Literature / The Fall of Númenor

But these things come not into the tale of the Drowning of Númenor, of which now all is told. And even the name of that land perished, and Men spoke thereafter not of Elenna, nor of Andor the Gift that was taken away, nor of Númenórë on the confines of the world; but the exiles on the shores of the sea, if they turned towards the West in the desire of their hearts, spoke of Mar-nu Falmar that was whelmed in the waves, Akallabêth the Downfallen, Atalantë in the Eldarin tongue.
So ended the Glory of Númenor.

The Fall of Númenor and Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's texts and essays arranged chronologically to construct a complete narrative of the Second Age of the Tolkien's Legendarium published in 2022. Brian Sibley compiled and prepared Tolkien's SA writings -previously edited by his son Christopher- for publication, crediting both Tolkiens for their efforts.

The First Age has concluded with the War of Wrath, the sinking of the subcontinent of Beleriand and the defeat and banishment of Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. After the War, the Valar encourage the Elves to move to Aman, since they are not made to endure the unstoppable process of decay afflicting the mortal lands. However, the High Elves are reluctant to leave Middle-Earth, where they are hailed as the eldest, wisest and mightiest race, and they would like finding a way to remain in the mortal lands while preventing their own inevitable fading.

Likewise, the Valar reward the Men who opposed Morgoth with many gifts: longer and healthier lives (as specifically requested), advanced technology and science, and a new island raised from the ocean only for them. The Edain move to the island of Elenna and proclaim Elros (descendant from the three Houses of the Edain, as well as two royal Elven families) as their king. The kingdom of Númenor is founded, and the Edain start enjoying a peaceful existence in an earthly paradise. In return, the Edain are only asked one single thing: never going to Aman, since they would not endure the potency of the Undying Lands any better than the Elves would resist the fading of the mortal lands. Unfortunately, the Numenoreans' greed, ambition and sense of self-entitlement, as well as the belief that their gifts make them superior to other people, will increase gradually and lead to their corruption through many generations.

For his part, Sauron managed to escape from Beleriand before Morgoth's defeat. Feeling afraid of the Valar's wrath, Sauron considers repenting. However, Sauron would have to go to Valinor and plead his case before Manwë and Varda, and he is too prideful to consider serving someone else. Hence, Sauron goes into hiding and starts devising schemes to take over Middle-Earth, exploiting everyone's weaknesses to dominate them.

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The Fall of the Tropes:

• Abusive Offspring: After becoming estranged from her husband, Erendis takes her daughter Ancalimë to a farm and starts poisoning her mind against her father and men as a collective. As a result of her lessons, though, Ancalimë comes to see her mother as an annoying idiot who is obsessed with one man, and she ends up ignoring and abandoning Erendis.
• After the End: After the downfall of Númenor, Elendil, his sons and his followers settle in the mainland and found new Mannish kingdoms.
• Altar Diplomacy: King's Heiress Ancalimë initially likes the shepherd boy Mámandil, but he botches it when she demurs from his proposal, and he reveals that he's actually the son of a nobleman to make himself more suitable. She instead becomes angry that he's been lying to her, but she eventually marries him anyway so she can keep the throne away from her cousin (as, had she not had an heir, the throne would pass to her cousin, who she hated).
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Posited In-Universe when Erendis complains that her husband Aldarion is obsessed with sailing and regards trees as nothing but timber for his ships. Her mother Nuneth states she does not believe Aldarion loves the sea for itself, either. She is convinced that Aldarion's drive to discover and explore strange lands does not stem from a curious and adventurous spirit, but from subconscious ambition which Aldarion himself is not aware of.
• And I Must Scream: Ar-Pharazôn tried to conquer Valinor to gain immortality. It is said that he and his army "were buried under falling hills: there it is said that they lie imprisoned in the Caves of the Forgotten, until the Last Battle and the Day of Doom."
• And Man Grew Proud: The Númenoreans became so powerful and wealthy that they came to believe they were entitled to anything they want, including immortal lives. Led by Ar-Pharazôn, who felt he was entitled to the entire world, they tried to invade Valinor to forcibly steal immortality and were repaid with divine retribution and the destruction of their civilization.
• Apocalypse How: The island of Elenna gets drowned, and their civilization wiped out, but a group of survivors manage to reach the mainland.
• Arcadia: Elenna, seat of the kingdom of Númenor, was a beautiful star-shaped island, featuring peaceful rolling meadows, picturesque forests and impressive cliffs. There were some big cities in the island, but most of the population led peaceful rural lives in the countryside, in harmony with nature...before Númenor became a colonial power, a period that began with the felling of large forests to build huge fleets of warships.
• Atlantis: The island of Númenor, located west of Middle-earth, was home to the greatest civilization of Men. The Númenoreans established settlements throughout Middle-earth, first as protectors and benefactors of less powerful peoples, then as conquerors, pirates and slave-takers after they began falling to evil. The last king of Númenor was even able to capture the Dark Lord Sauron and take him home as a prisoner. Of course, it wasn't long before Sauron turned Ar-Pharazôn into his puppet and led most of Númenóreans into worshipping Morgoth and practicing human sacrifice, with him as High Priest. Sauron even got the king to launch an invasion of the Undying Lands, at which point Eru intervened and not only sank Númenor, but changed the Earth from flat to a globe. In case anyone missed the point, the epilogue has the survivors call their lost home Atalantë, "the Downfallen". Strangely, though Númenor was definitely meant to invoke Atlantis, Tolkien's notes state that the Atalantë name was purely coincidental. Prof. Tolkien wondered what "the Downfallen" would be in a certain in-universe language and got "Atalantë" (this is supported by the fact that much earlier writings contain the verb root talat- for fall.) Incidentally, one of the surviving Númenorean settlements eventually expanded to become the Kingdom of Gondor, which Tolkien admitted took quite a few cues from Ancient Egypt.
• Awful Wedded Life:
  • King's Heir Aldarion was in love with the sea and his wife Erendis got tired of his continued broken promises to be back by such-a-day (Aldarion did have a good reason for being late, but he was too prideful to divulge it to his wife and his father until he did so to try and start a fight). Aldarion's seafaring also upset his father and his people, who saw him as an adventurer who neglected his duties as well as his wife, while he saw her as unfair and spineless for not understanding that he was like this and giving him the silent treatment instead of a fight. She eventually went to live in the country and raised their daughter, Ancalimë to hate men for most of the girl's childhood; he took back custody and raised her to her responsibilities as heir.
  • Unsurprisingly, their parents' behavior left the poor girl with a messed-up view of love and relationships that tainted her own marriage when she grew up. Ancalimë got married purely to spite her cousin Soronto (whom she should surrender the Sceptre if she remained single and childless), and she went out of her way to harass her husband Hallacar; in turn, Hallacar paid her back for her insults and vexations whenever he could.
