father left to sail the seas, seeking for a way to reach the Undying Lands to ask the Valar for pardon for both Elves and Men (since he was of both races). Their mother had inherited the Nauglamir with the Silmaril that Beren and Luthien had cut from the Iron Crown of Morgoth.

When the twins were about seven, the Sons of Fëanor (the three or four of them who were still alive) demanded that the Silmaril should be given back, but the Elves of the Settlement of Sirion, where Elwing lived with her sons, refused. The Sons of Fëanor then attacked the Settlement - the Third Kinslaying - but Elwing, wearing the Silmaril, cast herself into the sea and escaped. The Sons of Fëanor captured Elrond and Elros, and Maglor (one of now only two remaining Sons of Fëanor) cared for the little boys and raised them.

Elwing was changed into a bird and flew to her husband's ship, where she gave him the Silmaril. Together they travelled to the Undying Lands, where they obtained the Valar's pardon and their help to overthrow Morgoth. They were given the choice of which race to belong to, and chose to be Elves.

After Morgoth had been overthrown (and Beleriand had been destroyed in the process), Elrond and Elros came back to their closer kinsmen. Their cousin (Tolkien changed his exact lineage around a bit) Gil-galad was now the High King of the Noldor. Elrond and Elros were also given the choice of which race to belong to, and while Elrond chose to be an Elf, Elros chose to be a Man.

While Men were given Numenor as a reward for their fight against Morgoth and moved there with Elros as their King, Elrond stayed with Gil-galad at Lindon for the first half of the Second Age. After Sauron had made the One Ring and the Elves and Dwarves of Eregion went to war against him, Gil-galad sent out a force under Elrond to help them. They weren't strong enough, and had to withdraw towards the north, where they eventually stayed at Rivendell and were under siege for three years. Then they got help from Numenor and Gil-galad, and were able to drive Sauron's armies away.

Elrond chose to stay at Rivendell, and made it into a stronghold and a safe haven. When Sauron rose again after the fall of Numenor, Gil-galad's army met with Elendil's army at Rivendell, before marching together to the War of the Last Alliance, and Elrond joined Gil-galad as his standard-bearer.

After the war he went back to Rivendell and stayed there, now wielding the Elven Ring that had belonged to Gil-galad, and making Rivendell a centre of lore. He married Galadriel's daughter Celebrian (whom he had secretly loved for a while), and they got two sons, Elladan and Elrohir, and a daughter, Arwen. After the Northern Kingdom of the Dunedain was split up, the sons of their chieftains were usually fostered at Rivendell, like Aragorn.

Elrond was a member of the White Council, which was formed after the wizards appeared in Middle-earth, and which sought to counteract the forces that seemed to be gathering in the East - the forces that turned out to be Sauron gathering strength again.

P.S.
This history was not thought out when Elrond first appeared in The Hobbit. He's presented there as half-elven, but the connection was meant to be rather vague. His history probably developed with LotR, and was possibly further developed even later.

[Gordis]

Nice summary, Hector!

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

~Is Tolkien being "ahead of his time" with his rule of the firstborn child taking the throne, or is he merely imitating some history we've forgotten about? Does anyone know of any civilization that did something exactly or similar to this?

Well, as I didn't know the answer, I have looked this up in Wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primoge..._primogeniture.
Absolute, equal or lineal primogeniture, known in French as aînesse intégrale (integral primogeniture), is inheritance by the oldest surviving child without regard to gender. It is also known as (full) cognatic primogeniture today. This form of primogeniture was not practiced by any modern monarchy before 1980.
However, according to Poumarede (1972) the Basques of the Kingdom of Navarre trasmitted title and property to the first-born, whatever the gender. This inheritance practice was followed by the high nobility and free families alike in the early and high middle ages. The Navarrese monarchy itself had been inherited by dynasties from outside of Navarre, which followed different succession laws (usually male preference primogeniture, until Navarre was absorbed into the French crown when it followed Salic law). Aînesse intégrale practices weakened among the high nobility of Navarre once Navarre became more exposed to and pressured by outside influences, and largely disappeared from use by the high nobility once the Kingdom of Navarre was merged with the French crown. Eventually only the Basque gentry and free families of the Basque Country and other regions continued to follow this practice until as late as the 19th century.

