The Fall of Númenor
Then all listened while Elrond in his clear voice spoke of Sauron and the Rings of Power, and their forging in the Second Age of the world long ago. A part of his tale was known to some there, but the full tale to none, and many eyes were turned to Elrond in fear and wonder as he told of the Elven-smiths of Eregion and their friendship with Moria, and their eagerness for knowledge, by which Sauron ensnared them. For in that time he was not yet evil to behold, and they received his aid and grew mighty in craft, whereas he learned all their secrets, and betrayed them, and forged secretly in the Mountain of Fire the One Ring to be their master. But Celebrimbor was aware of him, and hid the Three which he had made; and there was war, and the land was laid waste, and the gate of Moria was shut.
Then through all the years that followed he traced the Ring; but since that history is elsewhere recounted, even as Elrond himself set it down in his books of lore, it is not here recalled. For it is a long tale, full of deeds great and terrible, and briefly though Elrond spoke, the sun rode up the sky, and the morning was passing ere he ceased.
Of Númenor he spoke, its glory and its fall, and the return of the Kings of Men to Middle-earth out of the deeps of the Sea, borne upon the wings of storm.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Book Two, II ‘The Council of Elrond’
COPYRIGHT
THE FALL OF NUMENOR. Copyright © 2022 by The Tolkien Estate Limited, The Tolkien Trust and the estate of C.R. Tolkien.
First published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2022
The Lord of the Rings Copyright © The Tolkien Estate Limited 1954, 1955, 1966; The Silmarillion Copyright © The Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien 1977, 1999; Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth Copyright © The Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien 1980; The Lost Road and Other Writings Copyright © The Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien 1987; Sauron Defeated Copyright © The Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien 1992; Morgoth’s Ring Copyright © The Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien 1993; The Peoples of Middle-earth Copyright © The Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien 1996; The Nature of Middle-earth Copyright © The Tolkien Estate Limited and The Tolkien Trust 1980, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2021.
Introduction, notes and commentary Copyright © Brian Sibley 2022
Illustrations Copyright © Alan Lee 2022
‘The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age’ and the ‘Map of Númenor’ drawn by C.R. Tolkien for Unfinished Tales 1980
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FIRST US EDITION
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Digital Edition NOVEMBER 2022 ISBN: 9780063280700
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-328068-7
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DEDICATION
To the memory of
Priscilla Reuel Tolkien
(1929–2022)
ever a friend to friends
of Middle-earth
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Note to Readers
Dedication
List of Plates
About this Book
Introduction: The Saga of ‘A Dark Age’
Before the Second Age
THE TALE OF YEARS (Chronology of the Westlands)
Second Age
Year
1Foundation of the Grey Havens, and of Lindon.
32The Edain reach Númenor.
The Geography of Númenor
The Natural Life of Númenor
The Life of the Númenóreans
c. 40Many Dwarves leaving their old cities in Ered Luin go to Moria and swell its numbers.
442Death of Elros Tar-Minyatur.
c. 500Sauron begins to stir again in Middle-earth.
521Birth in Númenor of Silmariën.
600The first ships of the Númenóreans appear off the coasts.
The Voyages of Aldarion
750Eregion founded by the Noldor.
Aldarion and Erendis
The Wedding of Aldarion and Erendis
The Accession of Tar-Aldarion
c. 1000Sauron, alarmed by the growing power of the Númenóreans, chooses Mordor as a land to make into a stronghold. He begins the building of Barad-dûr.
1075Tar-Ancalimë becomes the first Ruling Queen of Númenor.
1200Sauron endeavours to seduce the Eldar. Gil-galad refuses to treat with him; but the smiths of Eregion are won over. The Númenóreans begin to make permanent havens.
c. 1500The Elven-smiths instructed by Sauron reach the height of their skill. They begin the forging of the Rings of Power.
c. 1590The Three Rings are completed in Eregion.
c. 1600Sauron forges the One Ring in Orodruin. He completes the Barad-dûr. Celebrimbor perceives the designs of Sauron.
1693War of the Elves and Sauron begins. The Three Rings are hidden.
1695Sauron’s forces invade Eriador. Gil-galad sends Elrond to Eregion.
1697Eregion laid waste. Death of Celebrimbor. The gates of Moria are shut. Elrond retreats with remnant of the Noldor and founds the refuge of Imladris.
1699Sauron overruns Eriador.
1700Tar-Minastir sends a great navy from Númenor to Lindon. Sauron is defeated.
1701Sauron is driven out of Eriador. The Westlands have peace for a long while.
c. 1800From about this time onward the Númenóreans begin to establish dominions on the coasts. Sauron extends his power eastwards. The shadow falls on Númenor.
