My unsorted, rambling thoughts on The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, I The Numenorean Kings, (i) Numenor
Okay, we're getting a short version of the Silmarillion. Very condensed. Whoever would read that without knowing for example what the Two Trees are must be so confused!
Fëanor thought to restore the Silmarilli from Morgoth by force. As opposed to what!? They were recovered by force in the end, just not by Fëanor. This sounds way to judgamental.
Interesting how it keeps saying they waged war against Thangorodrim, not Morgoth. Don't underestimate Sauron's part!
In Elrond and Elors alone the line of the heroic chieftains of the Edain was preserved, and after the fall of Gil-Galad also the lineage of the high-elven kings. I guess we are talking about pretty specific chieftains here as I assume many of them had more than one child. Also isn't this ignoring Galadriel?
Okay, so at the end of the first age the half elves were given the choice, and only then Elrond was given the grace to sail in the end. No answers about Elured and Elurin again, but something to think about.
It specifically says again that Elronds children get the same choice. Why not Elros' children? In the context it sounds as if it was done this way mostly to make poor Elrond even more miserable.
I hate how he keeps talking about "lesser" men.
Elros was granted a lifespan many times that of lesser men, the other Numenoreans three times that of lesser men. That's nice, I always worried that the long lifespan came mostly from Elros' descendants spreading his genes exponentially, but apparently they didn't all die on him basically immediately, either. I still believe that 90% of the people in Numenor were descendants of Elros by the time it sank, though. It's either that or a lot of incest.
From Numenor they could see the white tower on Tol Eressëa. Given that the earth is still flat at this point in time, the limit should be their eyesight, not the horizon, though, so I'm assuming they could also see the forbidding line of mountains once raised to defend the blessed land from Morgoth though. What a sight.
Why does Tar Atanamir get the cognomen The Great? I need to pay attention if there's more information on him.
The Numenoreans grew in wisdom and joy. Now thinking what "growing in joy" means. They laughed more? Probably just generally improved standards of living. They did start in a war in which they were "utterly defeated".
Was Tar-Minastir the one who helped fight in Eregion? It only says that he sent a great force to help Gil-Galad, not what for.
So they abandoned the eldarin tongue, meaning they spoke it regularly before, but there was a Numenorean tongue, too, different enough that I assume they spoke that every day. Was the Eldarin tongue used only in formal context? Or as a second language that people spoke when not at home?
Interesting, Sauron's servants deserted him when they saw the splendour and might of Ar-Pharazon's army. I mean, they probably weren't very loyal to begin with, but what drove them now?
"But great kings take what is their right." [Sauron] said
Elendil and his people escaped with nine ships, seven palantiri and a baby tree. Nice. Though people that fit on nine ships? Absolutely everyone in Gondor must be a direct descendant of Elendil by the time of LOTR, come on.
How did the population of nine ships in less than three lifetimes of men establish two enormous realms? Sauron's servants must have run away quite far.
Sauron lost his body that "he had long walked in"! He fled as a spirit of hatred on a dark wind. He also couldn't look pretty anymore, and his power was only through terror from this point forward, which must have been hard, as before it was way more through deception and talking, like Saruman's.
Mount Doom has an elvish name! Amon Amarth (Mount Doom). I did not know that.