[ Daily Tolkien ] Seeking the wayward children of Numenor

Something should be said about the founding of Arnor and Gondor, but it's not easy to assign the establishment of the Dunadan realms in exile their proper place in the Tolkien legendarium. In letter 276, written to Dick Plotz of the Tolkien Society of America in 1965, JRRT said, "...Of all the mythical or 'archetypal' images this is the one most deeply seated in my imagination, and for many years I had a recurrent Atlantis dream: the stupendous and ineluctable wave advancing from the Sea or over the land, sometimes dark, sometimes green and sunlit."

One gets the impression that Tolkien was immensely moved by this legend, and yet only the year before he had told Christopher Bretherton, in letter 257, "Another ingredient, not before mentioned, also came into operation in my need to provide a great function for Strider-Aragorn. What I might call my Atlantis-haunting. This legend or myth or dim memory of some ancient history has always troubled me. In sleep I had the dreadful dream of the ineluctable Wave, either coming out of the quiet sea, or coming in over the green inlands. It still occurs occasionally, though now exorcized by writing about it. It always ends by surrender, and I awake gasping out of deep water. I used to draw it or write bad poems about it...."

Here again he admits to being moved by it, and yet concedes that it only entered the world of Middle-earth as a resolution for his "need to provide a great function for Strider-Aragorn." The incorporation of the Atlantis legend was easy enough in that respect. Tolkien had already written an early version of the Downfall ("The Drowning of Anadune") and he had the primary characters defined. But he had yet to contrive the aftermath of the Downfall, and to work it fully into Middle-earth. Elendil's kingdom, for example, started out in Beleriand (more of which had survived in early efforts to map out this strange new world than eventually decided upon for the published stories).

A common though occasional question asked by Tolkien readers is how many people Elendil could have fit upon his nine ships. In "Akallabeth" it is made clear that Elendil and his people stayed in ships in the harbor of Romenna for some considerable period of time.

Elendil's people had to have lived on those ships for weeks or months. How could they do so, if they had filled the ships with their wives and children, and their heirlooms, and great store of goods? They must have had a pretty good waybread recipe, or else were taking food from the mainland every now and then. But the impression one gets is that there weren't that many people on the ships. Suppose each ship was large, but carried only 100 families or so. At best Elendil might have had about 4500-5000 people with him.

So where did the rest of the populations of Arnor and Gondor come from, if they weren't all on those ships? The answer is clearly that there were people already living in the lands which became Arnor and Gondor. And this fact troubles some readers, because it seems to them that Numenorean survivors are too few to give rise to the immense numbers of Dunadan soldiers who seem to fill the stories of the later history. And how could the culture of Numenor have such an impact if it's imposed on the inhabitants of Middle-earth by so few refugees?

A less obvious fact escapes the notice of many readers, it seems. There were already many Numenoreans living in northern Middle-earth, members of the Faithful who had fled there previously, or their descendants, some of mixed blood, some of pure Numenorean descent. These Numenoreans and mixed-Numenoreans must have vastly outnumbered Elendil's 9 ship fulls of refugees. They had been settling and flourishing in Middle-earth for the equivalent of generations.

Numenor in fact had three havens in northern Middle-earth: Pelargir, Lond Daer Ened, and Tharbad. Pelargir began as a royal haven, probably a naval base of some sort, an extension or assertion of Numenorean power. Situated so close to Mordor its chief strategic purpose is obscure, but may have been intended to help shield the Elves of Edhellond from the threat of Sauron's power. When Gil-galad first called upon Numenor for aid, soon after the Elves realized Sauron had made the One Ring, the Numenoreans built lines of forts along the Gwathlo and Lhun rivers.

In the War of the Elves and Sauron (S.A. 1695-1701) most of the Gwathlo forts were bypassed and ignored by Sauron. Their garrisons must have been small and ineffectual, but they assured the Numenoreans of a measure of "stealth" when Ciryon, the admiral in command of the Numenorean relief fleet, sent a force up the Gwathlo to Tharbad. The Lhun forts ensured that Lindon remained free. Sauron carried his campaign all the way to the river, but the stubborn resistance of the Eldar and Dunedain prevailed and Sauron was unable to cross the river.