2251Death of Tar-Atanamir. Tar-Ancalimon takes the sceptre. Rebellion and division of the Númenóreans begins. About this time the Nazgûl or Ringwraiths, slaves of the Nine Rings, first appear.
2280Umbar is made into a great fortress of Númenor.
2350Pelargir is built. It becomes the chief haven of the Faithful Númenóreans.
2899Ar-Adûnakhôr takes the sceptre.
3175Repentance of Tar-Palantir. Civil war in Númenor.
3255Ar-Pharazôn the Golden seizes the sceptre.
3261Ar-Pharazôn sets sail and lands at Umbar.
3262Sauron is taken as prisoner to Númenor; 3262–3310 Sauron seduces the King and corrupts the Númenóreans.
3310Ar-Pharazôn begins the building of the Great Armament.
3319Ar-Pharazôn assails Valinor. Downfall of Númenor. Elendil and his sons escape.
3320Foundations of the Realms in Exile: Arnor and Gondor. The Stones are divided. Sauron returns to Mordor.
3429Sauron attacks Gondor, takes Minas Ithil and burns the White Tree. Isildur escapes down Anduin and goes to Elendil in the North. Anárion defends Minas Anor and Osgiliath.
3430The Last Alliance of E
lves and Men is formed.
3431Gil-galad and Elendil march east to Imladris.
3434The host of the Alliance crosses the Misty Mountains. Battle of Dagorlad and defeat of Sauron. Siege of Barad-dûr begins.
3440Anárion slain.
3441Sauron overthrown by Elendil and Gil-galad, who perish. Isildur takes the One Ring. Sauron passes away and the Ringwraiths go into the shadows. The Second Age ends.
Epilogue
Appendices:
AABrief Chronicle of the Third Age of Middle-earth
BThe Númenórean Chapters from The Lost Road
Footnotes
Notes
Acknowledgements
Map of Middle-earth
About the Publisher
PLATES
The Host of the Valar Descend into Angband
Map of Númenor*
Looking West from Andúnië
Aldarion departs Númenor
The Building of Barad-dûr
The Forging of the Rings
Galadriel leads the Elves through Moria
The Temple of Sauron
Ar-Pharazôn Assails Valinor
The Fall of Númenor
Gil-galad crosses the Misty Mountains
The Last Alliance of Elves and Men
Map of The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age*
ABOUT THIS BOOK
The Fall of Númenor seeks to present, in a single volume, selections from J.R.R. Tolkien’s posthumously published writings about the Second Age of Middle-earth. This book would not have been possible without the extraordinary literary achievements of Christopher Tolkien, who introduced readers of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to the rich legacy of myth and history from both the Elder Days and Second Age. This he achieved through his long years of dedicated curatorial stewardship: editing, assembling, compiling and providing invaluable commentary to his father’s many manuscripts and drafts. It was in the pages of The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, volumes of The History of Middle-earth, and other works, as edited and prepared for publication by Christopher Tolkien, that the story was first told of the Fall of Númenor, the rise of Sauron, the forging of the Rings of Power and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men against the Dark Lord of Mordor.
The intention is not to supplant these works, as each already stands as the definitive presentation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings, with peerless, insightful commentary and analysis by Christopher Tolkien, but rather to provide extracts from the above – with as few editorial interventions as possible – that illustrate in the author’s own words the rich and tumultuous events of the Second Age as summarised by J.R.R. Tolkien in his ‘The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands)’ that appears as part of Appendix B in The Lord of the Rings and which is reproduced at the beginning of this volume. For those wishing to delve deeper into its history, the notes provided at the end of the book, many of which draw upon Christopher Tolkien’s own invaluable editorial expertise by reproducing or quoting from his own notes to the original published sources, will aid their explorations as they seek to discover more about the Second Age of Middle-earth. Page references relate in all cases to the first edition of that work, with the exception of The Lord of the Rings, where reference is made to the reset edition published in 2004 for the book’s fiftieth anniversary.
The selected passages and extracts are arranged following the chronological year order set down in ‘The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands)’, and are presented in chapters titled to accord with the chronology. This presentation has been augmented by two other sources: the names and dates of the Númenórean Kings given in ‘Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers’ – again in The Lord of the Rings – and ‘The Line of Elros: Kings of Númenor’ as found in Unfinished Tales, Part Two: ‘The Second Age’.
The events of the Second Age as they unfold respectively on Númenor and in Middle-earth are chronicled using material from the following sources.
