Tolkien’s fixation on the unbroken male line of Isildur and the family tree of Chieftains of the Dúnedain that led to Aragorn is almost funny to me because, there’s no way that generations of wives/mothers only gave birth to one son every time. Most of those Chieftains must’ve had sisters; Aragorn being an only child was probably the exception or more of a rarity, especially since his father was killed so soon after his birth, before any siblings could be conceived. I bet many Chieftains actually had older sisters. The odds of a baby’s sex at birth are almost always 50/50 (though I admit I’m no fertility expert). There was no gender-selective IVF in Middle-earth, so it’s not like they could’ve always guaranteed male offspring. It’s fun to headcanon the rest of those families - maybe some of them had, like, three or four or more daughters before the son finally arrived.
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Looking at the parts on Númenor in Unfinished Tales (and the LOTR appendix chronology) made me notice something Tolkien does with the history of Númenor that is very thoughtful, very important, and often neglected by other fantasy authors: he distinguishes between fighting on the right side and being the good guys, and he even delves into how those two things can work against each other.
Three times in particular, the Númenoreans help to defend Middle-Earth against Sauron. In Aldarion’s time, in the 800s, Aldarion spends much time establishing and rebuilding a port/haven on the coast of southern Eriador, to guard against invasion of the north through what will later be the Gap of Rohan. In 1700, Tar-Minastir sends a large force to drive back Sauron and rescue Gil-galad and Elrond and their people after the forging of the Rings and the destruction of Eregion. And, of course, near the end of the Second Age Ar-Pharazon sends the vast fleet and army that takes Sauron captive.
And each of these times are associated with successive stages in Númenor’s moral decline.
Aldarion is the first warning sign. His father, Tar-Meneldur, a wise man, discourages his voyaging, accurately fearing that it “sows the seeds of recklessness and the desire of other lands to hold”. Aldarion likewise marks the beginning of Númenoreans regarding nature as something to be valued for its use rather than for itself: trees as timber, not as forests. This is also when the Númenoreans begin to log Eriador - their logging will eventually be so extensive that, whereas virtually the whole area from the coast to the Misty Mountains to the Gap of Rohan was forested at the start of the Second Age, by the time of LOTR only the tiny fragment of the Old Forest remains. It’s not for nothing that the trees there are hostile to Men (and Hobbits). (This may not have been happening in the same way in Aldarion’s time - in Númenor he spends great efforts on replanting trees, nothwithstanding the ecological distinction between ‘tree plantations’ and ‘forests’, and he may have done the same in Middle-earth - but it’s still the starting point.)
And he does work extensively in Middle-earth to build defences against Sauron (or ‘the shadow in the east’; they don’t know it’s Sauron yet) and is described as “the friend and counsellor of Gil-Galad.” Yet the very growth in power, pragmatism, and expansionism that is involved in doing this is the start of Númenor’s downward path.
Next, we have Tar-Minastir, who drives back Sauron from Eregion during the War of the Elves and Sauron, following the forging of the Rings of Power, when Gil-galad, Elrond, and the Elves of Eregion are almost defeated. Unfinished Tales says “he loved the Eldar but envied them” and built a high tower to gaze westwards towards Valinor. And it is in the immediate aftermath of his rule that Númenor enters its phase of exploitative imperialism: his son Tar-Ciryatan is “a mighty king, but greedy of wealth; he built a great fleet of royal ships, amd his servants brought back great store of metal and gems, and oppressed the men of Middle-earth.” The next king, Tar-Atanamir, likewise “exacted heavy tribute from the men of the coasts of Middle-earth”, and was the first to be openly hostile to the Valar and the Eldar. The Silmarillion describes Ciryatan and Atanamir as “proud men, eager for wealth” who “laid the men of Middle-earth under tribute, taking now rather than giving”.
(As an aside: this is a period where I’m particularly curious about what Gil-galad and Elrond were thinking, and the decisions they had to make. The Númenoreans have just recently decisively rescued them, and it may not be going too far to say the Elves of Eregion and Lindon are military dependent on Númenor. And yet the Númenoreans are now mistreating and oppressing the men of Middle-earth. How to balance military/political pragmatism and ethics? Are the Númenoreans friends or not? Should they be trying to do anything to stop Númenorean empire? Can they do anything? Does benefitting from Númenorean military might while not doing anything make them complicit? Do they try to talk to the Númenoreans? And for Elrond in particular, on top of the moral vs pragmatic concerns, there’s the knowledge that it’s his brother’s descendents and successors who are doing this - in a sense, the only family he has left.)