Numenoreans had been settling in Middle-earth for nearly 500 years by this time. Although it's conceivable (perhaps even probable) that most of those settlements had occurred neared the Elvish lands the Numenoreans must have been devastated in the war. It would not be long (circa 1800) before Numenorean colonists became Numenorean conquerors, establishing great fortresses along the coastlines and carving out dominions.

Pelargir was founded in 2350, about 100 years after Tar-Ancalimon became King of Numenor (Tar-Atanamir took the scepter in 2251 according to the Tale of Years in LOTR, Tar-Ancalimon took it in 2221 according to the Line of Elros in -- in The Peoples of Middle-earth Christopher Tolkien shows that the LOTR entry is in error). It was in his time that the Numenoreans became divided into the Faithful and the Kings Men.

It was also in Tar-Ancalimon's time (2221-2386) that Numenor began to establish the great fortress-havens along the coasts and to extract tribute from the men of Middle-earth. The fortress of Umbar was built in the year 2280. The Nazgul had already appeared in Middle-earth in some undescribed fashion, most likely as the leaders of Sauron's armies or his emissaries.

The initial differences between the Faithful and the Kings Men must have been philosophical, differences of intellectual discourse, rather than violent. All the Numenoreans were still loyal to their king. So the establishment of Pelargir as a royal haven doesn't necessarily preclude the possibility that it was always a refuge for the Faithful. Imagine a lord of Numenor who would be sent to Pelargir to defend the Anduin and extend Numenor's protection to Edhellond. How likely was he to be one of the Kings Men, jealous and envious of the Eldar, or one of the Faithful, reverent toward the Eldar and the Valar?

The public appointment of a commander sympathetic toward the Faithful and Eldar could have sparked immediate and long-term interest in Pelargir among the Faithful. Tolkien never explains why Numenoreans would want to leave Numenor as early as the year 1200 (when they began establishing permanent colonies) but the Faithful may have wanted to get away from the bickering and gradual estrangement of the Dunedain from the Eldar.

And yet, Lond Daer Ened and Tharbad were closer to the Elves of Lindon and Imladris. If the Faithful wanted to live close to the Eldar, why didn't most of them go farther north? The answer must be that there was less room for settlement in the north. The implication of the gradual drift of the Faithful toward Pelargir is that the peoples of Eriador made a relatively swift recovery from the devastations of the War of the Elves and Sauron. Unfinished Tales indicates that Sauron overran Eriador, slaying or "driving off" most of its people. A lot of those people must have been driven across the Lhun, or into Imladris with Elrond (who is said to have gathered many Elves and Men there).

There were many different kinds of Men in Eriador in the Second Age. There were Edainic peoples mostly of Beorian descent (but also some Marachians). There were Gwathuirim, who were related to the Folk of Haleth in Beleriand and thus to the Numenoreans. There were in the far northern lands Men related to the Folk of Bor, the swarthy men who had settled in Lothlann in the late Second Age and allied themselves with Maedhros. And there were "evil Men", living in the eastern lands, presumably the ancestors of the hill-folk of Rhudaur and the Men of Angmar in the Third Age who served the Lord of the Nazgul.

There were at least two kinds of Men living along the Anfalas and in the Ered Nimrais, not including the Druedain. Some of these men were Gwathuirim, the ancestors of the Dead Men of Dunharrow and many of Gondor's people in the Third Age. These Gwathuirim inhabited the mountains or the lands adjacent to them and are occasionally referred to as the "wild men of the dales". The other men are an unnamed group who lived along the coasts. They appear to be swarthy (dark-skinned) and very unlike the Numenoreans in appearance.