Sweden revised its constitution to adopt royal succession by absolute primogeniture in 1980, displacing King Carl XVI Gustaf's infant son, Carl Philip, in favor of his elder daughter, Victoria, in the process. Several other monarchies have since followed suit: Netherlands in 1983, Norway in 1990, Belgium in 1991, and Denmark (see below) in 2009.
Other countries are or have recently considered changing to absolute primogeniture.

So, yes, establishing the "New Law" Aldarion (and thus Tolkien) were being "ahead of their time". Not that it led to any good... Such shrews as Ancalime and Telperien and such idlers as Vanimelde didn't deserve the scepter.

~By making the mightiest Numenorean king also the cruellest, what do you think Tolkien is saying about power?

Atanamir maybe was the greatest, yes ( on par with Ar- Pharazon), but I highly doubt that Atanamir was the cruelest or the greediest of all. Gimilzor and Pharazon were renown for their cruel deeds, and the greediest was probably Tar-Telemmaitë, who "sought ever for mithril", so that the metal became quite rare in ME.

[Alcuin]

Some thoughts on Ruling Queens among the Dúnedain.

One of the ideas behind Tar-Aldarion’s change in the law of succession so that the eldest child, male or female, took the throne is that there was nothing essentially wrong with it. Consider the following.

• Silmariën, eldest child of Tar-Elendil, fourth king of Númenor, would have inherited the throne had the law already been in place. The House of Valandil of Andúnië would have inherited the throne instead of Meneldur, Elendil’s eldest son. Since the Elendil the Tall, heir of the last Lord of Andúnië, became High King of the exiled Númenóreans at the end of the Second Age, in hindsight, it looks as if Silmariën might have been a better choice as ruler; in any case, her line eventually inherited the throne, though it took 2,579 years and cost the Númenóreans their home.
  .
• Telperiën, the second Ruling Queen, might have been less shrewish than Ancalimë, her great-grandmother. Their lives did not overlap (Telperiën was born 35 years after Ancalimë died), but the damage Ancalimë did to the people around her left wounds in her father, grandfather, the courtiers and nobility. Telperiën’s refusal to marry in some ways mirrors Elizabeth I’s decision to remain unmarried. Elizabeth’s decision was first a diplomatic plot to maneuver amongst Spain, France, and the Protestant princes of Europe (the Anglican via media, or “middle wayâ€�), but also to maintain her absolute freedom of action in domestic politics; she was succeeded by her cousin, James VI of Scotland.
  
  Telperiën had no foreign policy that argued for her unmarried state, but perhaps she was also seeking complete independence in Númenórean rule. However, a careful count of the years of her rule demonstrates that the Númenóreans intervened in the War of the Elves and Sauron in the seventeenth century of the Second Age 30 or 40 years before the end of her reign. Minastir, her heir and nephew, is accounting the king of Númenor who sent an expeditionary force to Middle-earth to the succor of Gil-galad, turning the tide of the war and routing Sauron and his army so thoroughly that the Lord of the Rings barely returned to Mordor. I think the best explanation is that Telperiën made Minastir co-regent to deal with this issue. As Ruling Queen, the Council of Númenor would probably have opposed her traveling to Middle-earth, but Minastir could. Minastir was probably co-regent from at least 1690 or 1693, giving the Númenóreans 7-10 years to prepare for war, either from the time the Elves became aware that Sauron had betrayed them, or from the outbreak of war in 1693. That would explain why Telperiën did not resign the throne and retire before her death, too: the transition to Minastir was smooth.
  