• Axis Mundi: Meneltarma ("Pillar of Heaven"), the holy mountain, is the highest peak on Númenor, rising in the center of the island. The Númenoreans viewed it as the most sacred site to Eru Ilúvatar and required absolute silence on it for all except the king during specific holy days. Animals did not approach it either, save for the Great Eagles that circled it as guards. After the sinking of Númenor, it was believed among the Númenoreans exiled that the Meneltarma rose again above the waters, since it was never sullied, not even when the Númenoreans had become greedy, imperialistic, Morgoth-worshippers.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Sauron aggravates the Númenóreans' corruption, wickedness, greed and hubris, tricking them into attacking the Valar. Númenor is destroyed, the Dúnedain are exterminated, their kingdom is finished, and only a handful of stranded exiles survive. The silver lining is that Sauron's physical form is killed, and although he reincarnates quickly, he is weaker than ever and his days as the manipulative Deceiver are over, because he can never assume an attractive form again.
• Badass Army: When Ar-Pharazôn the Golden showed up on Sauron's doorstep with the forces of Númenor, Sauron surrendered immediately, his own armies checking out when they saw the Númenoreans coming. Over a thousand years before, the forces of Númenor also destroyed Sauron's army completely.
• Barred from the Afterlife: It is told that, as a punishment for their evil, Ar-Pharazôn and his army will remain imprisoned in the Caves of the Forgotten in Valinor until the end of the days instead of dying and leaving the world. It is rumored that they will be released in the Dagor Dagorath, but nobody knows what part they will play in the Last Battle.
• Batman Gambit: The Númemóreans march on Sauron with such a massive force that Sauron's minions flee, and he's captured. Of course, being the master manipulator that Sauron is, he knows he can go from prisoner to king's advisor in only a few years and goad Ar-Pharazon into destroying himself and Númenor by feeding his pride, greed and stupidity. After being repeatedly told he is entitled to anything he wishes because he is the greatest king ever, hence he was being unfairly cheated from being deathless — as he deserves since he is the greatest king ever— but he could become immortal by conquering Aman —which he is certainly capable of, being the greatest king ever—...Pharazôn is eager to declare war on adversaries whom he could never beat to reach something he could never get, and thusly he is tricked into attacking Valinor so Sauron could watch the Númenoreans die spectacularly.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Ar-Pharazôn wants to set foot on the Undying Lands and become immortal. He succeeds...by effectively becoming undead, imprisoned in the Cave of the Forgotten until literally the end of the world.
• Beary Friendly: There was an abundant population of black and brown bears in Númenor, but they were usually friendly and curious (unless they were disturbed during the mating and breeding seasons). Humans usually let them alone, and even offered honey if they saw some random bear wandering near their houses.
• Beary Funny: Both species of Númenórean bears -black and brown- like dancing, meeting once a year to hold the autumnal Great Bear-dance. Many people attend the gathering because they find the sight of several dozens of bears performing together hilarious; nonetheless, the public refrain themselves from laughing out loud because bears do not like the sound of human laughter at all.
  Most strange of all were the bear-dances. The bears, the black bears especially, had curious dances of their own; but these seem to have become improved and elaborated by the instruction of Men. At times the bears would perform dances for the entertainment of their human friends. The most famous was the Great Bear-dance (ruxoälë) of Tompollë in the Forostar, to which every year in the autumn many would come from all parts of the island, since it occurred not long after the Eruhantalë, at which a great concourse was assembled. To those not accustomed to the bears the slow (but dignified) motions of the bears, sometimes as many as 50 or more together, appeared astonishing and comic. But it was understood by all admitted to the spectacle that there should be no open laughter. The laughter of Men was a sound that the bears could not understand: it alarmed and angered them.
• Bittersweet Ending: Sauron succeeds in destroying the greatest Mannish civilization. However, the wicked Númenóreans will never oppress Middle-earth again, and the decent Dúnedain will found new realms which will keep protecting the West from Sauron, whose base power was greatly diminished when Númenor fell.
• Blessed with Suck:
  • Aldarion is the Crown Prince of the mightiest Mannish kingdom ever; and still, it is painfully clear that he would much prefer to be a mere sailor with no obligations to anyone but himself. Even after ascending to the throne, he spends most of his rule building ships and sailing after appointing a regent.
  • About two thousand years after the founding of their kingdom, the Númenóreans start considering their "Gift of Men" (meaning mortality) a curse. This was, of course, due to the corruptive influence of Morgoth on the world and later Sauron's lies. The irony of it is that the Gift is wholly exclusive to Men, and that even the Valar, the most powerful beings in the universe (after Ilúvatar himself), are envious of this gift. Men are the only beings not tied to the fate of the world, and who can leave it one day without having to worry about its future. When one considers that the elven afterlife is explicitly not the same as the human afterlife, and that Tolkien was a devout Catholic, it adds a further implication that humans are the only people in Middle-earth capable of going to Heaven.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Discussed. The Númenóreans gave their island's animals and plants new names stemming from Elvish words; but since Númenor was destroyed, it is unclear whether those names designate creatures already found in Middle-earth, endemic subspecies or completely different species. For example, the lopoldi there appear have been rabbits, since lopo is Quenya for rabbit, but it cannot be verified.
  "... animals which the Númenóreans called lopoldi. These existed in large numbers and multiplied swiftly, and were voracious herbivores; so that the foxes were esteemed as the best and most natural way of keeping them in order ... The lopoldi would appear to have been rabbits, animals which had been quite unknown before in the north-western regions of Middle-earth."
• Central Theme: The story of the Second Age has two main ideas running through the text. Firstly, death and decay are sad but inevitable parts of life. Fighting against the natural course of things will not get anything you want and ultimately won't end well for you or anybody. Secondly, pride, hubris and ego are the ultimate cause (or at the very least a contributing factor) of most of the life's problems. Listening to your ego is ALWAYS a bad idea. Listening to whoever is feeding it is an even WORSE idea, since they seldom have your interests in mind.
• A Chat with Satan: After being brought to Númenor as a "prisoner", Sauron quickly uses his manipulation skills to become the king's chief advisor. Ar-Pharazôn, who was already a greedy slaving incestuous and usurping overlord, becomes even worse after listening to Sauron's lies and manipulations.
• The City vs. the Country: Ancalimë was raised in her mother's country state Emerië until her father Aldarion demanded that she was brought to the capital of Númenor, Armenelos, to be raised as befitting the Kings Heiress. Nonetheless, she did not like the city, missing the countryside to the point of being unable to sleep peacefully without hearing the sounds of sheeps. Even so, Ancalimë stopped going to Emerië after her husband played a prank on her, since she was unwilling to stay in the place where everybody witnessed her humiliation.
• The Coup: At the beginning of the Second Age, Sauron poses as a Maia called Annatar to trick the Elves into forging the Rings of Power, which will let him dominate them. Galadriel and Celeborn don't trust him and won't let him enter Eregion, even though the Elven smiths are very interested in Annatar's teachings. Eventually, Annatar ends up convincing the Elves of Eregion that Galadriel and Celeborn are bad rulers who are hindering their realm by keeping him and his gifts out of it, and his pupil — and Galadriel's second cousin— Celebrimbor stages a coup, ousting Celeborn and Galadriel and seizing power in Eregion.