Perhaps because of the proximity of the Elves and Mordor there weren't many men living in the lands near Pelargir. Many of the Gwathuirim worshiped and served Sauron, and that would give the Numenoreans reason not only to fight them but to take their lands. They would have retreated to the higher dales. The men of the coasts either submitted to Numenor or withdrew farther west and south. That left the lands of Belfalas and Lebennin open to colonization.

A natural consequence of the tendency of the Faithful to settle in or near Pelargir would also be a division of the Faithful Numenoreans into an "old blood" group and a "new blood" group. That is, the majority of the families in the northern lands were probably descended from early colonists. The majority of the families in the south were probably constantly infused with new bloodlines emigrating from Numenor.

Despite the animosity of the Gwathuirim, the northern Dunedain seem to have become better adjusted to living in and among many different peoples. They didn't drive other Men out of their lands, and probably due to the influence of Gil-galad's kingdom enjoyed greater peace and security. The southern Dunedain lived with the threat of war from both the mountains and Mordor.

Of course, for many centuries Pelargir must have been able to depend upon support from Umbar and other Numenorean fortresses farther south. If the constant influx of peoples wasn't enough to help keep the region securely in Numenorean hands reinforcements were close by. So Pelargir must also have taken on the status of a frontier province or provincial capitol. Its importance wasn't just strategic but also political and economic. The city must have been the source of many goods which the colonists couldn't make for themselves. It should also have become a trading hub.

Emigration from Numenor need not have beeb very heavy. In fact, only a few hundred colonists need have arrived in Pelargir or Eriador a year. After many centuries the populations of both regions would have been considerably increased by Numenorean families. The half-caste families are hard to explain. Were they the descendants of concubines of conquering Numenorean warriors or powerful Numenorean lords, or were they the product of adventurers who, advancing beyond the frontiers of Numenorean colonization, took wives from among the native peoples? It seems unlikely many Numenorean women would have wandered out into the wilderness to find husbands, so the majority of the mixed families must have been started by Numenorean men.

Who were these men? Why couldn't or wouldn't they find wives among their own people? The answer must lie in part in the story of Aldarion and Erendis. He was an archetype among his people, an adventurer who couldn't quite let go of Numenor but who loved the sea and Middle-earth. Aldarion's adventures caused the failure of his marriage, and Erendis' bitterness was inherited in part by their daughter Ancalime. She put off marrying for as long as possible, until forced to make a choice by the Council of Numenor, and even then her marriage despite its fairy-tale beginnings ended in grief. And Ancalime abandoned the policies of her father, turning her back on Middle-earth.

Although Ancalime was still reigning Queen when the Numenoreans began to colonize Middle-earth, she gave up the scepter in 1280. The colonizations may have been undertaken without her blessing, and perhaps her son Anarion was a man of different mind and mood. But one possible implication of Ancalime's indifference toward or dislike of Middle-earth may be that her father's Guild of Venturers became so ill-favored they started wandering away from Numenor. The division of the Numenoreans into the Faithful and the Kings Men may have been preceded by a more subtle division into the Wanderers and the Stay-at-homes.

If the early colonists were the more adventurous Numenoreans, there may have been few women among them who felt inclined to go to Middle-earth. Perhaps many of these women only went reluctantly, and insisted on settling in lands near the Eldar so they could at least find some comfort in the strange and wild mortal lands. The difference between the colonists of Pelargir and the colonists of Eriador, therefore, may also be that the early families of the north were more pure-blooded than the early families of the south. So the families of mixed descent may have been more numerous in the south.

But with the division of Numenor and the emigration of the Faithful to Middle-earth a profound and radical change in settlement patterns must have emerged. Now whole families and households were sailing over Sea to the mortal lands, and most of them were going to Pelargir. They needed land but they also needed to know they would not be harassed, either by Sauron, the wild men of the Dales, or the Kings Men. Pelargir was a visible source of Numenorean power. There was really no equivalent to it in the north. A strong garrison there, loyal to the Kings of Numenor but nonetheless friendly to the Eldar would ensure that the political strife didn't spill over into the colonies.