  If that’s the case, then Telperiën should be seen as an insightful ruler, retaining control of rule in Númenor, handing control of the Númenor’s foreign and military policy to her more vigorous nephew, while ensuring another smooth transition of Númenórean government. All that takes considerable humility and self-denial.
  .
• In his claim to the throne of Gondor, Arvedui of Fornost noted that in Middle-earth, the Dúnedain had followed a succession of eldest sons because of the necessity of war (the First and Third Houses of the Edain had followed this rule, too, but not the Second House, which took its cognomen “House of Halethâ€� from a woman chosen as chieftain after her father and brothers died; like Telperiën, Haleth never married), but that this had not always been the law of the Númenor. Arvedui’s claim was based upon the senior kingship of Isildur in Gondor, and on the fact that his wife FÃ*riel was the daughter and only surviving child of Ondoher, the previous king.

Ancalimë seems to have been miserable and intent on making other people miserable.

I’m inclined to look at Telperiën’s reign in a positive light.

Vanimeldë’s reign might have been pregnant with disaster: her husband Anducal (who was also her second cousin) ruled in her name while she lived, then usurped the throne from their son Alcarin for 20 years after she died. It might be significant that Ardamin, Anducal’s son and heir, was the first king of Númenor called by his Adûnaic name, Ar-Abattârik, was 41 when Anducal died and his grandfather Alcarin was finally able to succeed to the throne; and Ardamin’s son, Ar-Adûnakhôr, was 28 when Alcarin died. Bitterness is something people tend to inherit undiminished.

FÃ*riel, like Silmariën her foremother, should have inherited the throne but did not. However, eventually her descendent Aragorn Elessar, like Silmariën’s descendent Elendil the Tall, was proclaimed King of the Númenóreans. It only took Aragorn 1,075 years and sixteen generations; it took Elendil the Tall 2,579 years and nineteen generations.

By the way, the Kings of Númenor did not refer to themselves as the “House of Elros�. They called themselves the “House of Eärendil�, father of Elros (and Elrond), who when presented with an irrevocable choice by Mandos, preferred to be numbered among Men, but chose to remain with his wife Elwing, who wanted to be numbered among Elves. Elros died and left Arda. Eärendil could not, though he wanted to. If you think about it, that’s a miserable existence. It was that unhappy longevity, which they mistook for immortality, that the later Kings of Númenor and their followers coveted to their ruin.

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

Kings of Númenor did not refer to themselves as the “House of Elros�. They called themselves the “House of Eärendil�, father of Elros (and Elrond), who when presented with an irrevocable choice by Mandos, preferred to be numbered among Men, but chose to remain with his wife Elwing, who wanted to be numbered among Elves. Elros died and left Arda. Eärendil could not, though he wanted to. If you think about it, that’s a miserable existence. It was that unhappy longevity, which they mistook for immortality, that the later Kings of Númenor and their followers coveted to their ruin.

It is interesting that the choice that needed to be made at the time had such lasting effects on the lines from that time onward.

A good analysis of the women rulers as well.

When it came to Arvedui wanting to become king, I always found it a bit of a power play by the stewards to bring in the lines of Isildur vs the lines of Anorien in to play.

[Alcuin]

Snowdog, I think so, too.

Mardil was the first Ruling Steward. His grandfather Pelendur supported the claim of Eärnil II to the throne of Gondor over that of Arvedui of Fornost on behalf of his wife FÃ*riel, only surviving child of the previous king, Ondohir. When Eärnil became King of Gondor, he made Pelendur’s office hereditary: it seems it had not been so before. Only the King had the authority to make such an important and powerful post as that of Steward hereditary. The coincidence is rather suggestive of some sort of political deal. Perhaps this was Eärnil’s way of signifying his gratitude to Pelendur and trust in his judgment. But it sure smells funny, doesn’t it?