• Create Your Own Villain: The peoples of the South and East of Middle-Earth sided with Sauron during the War of the Ring because Númenor (Gondor's predecessor state) devolved into an oppressive, world-spanning, land-plundering, slave-trading, human-sacrificing empire. Even though Gondor was founded by Númenoreans who refused to engage in their countrymen's barbarism, and Third Age Gondorians don't like to remember the ugliest bits of their civilization's history, Sauron has made sure that the Southrons and Easterlings have not forgotten them (of course, Sauron also somehow neglected to mention his part in Númenor's corruption).
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • The Númenórean army led by King's Heir Cinyatur, sent to support Gil-Galad's forces, destroys Sauron's army so utterly in the Battle of the Gwathló (Second Age 1701) that Sauron together with a small remaining bodyguard are forced to retreat all the way back to Mordor, half a continent away.
  • In Second Age 3261, Ar-Pharazôn's army marches to Mordor, prompting Mordor's whole army to flee.
  • In Second Age 3319, Ar-Pharazôn invades Valinor seeking immortality. The Valar call upon Eru, asking Him to deal with the power-hungry tyrant, so Eru buries Ar-Pharazôn together with his army and destroys Númenor.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Crown prince Aldarion leaves Númenor for several years, many times. The last of these times, his wife Erendis (who thought he would have just settled down, by now) spent the years of his absence teaching their 4-to-7-year-old daughter Ancalimë to hate her father, and men in general. Turns out Aldarion was helping the elves and men of Middle Earth prepare against a new, vague, rising threat, which (despite not telling Aldarion) the elf king had correctly identified as Morgoth's former servant Sauron. It doesn't help that Aldarion is so annoyed at getting flak for coming home late that he pridefully refuses to give the reason.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Sauron originally felt the world would be a better place with the imposition of his order. Eventually he just wanted the power that came with ruling.
• Defector from Decadence: As most of Númenórean society spirals down into imperialism, colonialism, warmongering, wealth-hoarding, racism, hedonism and Morgoth-worship, the Númenóreans who remained faithful to Eru and the Valar, therefore refusing to have any part in their countrymen's corruption and barbarism, leave their island gradually. Elendil, together with his family and their following, are the last sane Númenóreans to sail out while the King's Men doom their nation to oblivion, arriving in Middle-earth where they found the realms of Arnor and Gondor.
• Desecrating the Dead: After killing Celebrimbor, who had defied him, Sauron uses his arrow-ridden corpse as a banner in his first war against the Elves.
  Concerning the Three Rings Sauron could learn nothing from Celebrimbor; and he had him put to death. But he guessed the truth, that the Three had been committed to Elvish guardians: and that must mean to Galadriel and Gil-galad.
  In black anger he turned back to battle; and bearing as a banner Celebrimbor's body hung upon a pole, shot through with Orc-arrows, he turned upon the forces of Elrond.
• Didn't See That Coming: After being dismissed coldly by Erendis, Aldarion tries to start a fight with his father to have an excuse to cut ties and leave his kingdom and his family...but as it turns out, Meneldur has read the letter of Gil-Galad warning about a threat that he feels unprepared to deal with, so he has decided to abdicate in favour of his son. Aldarion becomes utterly flabbergasted, caught completely off guard by his father's decision, and asks Meneldur forgiveness for badmouthing him.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Sick of Aldarion breaking his promises, Erendis decides she will not show him affection or even regard again until her husband makes atonement for his offenses; at the same time, she starts poisoning her daughter Ancalimë's mind against her father and males in general. It did not occur to Erendis that Aldarion would take her outward lack of love as a sign that she has fallen out of love with him, hence she should be left alone. Or Ancalimë would eventually come to regard her mother as pathetic for being hung on one man and would abandon Erendis too.
  • Sauron tricks the corrupted Númenóreans into invading the Undying Lands to steal the Elves' immortality, knowing that they will be punished by Eru. It is not until the island of Númenor starts coming apart beneath his feet that Sauron realizes Eru's punishment would include him for corrupting and instigating the Númenoreans in the first place.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You: When the Númenóreans are preparing to invade Aman, the Valar send all kind of ill omens and warnings (eagle-shaped clouds stretching through the West, storms shaking the island, lightning bolts striking Sauron's temple, smoke rising from the peak the mount Meneltarma, giant flaming-colored eagles flying over the fleet threateningly...) to dissuade them (and warn the non-evil Númenoreans that they need to pack up and leave the island NOW). Yet still the King's Men choose to ignore their warnings, try to invade Aman and are destroyed together with their civilization.
• Earthquakes Cause Fissures: When Ar-Pharazôn attempts to invade the Undying Lands, a massive earthquake shakes the ocean, and his whole fleet is swallowed by a gigantic fissure which stretches from one horizon to the other.
• The Empire: Númenor started as a peaceful realm, but as the Númenóreans get corrupted, they become greedier, prouder and crueler. Around Second Age 1800, the Númenoreans found their first permanent havens in Middle-earth and begin demanding and levying tributes from outlying areas. As the centuries go by, the Númenoreans come to colonize large swaths of Middle-earth and control all the oceans. They also cut down all the old forests on the northwest continent to build fleets and enslave entire native populations. It gets worse during the reign of their last king Ar-Pharazôn, who is described as the greatest tyrant in the world since Morgoth himself. They come "no longer as bringers of gifts, nor even as rulers, but as fierce men of war" who sacrifice scores of people on the altars of Morgoth every day, using the Middle-earth natives, and take many others to slavery. This is the reason why the Gondorians, descendants of the Númenóreans, are so hated by the Dunlendings the Haradrim and Easterlings.
• End of an Age:
  • The rebellion of Ar-Pharazôn leads to the destruction of the greatest Mannish civilization and the Blessed Realm beings removed from the physical world forever.
  • The War of the Last Alliance ends up with the last Noldorin kingdom being destroyed, the defeat of Sauron and the end of the Second Age.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Númenor's imperial past made sure that the dark-skinned Haradrim and Easterlings would bow down to Sauron and fight alongside his Orcs, Trolls and wolves against the Men of Gondor during the Third Age. As a fallen angel that used to not have any set form, Sauron doesn't really care for his slaves' skin color.
• Evil Chancellor:
  • Annatar talks Celebrimbor into taking power in Eregion by force, ousting Galadriel and Celeborn who mistrust Annatar. Celebrimbor then appoints Annatar as his main advisor and forges the Rings of Power under his direction, unaware that Annatar is Sauron, who intends to use their rings to control Middle-Earth.
  • Sauron is taken as a hostage and driven to Númenor after his army is defeated. Since he is a master manipulator, though, he becomes King Ar-Pharazôn's chief advisor and high priest before long. Using Ar-Pharazôn's greed and ambition, and the Númenóreans pride, fear of death and envy of the Elves' immortality, he convinces them to worship Morgoth and to attack Valinor, resulting in the drowning of Númenor.
