'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power': The Fall of Numenor explained

Thus far, 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' has managed to impress even the most cynicalTolkien fans. Of course, the show might end up undoing all the goodwill by the finale, but that is somethingonly the future can answer. The series is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, a continent in Arda, the fantasy world created by late English author JRR Tolkien in his books 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit'. Created by J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the show has'The Lord of the Rings' in the title, but is not directly based on any writing by Tolkien. It takes material from the LotR book appendices and builds a familiar good vs evil story. Only, the players in this game, except for a couple of exceptions (Galadriel and Elrond), are different.

Charles Edwards, Robert Aramayo, and Morfydd Clark, lead the giant ensemble cast.

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What is Númenor?

If you are watching the show, you must have heard the name of Númenor, a kingdom of Men (uppercase because it signifies the race), and even visited it. Númenor does not exist by the time we meet Bilbo Baggins in 'The Hobbit'. The Fall of Númenor is one of the major events in the history of Arda. The event has been teased in the fourth episode of the show. So what was Númenor? And how did it come to be extinct?

Númenor was a kingdom on the island of Númenor. The war against Morgoth, who was the Dar Lord before Sauron, was fought by the Valar but it was the Men who suffered the most. The Valar gave the Three Houses of The Edain the island as a gift for their sufferings. They were thenceforth called Númenoreans. Elros was the first king of Númenor, his house, called House of Elros, reigned over it until the island was destroyed. After the Fall of Númenor, the House of Elros survived in exile as the survivors sailed to Middle-earth. There, the Númenoreans built two kingdoms: Arnor and Gondor. As you can probably tell, Arnor also did not exist during the War of the Ring, at the end of the Third Age. It was destroyed in squabbles between princes who had divided it into three regions.

Aragorn was a descendant of the Númenoreans and also a descendant of the House of Elros through Isildur. He was, in fact, the last descendant of Elros. This is why he was called the rightful king of Gondor, the surviving Númenorean kingdom on Middle-earth. After he became the king, he rebuilt Arnor.

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How were Númenoreans different from Men of Middle-earth?

The Númenoreans were Men but they were quite different from the Men who lived on Middle-earth. They were taller, stronger, and fairer. They also have enhanced lifespans of up to 500 years. They were said to be the greatest of all Men.

Why did Númenor get destroyed?

Now we are approaching spoiler territory. So although those who have read Tolkien know what happens, the show fans might want to stop reading at this point. So while Morgoth and his lieutenant Sauron were defeated, Morgoth was sent to a place from which he cannot come back. However, Sauron escaped. He cooked up evil plans and assumed an inoffensive persona and befriended the Númenorean king Ar-Pharazôn (yes, the same one). He began to corrupt the king and fuelled the fire of the monarch's insatiable ambition. At Númenor, he exhorted the locals to worship Morgoth as a god. He was so convincing and wily that he Ar-Pharazôn against the Valar of Aman (also called Undying Lands). Valar are the angels of Arda willed into existence by Eru Ilúvatar, the God, and Morgoth was the greatest of them all (he was, thus, the Lucifer equivalent of Arda). In comparison, Sauron was among the Maiar, powerful spirits also created by Eru (Gandalf and all the other wizards were also Maiar).

Anyway, Sauron convinced Ar-Pharazôn to wage war against the Valar themselves. A powerful fleet set sail for Aman. But it was destroyed by Eru Ilúvatar. Númenor itself was sunk beneath the Sundering Seas. The sad story of Númenor echoes the fall of Atlantis, the mythical Greek kingdom, and Biblical retribution. Tolkien was a devout Catholic and interweaved his beliefs into the fabric of Arda.

As mentioned above, Númenoreans did not just disappear. They survived in the form of Men of Gondor who fought and defeated Sauron's forces in the War of the Ring.

Míriel, the queen regent of Númenor played by Battle of the Pelennor Fields, Cynthia Addai-Robinson witnesses the inevitable fall of her father's kingdom. Sadly, whatever she does, that future will come to pass.