I think that deal is the subplot or backstory behind Faramir’s kneeling before Aragorn before the broken Gates of Minas Tirith and the assembled army and folk of Gondor as the proclamation of Aragorn Elessar as King of Gondor begins: “The last Steward of Gondor begs leave to surrender his office.� Aragorn takes the rod, removing authority from Faramir as Steward to the House of Anárion, then gives it back saying: “That office is not ended, and it shall be thine and thy heirs’ as long as my line shall last. Do now thy office!� making him Steward of the House of Isildur, which with the extinction of the House of Anárion is identical to the House of Elendil, as Aragorn had described himself to Boromir in Rivendell. Faramir accepts and acts as steward in Aragorn’s name; in Rivendell, had Boromir balked!

This scene and its antecedents really deserve their own thread.

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

Snowdog, I think so, too.

Mardil was the first Ruling Steward. His grandfather Pelendur supported the claim of Eärnil II to the throne of Gondor over that of Arvedui of Fornost on behalf of his wife FÃ*riel, only surviving child of the previous king, Ondohir. When Eärnil became King of Gondor, he made Pelendur’s office hereditary: it seems it had not been so before. Only the King had the authority to make such an important and powerful post as that of Steward hereditary. The coincidence is rather suggestive of some sort of political deal. Perhaps this was Eärnil’s way of signifying his gratitude to Pelendur and trust in his judgment. But it sure smells funny, doesn’t it?

I think that deal is the subplot or backstory behind Faramir’s kneeling before Aragorn before the broken Gates of Minas Tirith and the assembled army and folk of Gondor as the proclamation of Aragorn Elessar as King of Gondor begins: “The last Steward of Gondor begs leave to surrender his office.� Aragorn takes the rod, removing authority from Faramir as Steward to the House of Anárion, then gives it back saying: “That office is not ended, and it shall be thine and thy heirs’ as long as my line shall last. Do now thy office!� making him Steward of the House of Isildur, which with the extinction of the House of Anárion is identical to the House of Elendil, as Aragorn had described himself to Boromir in Rivendell. Faramir accepts and acts as steward in Aragorn’s name; in Rivendell, had Boromir balked!

This scene and its antecedents really deserve their own thread.

It does indeed! Dare I say... its own TV mini-series???

[Alcuin]

I’d like to briefly follow up Varnafindë’s excellent post and Gordis’ succinct explanation of primogeniture.

There are two tellings of the tale of Elros and Elrond. Most of the time, Elros is named first. In the later telling, they are twins. But in the earlier tellings, Elros is the elder brother and Elrond the younger. As mentioned before, Eärendil, their father, wanted to be numbered among Men and pass from Arda; but Elwing his wife loved the Teleri and wished to remain with them, so Eärendil also chose to be numbered among the Eldar in order that he and Elwing should not be parted. The choice of Elros, therefore, reflected that of his father, a choice frustrated by the choice of his mother.

There is evidence, however, that Elros was the elder son. It was Elros, not Elrond, who received the patrilineal inheritance: Elu Thingol’s sword Aranrúth came from his mother Elwing of Doriath, and became the personal weapon of the Kings of Númenor; Dramborleg, the great Axe of Tuor his grandfather; the Bow of Bregor of the House of Bëor; and the Ring of Barahir father of Beren One-handed, which survived the Ruin of Númenor because Tar-Elendil gave it to his eldest, his daughter Silmariën through whom it became an heirloom of the Lords of Andúnië and so became the inheritance Elendil the Tall. It was the Ring of Barahir, which originally belonged to Finrod Felagund, that Aragorn gave Arwen in token of their pledge to one another: an engagement ring, if you will, and sign of their mutual heritage.

Elros was fifty-eight years old at the end of the First Age. He was ninety when he became the first King of Númenor. (Unfinished Tales, Part Two, “III The Line of Elros: Kings of Númenor”, first paragraph) But although his descendents mostly rebelled against Elros’ choice of mortality, I have often wondered if Elrond regretted his choice of Elven longevity: He lost his home, Middle-earth, he lost his beloved daughter, and it would appear (though Tolkien denies “knowing” the outcome of their decision) that his sons, Elladan and Elrohir, remained behind in Middle-earth, too: he faced forever endless regret.