And lastly, of course, we have Ar-Pharazon, who defeats Sauron but without being any better than Sauron, and who is corrupted by him, wreaks devastation on the men of Middle-earth and on his political opponents at home, and leads Númenor to its destruction.
It feels like this reinforces the themes of The Lord of the Rings, that victory over evil is not one by seeking to overpower it, but by renunciation of power. The downfall of Númenor highlights this by contrast by showing the corrupting force of accumulated imperial power, even when used against a foe that is genuinely evil.
This is for Day Three; it can be both for Gray Spaces and Fealty.
Inzilmith would never have ended up on Elendil's ship except for her entanglement with a relative of Elendil's executed by Sauron. But in the new Kingdom of Arnor, some rules are entirely rewritten.
‘You cannot be serious,’ said Inzilmith. She had never got used to finding herself on the fringes of the court of Arnor, such as it was. She supposed Elendil’s family regarded her as charity case inherited from their deceased relative, which evoked mixed feelings…
‘My lord, you seem to have forgotten that I am a seamstress from the gutters of Armenelos! You cannot ask me to make your coronation robes.’
‘The gutters of Armenelos no longer exist, no more than Romenna’ said Elendil. ‘You forget I have seen your work. You deserved better then. I would choose nobody else, now.’
Originally written for an Insta-drabbling session on the SWG Discord; previously only posted under lock.
Welcome to the Numenor Week! Event created for fans of the tragic and beautiful story of the Land of the Gift, from its birth to its downfall.
The event will run from May 26 to June 1, and will accept all the type of fanworks (fanarts, fanfictions, edits, gifsets, remix, etc etc). please remember to tag @numenorweek and to add #numenorweek and #numenorweek2025 in the first 10 tags of your post. NSFW contents are welcomed, but mind to tag them or to put them under a cut. It's ok to submit Rings of Power contents because the show follows the events of the Akallabeth, but only if said content is about the Numenorean characters.
Numenor Week Prompts (those are just suggestions, you can follow them or either discard them completely)
Day 1: Elros Tar-Minyatur | The Line of Elros || Characters: Elros, Elwing, Eärendil, Vardamir Nólimon, Tindómiel, Manwendil, Atanalcar || Prompts: The Choice of the Peredhili - Mortality & Immortality - Rites at the Meneltarma - Kingship - The Legacy of Eärendil
Day 2: The Mariner's Wife | Aldarion and Erendis || Characters: Tar-Aldarion, Erendis, Tar-Ancalimë, Hallacar, Tar-Meneldur, Almarian, Ailinel & Almiel || Prompts: Costumes and traditions of the Numenoreans, the Guild of the Venturers, laws of succession, expansion of the Numenoreans in Middle Earth, Uinen and the Uinendili
Day 3: Daughters of the Great | The Ruling Queens of Numenor || Characters: Tar-Ancalimë, Tar-Telperiën, Tar-Vanimeldë, Tar-Míriel, Silmariën || Prompts: the role of women in Númenor, usurpation, Queenship, the known and the forgotten women of the line of Elros
Day 4: The Faithful | Lords of Andunie || Characters: Inzilbeth, Amandil, Elendil, Tar-Palantir, Eärendur, Lindórië || Prompts: Secrecy, worship of the Valar, the White Tree, Pelargir, Strife between kin
Day 5: The King's Men | The Ban of the Valar || Characters: Tar- Atanamir the Great, Ar-Adûnakhôr, Ar-Gimilzôr, Gimilkhâd, the Witch King of Angmar || Prompts: Cult of the Dead, Fear of the unknown, Umbar, Pride, Ban of the Quenya, Nazgûl
Day 6: Akallabeth | The Downfall || Characters: Tar-Míriel, Ar-Pharazôn, Sauron, Amandil, Elendil, Elentir, Sauron/Tar-Mairon. || Prompts: Hybris, the cutting of the White Tree, the imprisonment of Sauron, Worship of Melkor, War against the Valar
Day 7: The Realms in Exile | The Line of Isildur and Anarion ||Characters: Elendil, Isildur, Anarion, Valandil, Meneldil, Ohtar ||Prompts: Exile, Gondor and Arnor, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Estel
If you have any questions, feel free to send an ask in my askbox!
And... Hi, this headache is a lot less serious, but I had a lot of fun writing it 💖
Based on @kibutsulove wonderful post, followed by my absolutely horrible doodle and lots of excitement/encouragement from @peasant-player, I hereby present...
🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
Namo's ✨FIFTH✨ headache!
