Unfinished Tales

by J. R. R. Tolkien

  Of the later years of Tar-Aldarion nothing can now be said, save that he seems to have continued his voyages to Middle- earth, and more than once left Ancalimë as his regent. His last voyage took place about the end of the first millennium of the Second Age; and in the year 1075 Ancalimë became the first Ruling Queen of Númenor. It is told that after the death of Tar-Aldarion in 1098 Tar-Ancalimë neglected all her father’s policies and gave no further aid to Gil-galad in Lindon. Her son Anárion, who was afterwards the eighth Ruler of Númenor, first had two daughters. They disliked and feared the Queen, and refused the Heirship, remaining unwed, since the Queen would not in revenge allow them to marry. 28 Anárion’s son Súrion was born the last, and was the ninth Ruler of Númenor.

  Of Erendis it is said that when old age came upon her, neglected by Ancalimë and in bitter loneliness, she longed once more for Aldarion; and learning that he was gone from Númenor on what proved to be his last voyage but that he was soon expected to return, she left Emerië at last and journeyed unrecognised and unknown to the haven of Rómenna. There, it seems, she met her fate; but only the words ‘Erendis perished in water in the year 985’ remain to suggest how it came to pass.

  NOTES

  Chronology

  Anardil (Aldarion) was born in the year 700 of the Second Age, and his first voyage to Middle-earth took place in 725 – 7. Meneldur his father became King of Númenor in 740. The Guild of Venturers was founded in 750, and Aldarion was proclaimed King’s Heir in 800. Erendis was born in 771. Aldarion’s seven year voyage (p. 229) covered the years 806 – 13, the first voyage of the Palarran (p. 230) 816 – 20, the voyage of seven ships in defiance of Tar-Meneldur (p. 232) 824 – 9, and the voyage of fourteen years that followed immediately on the last (pp. 232 – 3) 829 – 43.

  Aldarion and Erendis were betrothed in 858; the years of the voyage undertaken by Aldarion after his betrothal (p. 242) were 863 – 9, and the wedding was in 870. Ancalimë was born in the Spring of 873. The Hirilondë sailed in the Spring of 877 and Aldarion’s return, followed by the breach with Erendis, took place in 882; he received the Sceptre of Númenor in 883.

  1 In the ‘Description of Númenor’ (p. 215) he is called Tar-Meneldur Elentirmo (Star-watcher). See also his entry in ‘The Line of Elros’ (p. 282).

  2 Soronto’s part in the story can now only be glimpsed; see pp. 271 –2.

  3 As is told in the ‘Description of Númenor’ (p. 221) it was Vëantur who first achieved the voyage to Middle-earth in the year 600 of the Second Age (he was born in 451). In the Tale of Years in Appendix B to The Lord of the Rings the annal entry for the year 600 states: ‘The first ships of the Númenoreans appear off the coasts.’

  There is a description in a late philological essay of the first meeting of the Númenóreans with Men of Eriador at that time: ‘It was six hundred years after the departure of the survivors of the Atani [Edain] over the sea to Númenor that a ship first came again out of the West to Middle-earth and passed up the Gulf of Lhûn. Its captain and mariners were welcomed by Gil-galad; and thus was begun the friendship and alliance of Númenor with the Eldar of Lindon. The news spread swiftly and Men in Eriador were filled with wonder. Although in the First Age they had dwelt in the East, rumours of the terrible war “beyond the Western Mountains” [i.e. Ered Luin] had reached them; but their traditions preserved no clear account of it, and they believed that all the Men who dwelt in the lands beyond had been destroyed or drowned in great tumults of fire and inrushing seas. But since it was still said among them that those Men had in years beyond memory been kinsmen of their own, they sent messages to Gil-galad asking leave to meet the shipmen “who had returned from death in the deeps of the Sea”. Thus it came about that there was a meeting between them on the Tower Hills; and to that meeting with the Númenóreans came twelve Men only out of Eriador, Men of high heart and courage, for most of their people feared that the newcomers were perilous spirits of the Dead. But when they looked on the shipmen fear left them, though for a while they stood silent in awe; for mighty as they were themselves accounted among their kin, the shipmen resembled rather Elvish lords than mortal Men in bearing and apparel. Nonetheless they felt no doubt of their ancient kinship; and likewise the shipmen looked with glad surprise upon the Men of Middle-earth, for it had been believed in Númenor that the Men left behind were descended from the evil Men who in the last days of the war against Morgoth had been summoned by him out of the East. But now they looked upon faces free from the Shadow and Men who could have walked in Númenor and not been thought aliens save in their clothes and their arms. Then suddenly, after the silence, both the Númenóreans and the Men of Eriador spoke words of welcome and greeting in their own tongues, as if addressing friends and kinsmen after a long parting. At first they were disappointed, for neither side could understand the other; but when they mingled in friendship they found that they shared very many words still clearly recognisable, and others that could be understood with attention, and they were able to converse haltingly about simple matters.’ Elsewhere in this essay it is explained that these Men dwelt about Lake Evendim, in the North Downs and the Weather Hills, and in the lands between as far as the Brandywine, west of which the often wandered though they did not dwell there. They were friendly with the Elves, though they held them in awe; and they feared the Sea and would not look upon it. It appears that they were in origin Men of the same stock as the Peoples of Bëor and Hador who had not crossed the Blue Mountains into Beleriand during the First Age.