• Evil Versus Evil: The conflict between Sauron and Ar-Pharazôn pits a power-hungry, prideful tyrant with world-conquering aspirations who leads an army of wicked people against...a power hungry, prideful tyrant with world-conquering aspirations who leads an army of wicked people. It must be noted that Ar-Pharazôn declares war because Sauron dares to call himself King of Men, a title which the Númenórean King considers belonging to himself.
• Face–Heel Turn: The resentment of most of the population of Númenor against the immortality of the Elves and the Ban of the Valar preventing them from visiting the Blessed Realm causes them to gradually fall from friends and helpers of the Men of Middle-Earth against the depredations of Sauron, to harsh rulers demanding tribute and resources, to finally slavers and warmongers worshipping darkness via human sacrifices. Those among the Númenóreans who still tried to follow the commands of the Valar and keep friendship with the Elves were outnumbered and essentially powerless to stop any of it, and near the end many of them were burning on the altars beside the slaves.
• Failure Is the Only Option: The last king of Númenor Ar-Pharazôn, who in addition to be a power-hungry tyrant with an oversized ego is terrified of dying, decides to conquer the Undying Lands to prevent his own death. Ar-Pharazôn's attempt to invade the above of angelic beings goes as well as anybody (except him and his followers) would expect; but even if the king had impossibly won, he would have never reached immortality. The Undying Lands are called "undying" because their inhabitants are immortal Ainur and Elves; no mortal will become deathless if they move there, and in fact their lifespans will be shortened (a fact which the Ainur previously explained the Númenóreans, but the King's Men preferred to believe Sauron's lies).
• Fate Worse than Death: It is believed that Ar-Pharazôn and his army become ghosts buried forever under a landslide just outside Valinor, unable to rest in peace or leave the world, though human souls are designed to leave and remaining forever eventually becomes unbearable torment. One wonders if he'll have learned his lesson about immortality by the time the world ends.
• Forbidden Fruit: The Edain are gifted with greater longevity, advanced technology, an idyllic island...and the warning that they can go wherever they want but Aman. When the Men start mumbling about being forbidden from going to the Undying Lands (wrongly believing they would become immortal), the Valar's Messengers once again explain the motives of the Ban to them (the Undying Lands cannot make someone immortal, and in fact would shorten the lives of mortal folks who stepped foot on them; and Men are not meant to go to Aman because it is a haven specifically built for Elves. Men have their own haven which Elves are banned from), but the Edain refuse to listen. At one point the Númenóreans decide to invade and conquer Aman, whereupon Eru removes the continent from the planet, making it impossible for them violating the Ban again.
• Foreshadowing: Because of the conflicts between her and her ship-loving husband, Erendis used to say that the sea will be the death of her. The exact circumstances are unknown, but it is known that she travelled to the haven of Rómenna in her old age and perished in the water.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Originally an incorporeal spirit, Sauron appears as a tall, handsome and resplendent humanoid to trick Elves and deceive Men. After several successive defeats, though, he gets locked in the form of a terrible and ugly warlord.
• Founder of the Kingdom:
  • After the War of the Wrath, Elros, descendant of all three Houses of the Edain, leads the Men who survived the War to the island of Elenna, where he founds the kingdom of Númenor, being proclaimed king and taking the name Tar-Minyatur ("High first ruler"). Elros built the capital city of Armenelos, established the first laws and ruled successfully until his death four-hundred ten years later.
  • After the destruction of Númenor, Elendil leads the survivors to Middle Earth and founds the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor.
• From Cataclysm to Myth:
  • The Men of Eriador know little about the War of the Wrath which led to the sinking of the subcontinent west of the Blue Mountains, and their own unclear oral traditions only tell tales of a terrible ancient war which ended in great fires, earthquakes and floods which killed all men who dwelled beyond the mountains.
  • As the centuries go by, the chronicles of the Drowning of Númenor gradually morph into tales about an island inhabited by a powerful but arrogant civilization which was mysteriously and suddenly destroyed by a giant wave or some kind of disaster.
• Genocide Backfire:
  • Sauron engineers the destruction of the civilization of Númenor, but a remnant of Númenóreans survives and founds the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, which will keep Sauron at bay during two Ages and help their final defeat.
  • Sauron's own forces include descendants of the peoples who survived through Númenor's stage of brutal colonialism and slave trade. Gondor was founded by sane non-imperialistic Númenoreans, but the Easterlings and Southrons don't know that.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Downplayed. It is not told that Queen Tar-Ancalimë oppressed her subjects, but she was disliked and feared by everyone (from her maids to her own granddaughters) due to her coldness, pettiness and inability to let perceived or real slights go.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: When Sauron's forces invade Eriador in overwhelming numbers, Gil-Galad sends a plea to the elves, hoping that the ancient friendship between Elves and Men will outweigh the absence of any formal treaty between both kingdoms. King Tar-Minastir responds by sending a massive fleet which drives back and later destroys Sauron's army.
• The Good Chancellor: While he was Ar-Pharazôn's chief advisor, Amandil attempted to subtly nudge him away from his worst habits and protect the innocent people of Númenor and other regions whom the king was persecuting. Unfortunately, Sauron managed to oust and replace Amandil very easily.
• The Good King:
  • Elros Half-Elven, the First King of Númenor, spent 410 years working to turn Númenor into a peaceful haven where Men could lead happy and fruitful lives and then he willingly gave up his life.
  • This counts for most of the first eleven Kings of Númenor. From Ciryatan onward, though, they became increasingly corrupted.
• A Good Way to Die: Such a death used to be very common for Númenóreans before their corruption. They have vastly extended lifespans compared to normal humans (frequently living over 200 years, and those of the royal family made it past 400 at the kingdom's height), but once they cross a certain threshold, after centuries of looking in their prime, they then start to age rapidly. However, they also have the ability to simply will themselves to pass on, which they typically do when they sense the onset of aging, after having spent some years getting their affairs in order. Because of this, many a Numenorean dies peacefully in their sleep at an old age beyond the dreams of most mortals, their final years free of the pains of decrepitude or senility, entirely content with their feats on Earth—Aragorn, for instance, died in exactly this way, at the age of 210.
• The Great Flood: Sauron convinced the Númenoreans to worship Morgoth, which led them to commit human sacrifices. Eru objected and created a tidal wave that destroyed the island and everyone on it, besides turning a previously flat Earth into a round one. It is rumored, though, the Meneltarma later resurfaced above the waters and stands as a tall, lonely island in the middle of the ocean.
