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