Blind Read Through: J.R.R. Tolkien; The Silmarillion, Akallabêth, Conclusion
“And there is not now upon Earth any place abiding where the memory of a time without evil is preserved. For Ilùvatar cast back the Great Seas west of Middle-earth, and the Empty Lands east of it, and new lands and new seas were mande, and the world was diminished, for Valinor and Eressëa were taken from it into the realm of hidden things.“
Welcome back to another Blind Read! This week we delve into the end of Númenor as we conclude Akallabêth.
We left off last week with the Númenóreans burning down Nimloth, the White Tree from Valinor. The tree’s destruction was to indicate the downfall of the Númenórean race because of the evil influence of Sauron and Melkor.
“Now madness and sickness assailed them; and yet they were afraid to die and go out into the dark, the realm of the lord that they had taken; and they cursed themselves in their agony.“
The Númenóreans suddenly became quick to anger, and there were many killings of people who rebelled against the strength of Númenor. For years it “seemed to the Númenóreans that they prospered, and if they were not increased in happiness, yet they grew more strong, and their rich men ever richer.“
I had previously compared Númenor to the Roman empire, and I think this is a great example. The Roman empire grew so big and grand that, for years, it was eating itself from the inside. What started as a republic became a monarchy with a single person with ultimate power. With that ultimate power comes hubris and selfishness, leading to civilizations’ downfall.
This is what happened to Númenor. They were angry with the Valar and the Eldar because the Númenóreans were mortal, despite their abnormally long lives. They held onto that anger, letting pride get in the way. They grew more intelligent and advanced than the people of Middle-earth, and they were the only culture able to capture Sauron.
But Ar-Pharazôn thought they captured Sauron because of how mighty Númenor had become. This misled confidence led to Sauron becoming an advisor to the king, creating the domino effect that ultimately killed off the culture.
The Númenoreans became “fierce men of war,” and Pharazôn “grew to the mightiest tyrant that had yet been in the world since the reign of Morgoth, though in truth, Sauron ruled all from behind the throne.”
He ruled that way for years, with Sauron as his closest advisor, until he began “walking under the shadow of death.” Pharazôn was mortal, and it was only a matter of time before his body gave out. Still, Sauron’s words ate at him: “The Valar have possessed themselves of the land where there is no death; and they lie to you concerning it, hiding it as best they may.”
Pharazôn became an outspoken detractor of the Valar and a supporter of Morgoth, so he made it known that he was going to sail to Valar to discover their secret of immortality and take it for himself.
The faithful learned of this, and Amandil, Elendil’s father and Isildur’s grandfather, chose to follow in his ancestor’s footsteps. He would sail to Valinor as Eärendil did and warn the Valar about the impending attack, hoping for clemency for the rest of Númenór. Eärendil did so with the Noldor at the end of the First Age, and Amandil was hoping for the same in the Second Age, but “Men could not a second time be saved by any such embassy, and for the treason of Númenór, there was no easy absolving.”
Amandil was never heard from or seen again. In response, Elendil and the faithful loaded up on their ships to be ready for anything to come. “Many things there were of beauty and power, such as the Númenóreans had contrived in the days of their wisdom, vessels and jewels, and scrolls of lore written in scarlet and black. And Seven Stones they had, the gift of the Eldar; but in the ship of Isildur was guarded the young tree, the scion of Nimloth the Fair.“
Hearing nothing from Amandil and seeing a change in weather, they decided to sail west to Middle-earth and leave Númenor behind. Notice that the Seven stones were the Palantirí, and the descendant of the great Trees of Valinor was with them.
Pharazôn had already set sail when Elendil and the faithful left, and because of the great Eagles of Manwë, the Valar knew the Númenórean fleet was on their way.
“Then Manwë upon the Mountain called upon Ilúvatar, and for that time the Valar laid down their government in Arda. But Ilúvatar showed forth his power, and he changed the fashion of the world; and a great chasm opened in the sea between Númenor and the Deathless Lands, and the waters flowed down into it, and the noise and smoke of the cataracts went up to heaven, and the world was shaken. And all the fleets of the Númenóreans were drawn down into the abyss, and they were drowned and swallowed up forever.“
Pharazôn made it to Valinor but was “buried under falling hills.” and the great wave created by the chasm Ilúvatar generated wiped Númenór from the face of the Earth. It was the event known as The Drowning of Númenór.
Sauron was caught in the catastrophe, and we would hope that would end him, but he is Maiar, the immortal servant to the Valar. “Sauron was not mortal flesh, and though he was robbed now of that shape in which he had wrought so great and evil so that he could never again appear fair in the eyes of Men, yet his spirit arose out of the deep and passed as a shadow and a black wind over the sea, and came back to Middle-earth and to Mordor that was his home. There he took up again his great Ring in Barad-Dûr, and dwelt there, dark and silent, until he wrought himself a new guise, an image of malice and hatred made visible; and the Eye of Sauron the Terrible few could endure.”
Thus the Second Age ends with another significant shift in the world, and another Dark Lord conquered with the help of Iúvatar.
There is only one more chapter in The Silmarillion, and it’s one that most people would look forward to more than anything that came previously. The title? “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age.”
Join me next week (Thanksgiving!) as we review Episode 5 of The Rings of Power before jumping back into this last chapter!
Sean McBride 
You must be logged in to post a comment.