• He Who Fights Monsters: When Tar-Minastir sends a huge fleet to support the Elves in their war against Sauron, his army utterly destroys the Dark Lord's forces, but the Númenóreans realize they enjoy the feeling of crushing your enemies with overwhelming might. From that point on, they gradually decay from explorers who loved meeting and exchanging gifts and knowledge with other people to murderous, tribute-extracting, slave-owning colonizers. After several centuries and generations, the Númenóreans will become corrupted into Morgoth-worshippers who enjoy conquering, pillaging and lording over helpless people in the service of Sauron.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Since he cannot beat Ar-Pharazôn's forces, Sauron becomes the king's chief advisor, and aware of his disproportionate ego, ambition and fear of death, cajoles Pharazôn into conquering the Blessed Realm to reach immortality, knowing that the king and his army will be destroyed instead. So that Ar-Pharazôn attacks the Blessed Realm with the result that he is buried alive, his fleet is wiped out, his kingdom is drowned...and Sauron's physical body is destroyed much to his shock and terror, since it never occurred to the fallen Ainu that Eru would get involved because of his actions and also punish him for instigating the whole thing.
  • After rebuilding himself, Sauron returns to Mordor and attacks Gondor to destroy the last remnant of Númenor. Realizing that they will be destroyed or enslaved at this rate, Men and Elves form the Last Alliance, march to Mordor and defeat Sauron.
• Hordes from the East:
  • At several points during the Second Age, Sauron headed Eastwards to trick people and fell creatures into joining him in invading Gil-galad's Elven realm. It is said the Eastern Orcs were especially savage, unruly and hard to subjugate, since they had lived without a master for a long time (due to Morgoth being busy in Beleriand or banished into the Void).
  • The Númenóreans, though they see themselves as the pinnacle of human civilization, gradually come to be seen as a faceless horde of oppressors by other humans as their culture became more tyrannical - particularly after their king becomes Sauron's puppet. Men from the East were even used as fodder for human sacrifice at Sauron's bidding, and at the end of Númenóreans build a massive war fleet to conquer the utmost Western lands. The corrupted Númenoreans thus leave a legacy of resentment and hatred among other Eastern human cultures that Sauron exploits against the descendants of the uncorrupted Númenoreans.
• Human Sacrifice: After the Númenóreans have been converted to Morgoth worship, they build a huge temple where kidnapped non-Númenóreans, as well as Númenoreans who remain faithful to Eru and the Valar, are sacrificed by Sauron to Morgoth with the goal of preventing their deaths (unaware that death is inevitable, and even if it was within his power, Morgoth would never spare them from it).
• I Have Your Wife: In some notes of the early version of the Fall published in The Lost Road, Elendil's son Herendil is arrested and imprisoned by Sauron to force Elendil to do his bidding.
• I Kiss Your Hand: Aldarion kisses the hand of his daughter Ancalimë after reassuring her that she is the (future) King's Heiress and one day she will rule over the island kingdom.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Sauron cannot fight Ar-Pharazon's army, so he pretends to surrender, knowing that he will be taken to Númenor as a hostage. Before long, he is the real power behind the throne, and Pharazôn is his puppet king.
• Ignored Epiphany:
  • Sauron briefly considers repenting before Eonwë at the end of the War of Wrath, which he then takes back when Eonwë asks him to return to Valinor to be judged.
  • When Ar-Pharazôn catches sight of the Undying Lands, he momentarily hesitates before invading them...and then he goes through with it anyway.
• In Harmony with Nature: Prior to their corruption, Númenóreans generally lived simple and often rural lives, respecting their environment and in turn being respected and even liked by their island's animal life in turn. Eagles nested in the king's palace, sea birds flew around returning ships in greeting, and humans were delighted to treat squirrels and wild bears who wandered around their homesteads with corns and honey. One of the first signs of their civilization's decline was the felling of great swathes of wood with the purpose of building ships to explore (and later colonize) foreign lands.
• Killed Offscreen: Tolkien never actually wrote what exactly happened to her, but Queen Erendis's death is only written as "perished in the water in 985." We do know this apparently occurred at Romenna, the harbor and drydock of Númenor, but whether this was accident, suicide, or something else entirely is uncertain. Although Erendis did mention at one point that she felt the sea would be her death...
• King Incognito:
  • Princess Ancalimë does not like being bothered by suitors, so she spends time living as a shepherdess called Emerwen in Númenor's sheep-lands. During that time, she grew close to a shepherd called Mámandil. When Mámandil proposed and Ancalimë turned him down, though, he revealed he was another royal blood suitor called Hallacar.
  • Ancalimë's own mother Queen Erendis travelled incognito once when she wanted to see her estranged husband without being recognized.
• Kissing Cousins:
  • Queen Tar-Ancalimë and her husband Hallacar are distant cousins, sharing one common great-great-grandfather (Vardamir, second King of Númenor). Though, their marriage was mostly political, and their relationship was pretty toxic.
  • Ar-Pharazôn, the last King of Númenor, married his first cousin, Tar-Míriel, against her will. It is claimed that Númenorean laws prohibited any marriage closer than second cousins.
• Language Drift: In the 600th year of the Second Age, a host of Númenóreans arrive in Mithlond and meet with a delegation of Men of Eriador. Both groups have difficulties communicating with each other since the Western Men had not had contact with their kin for about eight centuries and their languages had changed a great deal since then. Fortunately, "they found that they shared very many words still clearly recognisable, and others that could be understood with attention, and they were able to converse haltingly about simple matters."
• Legend Fades to Myth: At the start of the Second Age, all the humans living east of the Blue Mountains know of the War of the Jewels is that the country beyond the Blue Mountains was sunk by some cataclysm. They still tell each other tales about three tribes which fled from the Shadow into the mountains, but popular wisdom has it that those Men got killed off because they were never seen again. Six hundred years later, the Men of Eregion are overjoyed to meet the Men of Westernesse because their long-lost relatives are not demons or undead but humans like themselves. For their part, the Númenóreans themselves are delighted to share their technology, knowledge, language and alphabet with their most destitute relatives without asking anything in return, and the Middle-rarth Men spread stories about the kind Sea Men. Around the year 1800 S.A., though, the Númenóreans started to establish permanent settlements on Middle-earth and extract heavy tribute from outlying areas. As centuries go by the Númenóreans become more corrupt, crueler and greedier, and the stories of the gift-giving Men of Sea fade completely from memory, replaced by horror tales of evil pirates who plunder lands, burn villages, slay people and kidnap most of survivors.
• Lost Technology: The Númenóreans are said to have had ships that moved against the wind, with weapons that could "fire darts across an ocean." One version of the legends says that the Númenoreans in exile even managed to build aircraft in a futile attempt to escape the newly round world.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Queen Tar-Vanimeldë was more interested in dancing and playing music than actually governing the most powerful nation on Middle-earth, so she left all the boring, practical day-to-day stuff to her consort, Herucalmo. Possibly a Deconstructed Character Archetype, since it seems Herucalmo was not okay with this: when the Queen died, he finally got sick of being the stable, modest, supportive guy and usurped the throne for himself.
• Married to the Job: Aldarion is the Crown Prince of Númenor and is always sailing to Middle-earth for long periods of time. This eventually breaks down his marriage with Erendis who influences their daughter Ancalimë to dislike men. When he complains about nobody objecting to smiths having fiancées, his father replies there would be few married smiths if they never left their forges...and sailing is not in fact Aldarion's job but his hobby.