The ultimate result of the gradual shift in settlement patterns, favoring the southern colonization over the northern, would have been a fundamental division in philosophical outlooks. The northern Dunedain must have been more stable and therefore more conservative in outlook than the Dunedain of Pelargir and its dependent settlements. Dunedain in the south would have been more prone to open new lands. Dunedain in the north would have been more likely to live in peace with their neighbors. Hence, a Bree could rise up in the heart of Dunadan territory, where the majority of the people were Gwathuirim, but the people of the southern lands were mostly of Dunadan or mixed descent because they were constantly at war with the Gwathuirim, who had been driven back to the mountains.

The arrival of Elendil's ships in Middle-earth did not alter these fundamental differences. Elendil reached Lindon with four ships of Numenoreans. At most they could have founded one small city by themselves. More likely they spread out through Eriador. Probably a majority of these "New Numenoreans" settled with Elendil by Lake Evendim at Annuminas, and some would have led the colonists who garrisoned Fornost Erain in the North Downs. But these cities must have been populated mostly by people recruited from the local populations, which had been established two thousand years before and had been recolonizing Eriador for more than fifteen hundred years since the War of the Elves and Sauron.

Isildur and Anarion reached Anduin with five ships. Again, they had too few people to build more than one city, and they appear to have settled at Osgiliath early on. Pelargir may have welcomed the sons of Elendil but there was either no room for five shiploads of refugees there or else the tradition of opening new lands prevailed and Isildur and Anarion led a new wave of conquest and colonization north along the river's shores.

Of Osgiliath and Annuminas, Osgiliath was probably the larger city. Not only did Isildur and Anarion arrive with one more ship than their father, Pelargir had probably been the haven most sought after by the Faithful Numenoreans who fled Numenor in the years of Ar-Pharazon's rule. He had driven many of them to leave Numenor before Elendil rounded up the last handful of families. So there must also have been a large population of recent immigrants to swell the numbers of people sympathetic to Isildur and Anarion. They would have been familiar with the family of Amandil.

One can almost picture Isildur arriving in Middle-earth on his storm-driven ship. The coastlines have been ravaged, doubtless many people have died or are homeless, and they are wondering what the heck is going on. As word of the arrival of the refugees spreads through the lands colonists would descend upon Pelargir. They would have been curious for a glimpse of the last Numenoreans to arrive in Middle-earth, but there must also have been many looking for guidance and reassurance. Perhaps Isildur and Anarion stood upon the quays of Pelargir or in some great public square and in Feanorian fashion addressed their people and moved them to rebuild their homes and establish a new realm. Out of fear and despair would arise hope and ambition.

Whole families, clans, communities must have made the decision to move deeper inland. Osgiliath was founded, and Minas Anor, and Minas Ithil (possibly in 3320, possibly later, between 3339 and 3379, when Isildur's second son was born in Osgiliath and his third son was born in Minas Ithil respectively). The colonists spread throughout Ithilien and Anorien, and they entered Calenardhon. Isildur reached some sort of settlement with the King of the Mountains, not incorporating the Gwathuirim realm into Gondor. Nonetheless, fortresses were built at Orthanc and Aglarond, doubtless to control the Gap of Calenardhon and the passage of the Angren river (which was later called the Isen by the Rohirrim).

It's doubtful Elendil's people broke many new lands or felt the desire to. If the Dunedain of Gondor took Isildur and Anarion as their lords because they were brave and ambitious, the people of Arnor must have accepted Elendil because he was noble and represented the last of a great heritage from Numenor. There should have been few if any Elrosians in Middle-earth. If the immigrants had mostly settled near Pelargir the northern Dunedain may have retained a greater reverence for Numenor, and Elendil and his companions would be their only link with the past. They would, furthermore, be reminders of what was great about Numenor, and not what had become dark and forbidding.

