Editor’s Note: The following article contains spoilers for episodes 1-4 of The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power and Lore of Middle-earth.Last episode Rings of Power begins with a dream sequence showing us our deepest fear of Queen Regent Miriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), watching as huge ocean waves rise from all sides of the island and destroy their homeland. With everything we know about Numenor and its people from J. R. R. Tolkien, in this presentiment many future events are foreshadowed. The series has already discussed the warning signs of the Fall of Numenor, and deeper lore tells us a lot about the potential future of some of these characters.
Origin of Numenor
The island kingdom of Numenor is one of the most important pieces of Tolkien’s lore, both as a culture and as a greater threat to evil than the average people of Middle-earth. Their culture revolves around their centuries-old relationship with the Valar, the elves living in the immortal lands to the west who gave the Isle of Edain, the people who supported Elrond (Robert Aramayo) brother of Elros against Morgoth in the first age. Elros became the first king of Númenor and, himself born a half-elf before becoming mortal, built his kingdom around their relationship with the elves. We see a portrait of Elros and Elrond in the Numenorean Hall of Logs in Episode 3, which shows the inhabitants of the island communicating with a group of elves visiting Elrond. The Elves gave Numenor birds, plants, skills, knowledge, and the White Tree of Nimloth. After the gifts of the elves helped them build their kingdom, they began building ships and became sailors with a reverence for the sea, and viewers hear many of them say, “The sea is always right.”
While Númenórean culture began with a deep respect for the elves of the Valar, who gave them their home on the island, the envy and greed of some rulers over the generations led the people to develop a deep distrust and hostility towards all elves. Miriel’s father, Tar-PalantirKen Blackburn), was the first king in a long time to attempt to restore friendly relations with the elves in the West. Due to the intimidating influence of the anti-elven faction “Servants of the King”, Tar-Palantir’s rule is filled with rebellion against the Faithful who supported him, and corruption within his own ranks. In the last episode Rings of Power, viewers will find that the story of the rulers of Numenor is closely related to the events taking place in Tolkien’s lore. Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) climbs the tower where the king is allegedly being held, and we find that Miriel is already standing there over her elderly father, who is clearly dying. Miriel’s true motives are still unknown to viewers as she seems to support both the King’s Men and their desire to stick to themselves as well as the Faithful like her father and Elendil (Lloyd Owen). Time will tell which side she really is on, but Tolkien’s accounts of the events in Numenor offer many clues as to what Miriel’s fate might be.
What does the white tree Nimlot mean?
The White Tree of Nimloth was one of the gifts the Valar gave to the Númenóreans when they created their island. Its twisted white branches curl upwards, and the white petals on the tree are always in bloom. Queen Miriel shares the Faithful’s view of the tree, explaining to Elendil: “The Faithful believe that when the petals of the White Tree fall, it is not an idle affair, but the tears of the Valar themselves, a living reminder. that their eyes and their judgment are always upon us.” The tree should not have a negative connotation of condemnation, but simply a reminder of the relationship between the Valar and the support they gave each other. Miriel confesses to Galadriel in a vision of Númenor’s destruction in the Palantír, and then explains how “only Númenor can bring about her downfall”. The Valar gave the island to the people of the Edin because of their virtue, and it is this virtue that sustains the island. However, if their virtue is destroyed and they turn to the path of darkness, the Valar may deprive them of their rights to the island. The white pedals falling from the tree at the end of the fourth episode clearly indicate that Queen Miriel’s decision to send Galadriel away without offering to help Sauron deeply damaged the Numenoreans’ virtue. That’s why it was so important to reverse the decision and convince her people to go with Galadriel to fight Sauron.
Possible corruption of Ar-Pharazon by Sauron
Until now in the series Ar-Pharazon (Tristan Gravel) appears to act as an adviser to Queen Regent Miriel. He is not the highest authority in Numenor, but his interactions in the market may give the impression that many citizens see him as a leader. According to Tolkien, Ar-Pharazon was the nephew of Tar-Palantir, and his father was the leader of the King’s Men, who hated their king for suggesting that they renew their relationship with the elves. Ar-Pharazon always believed that his father should have been the ruler, not his uncle, because of his disdain for the elves. Lore tells us that in a desperate attempt to seize power after Tar-Palantir’s death, Ar-Pharazon forces his cousin Miriel to marry him, giving him the right to rule Numenor. He is easily corrupted and believes that the end justifies the means, and the darkest powers in Middle-earth are easily aware of this when they come face to face.
The Numenoreans go to Middle-earth in the second age to help the humans and elves defeat Sauron when he tried to reassert power in the Southlands. When they finally defeated him, Ar-Pharazon decides to capture him and bring him back to Numenor. Sauron, in his finest form, uses his magic to manipulate the minds of Ar-Pharazon and the King’s Men into believing they can take immortality from the Valar if they garrison and attack them. While they are building the ships, Sauron also urges Ar-Pharazon to build a huge temple five hundred feet high. Sauron uses the temple to preach lies to the Valar and make rules to keep immortality for himself only. He also manipulates them into thinking that the only true Creator, Eru Iluvitar, was created by the Elves and that there is a true God that the Valar keep secret, named Melkor.
Numenor has fallen, but hope remains
All of the king’s people begin to worship Melkor, not knowing that this was actually the real name of Sauron’s master Morgoth, the very enemy they helped defeat the Valar. They begin capturing and sacrificing the Faithful Numenoreans who were still loyal to the elves, forcing Elendil, his friends and family into hiding. Eventually Sauron convinces Ar-Pharazon to cut down the White Tree of Nimloth and burn it as a sacrifice in the Temple of Melkor, but not before Isildur (Maxim Baldry) takes on the dangerous mission of picking fruit from a tree before it is cut down. He nearly died to get the fruit to safety, but planting seeds from the fruit preserved the tree’s lineage, and it would later become the White Tree planted in Gondor.
When the garrison is ready, all the men are forced to sail towards the Valar with Ar-Pharazon to attack the elves. The Elves of the Valar call upon Eru Iluvitar, and in an instant the Maker of All opens a great chasm in the sea and sinks the Númenórean fleet, and then crushes the soldiers who had landed with Ar-Pharazon in a landslide. . At the same moment, the island of Numenor and all the people on it are destroyed by a huge wave that rolls on them from all sides. Queen Miriel is crushed by the waves as she tries to climb the slopes of the sacred mountain of Meneltarma. Sauron’s physical body is destroyed on the sunken island, but his spirit was able to escape across the sea to Middle-earth. Elendil and the rest of the Loyal Numenoreans, who refused to join the garrison, waited on the eastern side of the island in their ships and, when the destruction began, were able to get far enough away that they were not killed along with the rest. islands. A strong gust of wind threw all these ships towards Middle-earth immediately after the island was completely flooded. Numenor was never seen or heard from again. Given Miriel’s premonition and their decision to go with Galadriel and face Sauron, it would seem that the destruction of Númenor is imminent at some point in Rings of Power.
Source: Collider