  Aldarion: "Smiths may smithy, and horsemen ride, and miners delve, when they are betrothed. Therefore why may not mariners sail?"
  Meneldur: "If smiths remained five years at the anvil few would be smiths' wives."
• Mayfly–December Romance: Númenóreans had a lifespan about three times that of ordinary humans, but those of the royal house lived about twice as long. Aldarion was the 6th king of Númenor; Erendis his wife was not from the royal house. She was also much younger than him, but still most likely to die first. Aldarion's long lifespan and his tendency to make multi-year voyages while Erendis continued to age (relatively) rapidly drove a massive, nasty wedge in their relationship. Their problems in turn embittered their daughter, the future queen Tar-Ancalimë. Erendis dies in Second Age 985, over a century before Aldarion dies. Aldarion lived to be 398; Erendis died at only 214. She did drown herself, but she was already old aged by then.
• My Girl Back Home: Deconstructed. Aldarion loves sailing and exploring new lands above all things and resents the way his wife Erendis wants to keep him perpetually tied to their homeland and her. For her part, Erendis hates his husband's love for the sea and his years-long absences from home. At the end, their marriage breaks down when Aldarion spends five years overseas and Erendis decides she has gotten sick of being a mariner's wife.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Played with. During the rule of Tar-Atanamir, the Númenóreans split into two groups; the King's Men who envied and hated the Elves and the Valar, and the Elendili (Elf-friends) who remained faithful to the Valar and friends with the Elves. Nonetheless, the Elendil did not wish to rebel against the royal family even though the kings had no objections to persecuting them as enemies of the state, claiming falsely they were traitors and spies. When Ar-Pharazôn begins making plans to conquest Valinor, though, Amandil -the head of the Elendili- reveals to his son that he plans to sail towards Valinor and tell the Valar about their king's scheme. Elendil asks his father if he is willing to betray the king, thus proving the slanderous King's Men's right. Amandil retorts that he would betray Pharazôn without a second thought if he truly believed his insane scheme has the slightest chance of succeeding, since the king is not who commands his absolute loyalty.
• Never My Fault: When Aldarion is treated coldly by Erendis after returning from a long sea voyage, he considers his wife is being irrationally angry only because he broke his promise to not spend more than two years overseas, and he assumes his father must have poisoned her mind against him in order to keep him tied to his homeland.
• No Ending:
  • The Tale of Aldarion and Erendis abruptly stops after their marriage breaks down, followed by some texts explaining how their daughter Ancalimë got mentally screwed up due to her parents' toxic relationship, and ending with a short paragraph regarding Erendis travelling to the haven of Rómenna in her old age, where she "perished in the water."
  • The "The Lost Road" fragment stops right after Elendil reveals his son his plans and tells him he will unfortunately be obliged to choose between joining Elendil's rebellion or siding with Sauron.
• No Hero to His Valet: During his lengthy sea voyages, Aldarion wins the respect and love of the Elven and human lords of Middle-earth for his wise counsel and assistance in shoring up their defenses against a new post-Morgoth threat. Meanwhile, his parents, his wife, and popular opinion turns against him on Númenor because to them it looks like he's neglecting his kingdom and his family because he likes sailing.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Eagles were sacred animals in Númenor. Before the Númenóreans turned evil, one pair of eagles always used to nest in the highest tower of the royal palace, being personally fed by the king.
  From the days of Elros until the time of Tar-Ancalimon [the fourteenth King of Númenor], son of Tar-Atanamir, some two thousand years, there was an eyrie of golden eagles in the summit of the tower of the king's palace in Armenelos. There one pair ever dwelt and lived on the bounty of the king.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sauron justified his power-hungry greed and desire for domination by telling himself that he was the only one who could fix Arda after the Wars among the Powers, but he would need to take over the world in order to do so since the natives were too dumb to understand that he should be in charge for their own good. As the centuries went by, he even forgot his alleged motives, only remembering his goals.
• Object-Shaped Landmass: The island of Elenna (Land of the Star) was shaped like a five-pointed star. Justified because the island was given that specific shape by the Valar when they raised Elenna from the ocean. Ironically, the island was not named Elenna because of its shape, but because the Men who colonized the land sailed "starwards" -following the Star of Eärendil- to reach it.
• Ocean Awe: When Aldarion was taken out on his first sea voyage by his grandfather Vëantur, he became completely enamored with the beauty of sea and the strange coasts and lands.
  As he came to the top of the great bluff that stood out from the land and sheltered the haven from the north, he turned and looked back over the sea. A west wind was blowing, as often at that season, beloved by those who had a mind to sail to Middle-earth, and white-crested waves marched towards the shore. Then suddenly the sea-longing took him as though a great hand had been laid on his throat, and his heart hammered, and his breath was stopped.
• Oh, Crap!: Sauron succeeds in goading the Númenóreans into attacking Valinor, knowing it will lead to their destruction. He is laughing out loud, feeling the sea is swallowing the Númenórean fleet, when suddenly the land beings shaking beneath his feet. He comes to the terrible realization that he will also be punished for his crimes before a massive wave hits him and his temple.
• Offered the Crown:
  • The first kings of Númenor had the custom of willingly passing the Sceptre to their eldest child when they became too old to rule. Over time, the kings would drop this custom and cling to power until their deaths, one of the first signs of their civilization's decline.
  • Meneldur, fifth King of Númenor, passes the Sceptre to his son Aldarion due to feeling under-qualified to deal with the war-like situation in Middle-Earth.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: Ar-Pharazôn had it all: good looks, fighting prowess, charisma, wealth, power, fame...as well as a massive ego, overwhelming ambition and an overblown sense of self-entitlement which led him to declare war on the Valar because because why should the greatest of all kings die like the common folk?
• Parental Abandonment: Ancalimë's father Aldarion was hardly around while she was growing up due to spend most of his time sailing. One of Ancalimë's first and subconscious memories (which undoubtedly played a part in her becoming very embittered) was her father hugging her and then letting her go a bit too hastily, so eager he was to rush towards the docks. She was two years old at the time, and Aldarion would not be back until she was seven.
• Peaceful in Death: The early Númenóreans were given long lives and the option to lie down and pass away when they feel their time was done, and their faces reflected the peace of mind of someone who know their task is over and is looking over to the next life. As they become increasingly corrupted, though, the Númenóreans begin fearing death and clinging to life, wearing terrified and twisted expressions on their faces when they pass away.
• Poor Communication Kills: Aldarion's love of the sea and obsession with sailing and exploring creates strife between himself and his family and ends ruining his marriage due to his many extended absences. Nonetheless, Aldarion could have avoided his father's and possibly his wife's anger if he'd ever considered telling them that the reason his voyages always lasted longer than he promised was because there was a new threat to their Middle-earth kin that he was helping them prepare for. Meneldur doesn't learn this until Aldarion huffily tosses him a letter from Gil-galad.