Great changes must have been wrought upon the northern lands as well as in the south. Lond Daer Ened seems to have been abandoned, and Tharbad became the chief port of the north. How many people were displaced along the coast and driven inland? These may have constituted the bulk of Elendil's colonists, and if they came from Lond Daer Ened they probably were mostly of Numenorean descent.

The conservative values of the north survived long into the Third Age. Although Arnor may have fought one or more wars under the High Kings, it did not embark upon wars of conquest and was generally safe from invasion. Gondor on the other hand remained in many ways a frontier society, or at least retained the vigor of a frontier society which enabled it to continue expanding for a thousand years. The Gondorians moved west and north along the coasts, and they clashed with Umbar and the Haradrim and pushed their borders south.

The difference in outlooks and military advances between the two kingdoms may stem from initial differences in colonization patterns, which in turn were influenced by the events occurring in Numenor. A bolder, more arrogant people may have arisen in Gondor because its history reflected a greater degree of instability, arising from Numenor's restlessness. Arnor's people seem to have forgotten the restlessness, and to have become less ambitious. They were Numenoreans living peacefully beside other Men.

It may be worthwhile to ask if, during the violent storm which drove the ships of the Faithful eastward, whether a moment of choice came upon the captains, and if the more conservative captains steered closer to Elendil's ship and the more adventurous captains stayed with Isildur and Anarion. The older generations sailed away northward toward Lindon and a life much like that their ancestors had known. And the younger generations forged a path toward the frontier around Pelargir, and a grander destiny than the old families could conceive of.

In the end both kingdoms declined. Arnor descended into a sort of brilliant decadence, ending in the squabbles of three princes who could not live together as their ancestors had been able to live beside Men of strange kin. Gondor eventually turned its aggression inward, embroiling itself in a war of pride and arrogance and nearly bleeding itself dry in the process. In both situations the final legacy of Numenor made its appearance: the darker nature of the Dunedain, their tendency toward division and self-destruction. Neither kingdom, born out of the ashes of the older realm, could quite shed itself of the Numenorean heritage which had brought an end to Numenor.

So the founding of the realms in exile seems more a respite than a resolution or reward. The Faithful could not escape their doom. Numenor didn't fail so much as proceed through a process of winnowing, and when the wheat was separated from the chaff Arnor and Gondor started the process over again. They were, like the seedling of the White Tree which Isildur brought to Middle-earth, seedlings which replanted the Numenorean culture in fertile ground. But they were also a step in transition in which the Dunedain were moving back toward their roots. Eventually, they would no longer be Dunedain, but would again be Men of Middle-earth.

And that is where Arnor and Gondor belong in the legendarium. They are the gateways by which Tolkien brought his Atlanteans home, and removed them from legend and restored them to the path of history. All or nearly all was forgotten of the Numenor which had been, both great and humble, because it was never really a part of Middle-earth, greatly though it had contributed toward the construction of that world, both literarily and historically.

Author: Michael Martinez
Published on: September 8, 2000
Michael Martinez is the author of Visualizing Middle-earth

The Daily Tolkien articles by various authors	The Tolkien Virgin articles by Mark-Edmond
ARTICLES 01-10	ARTICLES 01-10
ARTICLES 11-20	ARTICLES 11-20
ARTICLES 21-30	21) Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad
ARTICLES 31-40	22) Of Turin Turambar
ARTICLES 41-50	23) Of the Ruin of Doriath
ARTICLES 51-60	24) Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin
61) Gil-galad was an Elven-king...	25) Of the Voyage of Earendil and the War of Wrath
62) The Folk of Angmar	26) Summary Of The Silmarillion, Akallabeth and Epilogue
63) Is Your Canon On The Loose?	27) The Hobbit - Chapter 1: An Unexpected Party
64) Razing Arnor: How real were the Dunadan conspiracies?	28) The Hobbit - Chapters 2, 3, & 4
65) The Great Worms	29) The Hobbit - Chapter 5
66) The magic of the minstrels
67) Seeking the wayward children of Numenor

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