  4 The son of the King’s Heir: Aldarion son of Meneldur. Tar-Elendil did not resign the sceptre to Meneldur until a further fifteen years had passed.

  5 Eruhantalë: ‘Thanksgiving to Eru’, the autumn feast in Númenor; see the ‘Description of Númenor’ p. 214.

  6 (Sîr) Angren was the Elvish name of the river Isen. Ras Morthil, a name not otherwise found, must be the great headland at the end of the northern arm of the Bay of Belfalas, which was also called Andrast (Long Cape).

  The reference to ‘the country of Amroth where the Nandor Elves still dwell’ can be taken to imply that the tale of Aldarion and Erendis was written down in Gondor before the departure of the last ship from the haven of the Silvan Elves near Dol Amroth in the year 1981 of the Third Age; see pp. 310 ff.

  7 For Uinen the spouse of Ossë (Maiar of the Sea) see The Silmarillion p. 30. There it is said that ‘the Númenóreans lived long in her protection, and held her in reverence equal to the Valar’.

  8 It is stated that the Guildhouse of the Venturers ‘was confiscated by the Kings, and removed to the western haven of Andúnië; all its records perished’ (i.e. in the Downfall), including all the accurate charts of Númenor. But it is not said when this confiscation of Ea¨mbar took place.

  9 The river was afterwards called Gwathló or Greyflood, and the haven Lond Daer; see pp. 338 ff.

  10 Cf. The Silmarillion p. 148: ‘The Men of that House[i.e. of Bëor] were dark or brown of hair, with grey eyes.’ According to a genealogical table of the House of Bëor Erendis was descended from Bereth, who was the sister of Baragund and Belegund, and thus the aunt of Morwen mother of Túrin Turambar and of Rían the mother of Tuor.

  11 On different life-spans among the Númenóreans see Note 1 to ‘The Line of Elros’, p. 289.

  12 On the tree oiolairë see the ‘Description of Númenór’,p. 216.

  13 This is to be understood as a portent.

  14 Cf. the Akallabêth (The Silmarillion p. 277), where it is told that in the days of Ar-Pharazôn ‘ever and anon a great ship of the Númenóreans would founder and not return to haven, though such a grief had not till then befallen them since the rising of the Star’.

  15 Valandil was Aldarion’s cousin, for he was the son of Silmarien, daughter of Tar-Elendil and sister of Tar-Meneldur. Valandil, first of the Lords of Andúnië, was the ancestor of Elendil the Tall, father of Isildur and Anárion.

  16 Erukyermë: ‘Prayer to Eru’, the feast of the Spring in Númenor; see the ‘Descript
ion of Númenór’ p. 214.

  17 It is said in the Akallabêth (The Silmarillion pp. 262 – 3) that ‘at times, when all the air was clear and the sun was in the east, they would look out and descry far off in the west a city white-shining on a distant shore, and a great harbour and a tower. For in those days the Númenóreans were far-sighted; yet even so it was only the keenest eyes among them that could see this vision, from the Meneltarma maybe, or from some tall ship that lay off their western coast.... But the wise among them knew that this distant land was not indeed the Blessed Realm of Valinor, but was Avallónë, the haven of the Eldar upon Eressëa, easternmost of the Undying Lands.’