For Númenórean history: the text of ‘Akallabêth’ (in The Silmarillion); the story of ‘Aldarion and Erendis’ and the genealogical table ‘The earlier generations of the Line of Elros’ (in Unfinished Tales); and taking into consideration material found in ‘The History of the Akallabêth’ (The Peoples of Middle-earth), ‘The Early History of the Legend’ and ‘The Fall of Númenor’ (both in The Lost Road and Other Writings) and ‘The Drowning of Anadûnê’ (in Sauron Defeated).
As Christopher Tolkien would have wished, research into his father’s writings continues and the text additionally draws upon a further posthumous volume of Tolkien’s writings, The Nature of Middle-earth (2021) edited by Carl F. Hostetter. These sources are edited so as to tell the history of the establishing of Númenor, its geography and wildlife and the lives of the Númenóreans, additionally including or drawing upon ‘A Description of the Island of Númenor’ (in Unfinished Tales) and, from The Nature of Middle-earth, ‘The Land and Beasts of Númenor’, ‘The Lives of the Númenóreans’ and ‘The Ageing of Númenóreans’. Passages used do not necessarily appear as originally presented in that volume, but in an order best suited to the chronological narrative.
The events that unfold in Middle-earth concurrent with those on Númenor have been selected from the text of ‘Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age’ (in The Silmarillion), ‘The History of Galadriel and Celeborn’ (in Unfinished Tales), and ‘Galadriel and Celeborn’ (in The Nature of Middle-earth).
This volume adheres to the principle established by Christopher Tolkien that the published texts are treated as being the final versions, and in instances where material is included from earlier drafts with variant names, dates and spellings, such variations are amended to conform with those finally adopted. Where he considered words or phrases in his father’s handwriting to be uncertain, they are preceded by a question mark.
Editorial interventions are in a smaller font size and indented; explanatory emendations by the editor to introduce passages or within the body of an extract are shown in square brackets. The opening words to passages, where not capitalized in the original, have been silently emended to begin with a capital for ease of reading. Omissions of words within a passage are indicated with an ellipsis.
The book also includes extracts from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (1981) edited by Humphrey Carpenter with the assistance of Christopher Tolkien, and incorporates significant passages from The Lord of the Rings related to the Second Age, which provide important, relevant material. In some of these, the text has been abridged (with edits indicated by ellipses) or silently rearranged; in all instances end-notes will direct the reader to the relevant passages in the three parts of the work, indicated as ‘Fellowship’, ‘Towers’ and ‘Return’.
INTRODUCTION
THE SAGA OF ‘A DARK AGE’
It is a powerfully abiding moment in modern literature: the One Ring – the Dark Lord Sauron’s Master Ring of Power, the destruction of which has been the object of an epic quest – falls into the fiery heart of Mount Doom; thus, returning to the inferno in which it was forged, the Ring is, at last, unmade.
Of course, there is much that the author still has to deal with: matters to do with rescue, healing and a coronation, followed by final reckonings and reconciliations, farewells, partings and departures. But the destruction of the Ruling Ring, and with it the fall of Sauron and his dark tower and an end to his millennia-long war of attrition against the Free Peoples of Middle-earth is effectively the climactic moment in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
For the author, however, it was an elaborate appendix to a far older tale – or series of tales – with which he had been engaged for many years and towards which his imagination had been working for even longer. As he would write, a few years before The Lord of the Rings was published: ‘I do not remember a time when I was not building it.’1
Through the tireless efforts of the engines of popular culture, The Lord of the Rings is now a universally appropriated symbol of the art of myth-making,
ranked among the world’s centuries-long storehouse of legends, folk- and fairy-tales. But, for Tolkien, the exploits of Bilbo Baggins and the monumental quest of his nephew Frodo, were but part of a far greater story reaching back into a distant past.
J.R.R. Tolkien, writing to his son, Christopher, in November 1944, revealed the extent to which the ‘great Romance’ with which he was engaged was a continually growing, changing and emerging chronicle. In sending Christopher the latest completed chapters together with an outline for the remainder of the narrative, he commented: ‘It will probably work out very differently from this plan when it really gets written, as the thing seems to write itself once I get going, as if the truth comes out then, only imperfectly glimpsed in the preliminary sketch.’2
This approach to creative writing stemmed from Tolkien being both an acknowledged scholar and, at the same time, an admitted amateur practitioner of the novelist’s craft. Although professionally and passionately rooted in research and trained in the comprehension and use of words, he was constantly – and to his genuine surprise and delight – buffeted and redirected by the freewheeling, liberating inspiration of the creative imagination. The result was The Lord of the Rings: a uniquely conceived and executed masterpiece of fantasy literature that was an ambitious ‘sequel’ to his earlier and more modest tale, The Hobbit.