Free Republic

Have island, will rebelNumenor must have seemed a very strange place compared to Middle-earth. The first people to dwell there were Men, not Elves or Dwarves. And there were no Dwarves, or Hobbits, and few Elves (who may have actually "lived" in the huge garden-region of Nisimaldar that they helped to cultivate) for any length of time. Numenor was for all intents and purposes a "Mannish" state and society.Of course, Tolkien says the Eldar of Tol Eressea visited the island almost from the very start, and the Elves taught the Dunedain many things. What things? Why didn't the Eldar teach...

Before the Numenoreans cameThings in Middle-earth changed radically as a result of the War of Wrath. The war lasted about 42 years, beginning in the year 545 of the First Age and ending in the year 587. During that time huge parts of Middle-earth -- Beleriand, the far northern lands, the inland sea of Helcar -- were ruined or reshaped. In Morgoth's Ring Christopher Tolkien presents a previously unpublished essay by his father which ponders the motives of the various forces in the Silmarillion.In the first and second parts of the essay JRRT explains how Melkor diminished himself gradually by...