  18 Thus came, it is said, the manner of the Kings and Queens afterward to wear as a star a white jewel upon the brow, and they had no crown. [Author’s note.]

  19 In the Westlands and in Andúnië the Elven-tongue [Sindarin] was spoken by high and low. In that tongue Erendis was nurtured; but Aldarion spoke the Númenórean speech, although as all high men of Númenór he knew also the tongue of Beleriand. [Author’s note.] – Elsewhere, in a note on the languages of Númenor, it is said that the general use of Sindarin in the north-west of the Isle was due to the fact that those parts were largely settled by people of ‘Bëorian’ descent; and the People of Bëor had in Beleriand early abandoned their own speech and adopted Sindarin. (Of this there is no mention in The Silmarillion, though it is said there (p. 148) that in Dor-lómin in the days of Fingolfin the people of Hador did not forget their own speech, ‘and from it came the common tongue of Númenor’.) In other regions of Númenor Adûnaic was the native language of the people, though Sindarin was known in some degree to nearly all; and in the royal house, and in most of the houses of the noble or learned, Sindarin was usually the native tongue, until after the days of Tar-Atanamir. (It is said later in the present narrative (p. 249) that Aldarion actually preferred the Númenórean speech; it may be that in this he was exceptional.) This note further states that although Sindarin as used for a long period by mortal Men tended to become divergent and dialectal, this process was largely checked in Númenor, at least among the nobles and the learned, by their contact with the Eldar of Eressëa and Lindon. Quenya was not a spoken tongue in Númenor. It was known only to the learned and to the families of high descent, to whom it was taught in their early youth. It was used in official documents intended for preservation, such as the Laws, and the Scroll and Annals of the Kings (cf. the Akallabêth p. 267: ‘in the Scroll of Kings the name Herunúmen was inscribed in the High-elven speech’), and often in more recondite works of lore. It was also largely used in nomenclature: the official names of all places, regions, and geographical features in the land were of Quenya form (though they usually had also local names, generally of the same meaning, in either Sindarin or Adûnaic). The personal names, and especially the official and public names, of all members of the royal house, and of the Line of Elros in general, were given in Quenya form.

  In a reference to these matters in The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F, I (section ‘Of Men’), a somewhat different impression is given of the place of Sindarin among the languages of Númenor: ‘The Dúnedain alone of all races of Men knew and spoke an Elvish tongue; for their forefathers had learned the Sindarin tongue, and this they handed on to their children as a matter of lore, changing little with the passing of the years.’

  20 Elanor was a small golden star-shaped flower; it grew also upon the mound of Cerin Amroth in Lothlórien (The Fellowship of the Ring II 6). Sam Gamgee gave its name to his daughter, on Frodo’s suggestion (The Return of the King VI 9).

  21 See note 10 above for Erendis’ descent from Bereth, the sister of Morwen’s father Baragund.

  22 It is stated that the Númenóreans, like the Eldar, avoided the begetting of children if they foresaw any separation likely between husband and wife between the conception of the child and at least its very early years. Aldarion stayed in his house for a very brief time after the birth of his daughter, according to the Númenóreans’ idea of the fitness of things.

  23 In a note on the ‘Council of the Sceptre’ at this time in the history of Númenor it is said that this Council had no powers to govern the King save by advice; and no such powers had yet been desired or dreamed of as needful. The Council was composed of members from each of the divisions of Númenor; but the King’s Heir when proclaimed was also a member, so that he might learn of the government of the land, and others also the King might summon, or ask to be chosen, if they had special knowledge of matters at any time in debate. At this time there were only two members of the Council (other than Aldarion) who were of the Line of Elros: Valandil of Andúnië for the Andustar, and Hallatan of Hyarastorni for the Mittalmar; but they owed their place not to their descent or their wealth, but to the esteem and love in which they were held in their countries. (In the Akallabêth (p. 268) it is said that ‘the Lord of Andúnië was ever among the chief councillors of the Sceptre’.)

