This weekend in the Hall of Fire, we will be discussing one of the great (and tragic) stories of Tolkien’s Legendarium, Akallabêth: The Downfall of Numenor.
A land was made for the Edain to dwell in, neither part of Middle-earth nor of Valinor, for it was sundered from either by a wide sea; yet it was nearer to Valinor. It was raised by Ossë out of the depths of the Great Water, and it was established by Aulë and enriched by Yavanna; and the Eldar brought thither flowers and fountains out of Tol Eressëa. Akallbeth, The Silmarillion.
Akallabêth: The Downfall of Númenor
Documented in The Silmarillion, Akallabêth charts the rise and fall of the Dúnedain of Numenor. Rewarded with a bounteous land of their own for their forefathers’ sacrifices in the dreadful wars against Morgoth, after centuries of peace and propsperity the anscestors of the Númenoreans proceed to throw it all away in a fit of hubris and misplaced envy of the immortality of the elves of Valinor and of the Valar themselves.
Not even the most earnest entreaties of elven emissaries sent by Manwë himself seems able to dissuade the Númenoreans that Valinor itself is the source immortality.
And when the last and mightiest Númenorean king Ar-Pharazôn brings Sauron to the island as his prisoner and hostage, it’s not long before the Dark Lord seduces the majority of the populace to the open worship of Morgoth and has the king plotting war upon the Undying Lands.
Join us this weekend for what is sure to be yet another lively debate.
Some suggested reading:
The Silmarillion: Akallabêth
Unfinished Tales: The Druedain
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