Also yes, hinting my OTP, bc I have come to the realization that I'm gonna have to row this canoe
READ ALL THE HEADACHES
Namo is definitely not expecting this.
He knows, broadly speaking, that he is doing his utmost best not to be unsettling to all who come to seek audience with him, but he is DEFINITELY NOT expecting two pairs of eyes looking at him with such intensity. One would assume, at least, that when speaking to Death, there has to be a certain poise.
This is not the case for these two souls - mortal children, casualties of the fall of Numenor. They look at him with quite the interested eyes, one would say like tiny tigers who spotted a deer.
One of the two spoke. "Sir, can we ask if you could listen to our stories before we go?" These two teenagers do not seem to mind that they are, in fact, dead, but they are being extremely polite, way more than the Elves and Men who usually crowd his temple. Namo sits better on his chair and offers them sweets from a nearby jar.
"... Please, have a seat, children."
And what comes next is something two teenagers should not even think about, but again, they are looking at him in the eyes and they are not even mildly bothered, and he really doesn't have a gauge as to what is age appropriate. He is, technically speaking, an Ainu, a Vala, a concept even. Still, he can be quite sure that the topics at hand should be dealt with the supervision of an adult.
Oh, yes, he IS the adult, in these children's eyes.
The topic these teenagers are discussing so ardently, and the related stories, revolve around "how valiantly Feanor fought against Elu Thingol, but lo, the Elven king pinned the Noldorian and planted the most fervent of kisses on his bruised and bloodied lips", and more, definitely something apt to a bedroom. Namo looks honestly perplexed.
After the third or fourth iteration of that, he decides that if he is to suffer, then others may suffer too. Specifically, he summons exactly Feanor, with Fingolfin following, and Thingol. The three Elves look at each other in confusion and mild anger. Namo coldly invites them to listen to the two young mortals, who, happy to have an audience, truly put up the works and concoct such a story.
Fingolfin is cackling on the floor. "Brother, such a PASSIONATE one you are!" He chimes in, mockingly.
Thingol is praying for the earth to just swallow him and never let him out ever again, Feanor is having confused feelings because he would very much like to kill these children, but the children are creating and it is not something he can look down on easily.
Namo is so focused on being cold and unfeeling that he doesn't notice Melkor right besides him, canvas, brush and paint in hand, and in the midst of depicting the very bedroom acts the two girls are concocting. Fingolfin, in the meantime, stops laughing when the two girls include him too in the stories.
By the end of the spiel, everyone is very tried, but the Numenorean teenagers are beaming. Thingol, Feanor, and Fingolfin, they retreat in the Gardens with a newfound trauma to overcome.
One of the two speaks. "Thank you, sir, for letting us talk."
"That was a lot more than our parents cared for, or did." The other chimes in.
Namo feels a little pang of pity.
"Can we call you dad, sir?"
"Yes, you have been so nice, so you can be our dad!"
"And that is a great honor, our dad... Well. He's never been with us."
Namo feels his own emotions peek out a little. He speaks with a very soft tone, almost a parental tone. "Now, children, stop being silly and be on your way. Take some sweets for the road and be on your way."
He never wants to hear another story ever. The two comply and wave at him.
"Thank you, dad!"
"See you later, dad!"
Namo feels a splitting headache about to come, and he will need a lot of decompression time.
Melkor is still there, unwilling to move from the chair he has sat. He is smirking. Namo looks at him, as if to say, should you not be in your realm, you have been freed already.
The Dark Lord looks Namo from head to toe. His voice lowers a little, sounding very sultry. "So did I hear that I can have such a cute nice daddy for myself?"
If Namo blushes any redder, he will self combust. "Melkor, Dark Lord, please, have some self respect!" He exhales, as he hides his face into his hands. Mel is absolutely unfazed.
"What did the little agents of chaos say? Slowburn, enemies to lovers, there was only one desk?" Melkor keeps going.
Namo feels the splitting headache and something else. No, he will not elaborate.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
“But the land of Aman and Eressëa of the Eldar were taken away and removed beyond the reach of Men for ever. And Andor, the Land of Gift, Númenor of the Kings, Elenna of the Star of Eärendil, was utterly destroyed.” - the Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Family Tree Version 3, now featuring dwarves, hobbits, and the intricacies of however ainur are related!
Double lines on each side of a line break are used where lines overlap (---ll | ll---). Dashed lines indicate unknown numbers of generations, and dotted lines are for adoption. Grey text is used for alternative/old draft versions and assumed relationships (such as sticking oropher in with the sons of galadhon, or putting one of the dunedain as the tooks' fairy ancestor).