  24 It is recorded that Ereinion was given the name Gil-galad ‘Star of Radiance’ ‘because his helm and mail, and his shield overlaid with silver and set with a device of white stars, shone from afar like a star in sunlight or moonlight, and could be seen by Elvish eyes at a great distance if he stood upon a height’.

  25 See p. 345.

  26 A legitimate male heir, on the other hand, could not refuse; but since a King could always resign the Sceptre, a male heir could in fact immediately resign to his natural heir. He was then himself deemed also to have reigned for at least one year; and this was the case (the only case) with Vardamir, the son of Elros, who did not ascend the throne but gave the Sceptre to his son Amandil.

  27 It is said elsewhere that this rule of ‘royal marriage’ was never a matter of law, but it became a custom of pride: ‘a symptom of the growth of the Shadow, since it only became rigid when the distinction between the Line of Elros and other families, in life-span, vigour, or ability, had diminished or altogether disappeared.’

  28 This is strange, because Anárion was the Heir in Ancalimë’s life-time. In ‘The Line of Elros’ (p. 284) it is said only that Anárion’s daughters ‘refused the sceptre’.

  III

  THE LINE OF ELROS: KINGS OF NÚMENOR

  from the Founding of the City of Armenelos to the Downfall

  The Realm of Númenor is held to have begun in the thirty-second year of the Second Age, when Elros son of Ea¨rendil ascended the throne in the City of Armenelos, being then ninety years of age. Thereafter he was known in the Scroll of the Kings by the name of Tar-Minyatur; for it was the custom of the Kings to take their titles in the forms of the Quenya or High-elven tongue, that being the noblest tongue of the world, and this custom endured until the days of Ar-Adûnakhôr (Tar-Herunúmen). Elros Tar-Minyatur ruled the Númenóreans for four hundred years and ten. For to the Númenóreans long life had been granted, and they remained unwearied for thrice the span of mortal Men in Middle-earth; but to Ea¨rendil’s son the longest life of any Man was given, and to his descendants a lesser span, and yet one greater than to others even of the Númenóreans; and so it was until the coming of the Shadow, when the years of the Númenóreans began to wane. 1

  I Elros Tar-Minyatur

  He was born fifty-eight years before the Second Age began: he remained unwearied until he was five hundred years old and then laid down his life, in the year 442, having ruled for 410 years.

  II Vardamir Nólimon

  He was born in the year 61 of the Second Age and died in 471. He was called Nólimon for his chief love was for ancientlore, which he gathered from Elves and Men. Upon the departure of Elros, being then 381 years of age, he did not ascend the throne, but gave the sceptre to his son. He is nonetheless accounted the second of the Kings, and is deemed to have reigned one year. 2 It remained the custom thereafter until the days of Tar-Atanamir that the King should yield the sceptre to his successor before he died; and the Kings died of free will while yet in vigour of mind.

  III Tar-Amandil

 
He was the son of Vardamir Nólimon, and he was born in the year 192. He ruled for 148 years, 3 and surrendered the sceptre in 590; he died in 603.

  IV Tar-Elendil

  He was the son of Tar-Amandil, and he was born in the year 350. He ruled for 150 years, and surrendered the sceptre in 740; he died in 751. He was also called Parmaitë, for with his own hand he made many books and legends of the lore gathered by his grandfather. He married late in his life, and his eldest child was a daughter, Silmarien, born in the year 521, 4 whose son was Valandil. Of Valandil came the Lords of Andúnië, of whom the last was Amandil father of Elendil the Tall, who came to Middle-earth after the Downfall. In Tar-Elendil’s reign the ships of the Númenóreans first came back to Middle-earth.

  V Tar-Meneldur

  He was the only son and third child of Tar-Elendil, and he was born in the year 543. He ruled for 143 years, and surrendered the sceptre in 883; he died in 942. His ‘right name’ wasÍrimon; he took his title Meneldur from his love of star-lore. He married Almarian daughter of Vëantur, Captain of Ships under Tar-Elendil. He was wise, but gentle and patient. He resigned to his son, suddenly and long before due time, as a stroke of policy, in troubles that arose, owing to the disquiet of Gil-galad in Lindon, when he first became aware that an evil spirit, hostile to Eldar and Dúnedain, was stirring in Middle-earth.