• Pride:
  • Sauron considers repenting after Morgoth's downfall, but he lets his opportunity for redemption pass because he does not want to serve someone else. Sauron then convinces himself what he should stay in Middle-earth because he is clearly the only one who can fix the world after the wars against Morgoth, but he must take over Middle-Earth in order to do so because clearly the natives are too dumb to realize everything will go much better if/when he is running the place.
  • The Rings of Power are a direct consequence of Elvish hubris. The Noldor wanted to remain in Middle-earth where their prestige as the eldest, wisest and most powerful race was greater than at the bottom of the hierarchy of Valinor, but they did not want to endure the mortal lands' decay. Cajoling them into forging tools to impose their will on the world and slow its decline was a piece of cake for Sauron.
  • Aldarion and Erendis' disintegrating marriage breaks down over his inability to keep his promises to return when he says he will from various sea voyages. Erendis refuses to bend, Aldarion refuses to explain himself, and Meneldur is angry at Aldarion's apparent disregard for his responsibilities as heir. It's not until Aldarion huffily throws a letter from Gil-Galad onto the table that Meneldur knows there was a justified reason, because Aldarion refused to tell him until he thought he could use it to start a fight. Unsurprisingly, Aldarion and Erendis' daughter ends up so emotionally scarred by all this that it contributes to her own unhappy marriage as an adult.
  • The Númenoreans' increasingly unbridled ego caused the downfall of the greatest Mannish civilization. Since they were gifted with much longer and healthier lives -which allowed them to excel in sciences and arts- advanced technology and divine blessings by the Valar, the Númenóreans came to believe not only that they had the right to rule over other Men but also that they should be immortal since, being obviously superior, they are entitled to anything they want. Their overwhelming hubris and ambition eventually lead them to invade the Undying Lands, which gets their civilization destroyed.
  • Ar-Pharazôn, the last king of Númenor, is a perfect exponent of the extent of their people's corruption. Pharazôn usurps the throne because he thinks he obviously should be king, wants to conquer the world because he should obviously rule it, and wants to become immortal because he is obviously too great of a king to die.
• Properly Paranoid: Although Annatar has behaved as an unfailingly kind, selfless and wise teacher, neither Gil-Galad, nor Elrond, nor Galadriel nor Celeborn trust the unknown Maia; nor do they allow him to walk freely into their realms. When Sauron ends the masquerade and reveals his true self, they are probably the only Elves who are not surprised.
• Puppet King: Sauron is taken to Númenor as a prisoner, but before long he has become Ar-Pharazôn's chief advisor, and he takes even less time to become the real power behind the throne. All he need do is whisper 'Great kings must have their will' in Ar-Pharazôn's ear, and the king will do whatever Sauron wants, convinced that he is doing his will instead of Sauron's.
• Really Royalty Reveal: Shortly after being introduced to a shepherd called Mámandil, the readers find out that his real name is Hallacar, a noble descendant of Vardamir, second King of Númenor.
• Really 700 Years Old: The Men of Númenor were granted an extended lifespan and healthy old ages. They don't begin showing signs of aging until they have lived at least two hundred years. Tolkien provided a formula for calculating at 'what "age" a Númenórean was in ordinary human terms of vigour and aptitude': deduct 20 (since at 20 years a Númenórean would be at about the same stage of development as an ordinary person) and add the remainder divided by 5. Thus a 250-year-old Númenorean would be approximately a 66-year-old normal person.
• Reluctant Ruler:
  • Tar-Meneldur, the fifth king of Númenor, accepted the Sceptre from his father only grudgingly since he was more interested in astronomy than in the exercise of power.
  • His son Aldarion loves the sea, and would much rather explore the seas and visit new coasts as a mariner.
• Rule of Three: After tricking the Númenóreans into dooming themselves, Sauron laughs three times before being struck by Eru's wrath.
  And Sauron, sitting in his black seat in the midst of the Temple, had laughed when he heard the trumpets of Ar-Pharazôn sounding for battle; and again he had laughed when he heard the thunder of the storm; and a third time, even as he laughed at his own thought, thinking what he would do now in the world, being rid of the Edain for ever, he was taken in the midst of his mirth, and his seat and his temple fell into the abyss.
• Sadist: Several thousand years of being thwarted and forced to run away from fights — and on more than one occasion, the physical death of his body — along with general decay of his powers, has left Sauron extremely embittered and completely intolerant of anyone who defies his will. By the end of the Second Age, he wants to dominate the world and destroy all opposition simply because that's all he's got left.
• Sadistic Choice: When Meneldur receives the letter from King Gil-galad, begging for help to battle Morgoth's remaining evil in the name of the ancient alliance between Elves and Men, the Númenorean king finds himself in a no-win situation: send help in the form of commanders who will intend to boost their fame and wealth by killing people; or refuse to get involved and let people die to keep his own hands clean? Meneldur doesn't want to choose between two evils, so he decides to offer the crown to his son so that Aldarion deals with the situation as he sees fit.
  Meneldur: "I am in too great doubt to rule. To prepare or to let be? To prepare for war, which is yet only guessed: train craftsmen and tillers in the midst of peace for bloodspilling and battle: put iron in the hands of greedy captains who will love only conquest, and count the slain as their glory? Will they say to Eru: At least your enemies were amongst them? Or to fold hands, while friends die unjustly: let men live in blind peace, until the ravisher is at the gate? What then will they do: match naked hands against iron and die in vain, or flee leaving the cries of women behind them? Will they say to Eru: At least I spilled no blood?"
  "When either way may lead to evil, of what worth is choice? Let the Valar rule under Eru! I will resign the Sceptre to Aldarion. Yet that also is a choice, for I know well which road he will take."
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • When the mighty army of Ar-Pharazôn approaches Mordor, Sauron's own forces become so terrified of the Númenóreans that they desert their master.
  • A group of Drúedain who had emigrated to Númenor started leaving the island during the reign of Tar-Aldarion, feeling that his voyages preluded a future evil and Númenor was no longer safe. The last Drúadan left when Sauron was brought to Númenor.
  • When Ar-Pharazôn's army departs towards Aman, all faithful Númenóreans board nine giant ships and sail towards Middle-earth as swiftly as humanly possible.
• Settling the Frontier: After the War of Wrath, the Edain set sail towards the country-sized, star-shaped, virgin island of Elenna, created for them by the Valar, who wanted to reward them for fighting Morgoth alongside them. There, the Edain build their first cities and found Númenor, the greatest Mannish civilization.
  Then the Edain set sail upon the deep waters, following the Star and the Valar laid a peace upon the sea for many days, and sent sunlight and a sailing wind, so that the waters glittered before the eyes of the Edain like rippling glass, and the foam flew like snow before the stems of their ships. But so bright was Rothinzil that even at morning Men could see it glimmering in the West, and in the cloudless night it shone alone, for no other star could stand beside it. And setting their course towards it the Edain came at last over leagues of sea and saw afar the land that was prepared for them, Andor, the Land of Gift, shimmering in a golden haze. Then they went up out of the sea and found a country fair and fruitful, and they were glad. And they called that land Elenna, which is Starwards; but also Anadûnê, which is Westernesse, Númenórë in the High Eldarin tongue.
• Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Sauron's physical body gets destroyed in the drowning of Númenor. Even after he regains physical form, he can no longer take on a fair-seeming appearance and is restricted to ruling through fear rather than deception.
• Signs of the End Times: When the Númenoreans' corruption was reaching its zenith, several signs warned that their civilization would be destroyed unless they stopped being murderous, slave-taking, devil-worshipping conquerors: the climate of the island stopped being mild and pleasant, the sky darkened and the sea roared, there were storms of rain and hail, strong winds whipped the island, eagle-shaped storm clouds drifted over Númenor, blotting out the sun and raining down lightning bolts. The last sign was the land shaking and smoke issued from their erstwhile holy mountain (which was not a volcano).
• Slowly Slipping Into Evil: It happens to the civilization of Númenor as a whole. For a long while, they are happy and content to lead peaceful and fulfilling lives in harmony with their paradisiacal island's nature, devoting themselves to arts and knowledge and then dying at their appointed time. After several centuries they begin exploring the coasts of Middle-Earth, and although they are happy to shower their inhabitants with gifts and knowledge, they cannot help but pity their "primitive" existences. After two thousand years the Númenoreans get a taste of power when they defeat Sauron's army, and they start colonizing lands, levying tribute and complaining that their "superiority" means they should be immortal, too. Their increasing hubris and greed lead the Númenoreans to create a brutal empire, and their fear of death drives them to worship Morgoth, thusly completing their corruption.
• The Smurfette Principle: Discussed when Erendis gives her daughter a lecture about how little women feature in the great tales and histories of Middle-Earth, a fact she attributes to the lack of care and interest men pay to the women of their lives.
• Take Over the World:
  • Sauron starts to put in motion his plans to conquer the world at the beginning of the Second Age. Although he never manages to conquer the West of Middle-Earth, he comes to control most of the Eastern and Southern regions for the most part of two Ages. One key difference between Sauron and his ex-boss Morgoth is that the latter merely wanted to corrupt and destroy everything out of spite, whereas Sauron doesn't object to the existence of the world as long as it is his to do whatever he pleases.
    "Sauron desired to be a God-King, and was held to be this by his servants; if he had been victorious he would have demanded divine honour from all rational creatures and absolute temporal power over the whole world."
  • Ar-Pharazôn, the last king of Númenor, desired no less than the kingship of the entire world. Númenor became a vast and brutal maritime empire under his rule, and Pharazôn became considered the world's most terrible tyrant after Morgoth.
• Tell Me About My Father: When a younger-than-seven-years Ancalimë asks her mother about her father, Erendis freaks out, asks why her daughter wants to know, and reiterates that Ancalimë does not need her father since her mother loves her and they only have each other. In Erendis' defence, Ancalimë is not impressed when she finally meets Aldarion.
• Unknown Rival: Erendis loudly declares that Uinen is her foe when she is called Uinéniel ("Daughter of Uinen"), since Uinen is the Maia associated with the seas and she is jealous of her crush Aldarion's love of sailing. For her part, it is highly doubtful that Uinen even knows that Erendis -who never even left her island- exists; and the thought of being involved in a love triangle with two humans would never occur to the Lady of the Seas, who was already married to another Maia before the world was created.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Ar-Pharazôn was a brutal warlord who despoiled the Middle-Earth's lands; but he was extremely popular among the Númenoreans because he was very generous with his loot.
• Villainous Incest: Ar-Pharazôn becomes the last king of Númenor by marrying the late king's daughter against her will. She's his first cousin. Pharazôn's ego and disregard for traditions simply made it that much easier for Sauron to corrupt him into Melkor-worship. Pharazôn had no legal right to the throne and marrying Míriel did not actually give it to him. He simply used it as a pretext. There are multiple versions of this. In some versions, Tal-Palantír's daughter is infatuated with Pharazôn (who by all accounts was likable in his youth) and marries him consensually, and hands him the de facto control of the Sceptre. In others, he takes her to himself against her will and seizes the Sceptre with the approval of the general public (who by then were mostly corrupted). This is the latest version so is probably what Tolkien eventually intended.
• War Is Hell:
  • Although the Free Peoples win the first War against Sauron, many people are killed in the conflict, the northwest of Middle-Earth is ravaged (again), and the Númenoreans start their slide from peaceful and learned society to colonizing, plundering, devil-worshipper warlords. There is an underlying message that, even if your cause is just, war will more often than not lead to evil.
  • The War of the Last Alliance causes a massive number of casualties among the Free Peoples and Sauron's unfortunate slaves (and the ghosts of Men killed in the Battle of Dagorlad will haunt the Dead Marshes for millennia), destroys the last High-Elven Kingdom in Middle-Earth and leads the eventual collapse and depopulation of the northwest of Middle-Earth (once again). And their victory is rendered worthless anyway since the One Ring was not destroyed, guaranteeing that Sauron would rise again.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Aldarion loves his family, but he spends long periods of time in sea because of his obsession with sailing. As a result of it his daughter Ancalimë spends most of her early childhood asking who is her father and why he is not around.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?:
  • Despite being partially Elf, Elros gives up his immortality because he identified more with the race of Men, much like his father (who chose to be an Elf for his wife's sake, who also chose to be an Elf).
  • When the Númenoreans start complaining about not being immortal like the Elves, the Valar send messengers to explain that they envy the Men's ability to die and go to their true home, leaving the world and its burdens behind. However, Ainur and Elves are bound to the world, doomed to witness its inevitable and unstoppable decline, and as far as they know, they will disappear together with it.
• The Worf Effect: Sauron can be a massively powerful fallen angel, but trickery is his bread and butter, more so than physical strength. Despite becoming lord of Mordor and fooling the elves he suffers another defeat from the Númenóreans who force him back to Mordor with little more than his own bodyguard and a handful of orcs. When Sauron takes over Númenor, he gets his entire body obliterated by Eru himself when the supreme God sinks the island. Then in the War of the Last Alliance despite having the One Ring he gets taken down again by Gil-galad and Elendil, albeit with them both dying in the effort.
• Worthy Opponent: Invoked by Aldarion after his marriage becomes unsalvageable. After his return from yet another overlong sea voyage, he is deeply disappointed that his wife Erendis went to the countryside to avoid him completely, rather than putting on a big public show of her contempt for him so that the Númenorean public sided with their future queen and deemed their prince a fool who chooses sailing over waves over staying with his wife. That, Aldarion would have respected.
• The X of Y:The Fall of Númenor
• You Shall Not Pass!: When Sauron invades Eregion, a desperate Celebrimbor is standing on the steps of the great House of the Elven smiths to stop him from seizing the Elven rings of power. Unfortunately, he is overwhelmed and taken captive as the smithy is ransacked.

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