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Chapter 24
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Silmarillion, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Unity vs. Division
Fate, Doom, and Free Will
Pride and Arrogance
Greed, Jealousy, and Obsession
Inevitable Loss
Myth and Memory
Summary
Analysis
Though many men fall under the influence of Morgoth, the Edain aid the elves during the War of the Jewels. After Eärendil the Blessed brings the Valar to Middle-earth, the evil men that fought for Morgoth flee east and become the kings of the men wandering there. Some of Morgoth’s monsters remain to torment the men and some of his servants still do his work in Middle-earth.
Once again, though Morgoth has been defeated and removed from the world, his influence and corruption remain. Many of Morgoth’s servants escape the Valar’s attack in the War of Wrath, and there will always be those willing to do evil in Arda, for their own gain or otherwise.
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The elves that travel west with the Valar settle on the Isle of Eressëa and build a city called Avallónë. The three faithful houses of men are rewarded by the Valar, taught by Eönwë, and given longer life than other men. Ossë raises up a land near Valinor for them to live in. They sail from Middle-earth, following Eärendil’s star to reach it, and call it Númenor. They rename themselves the Númenóreans, or the Dúnedain, and Elros is their first king.
Despite the pollution of evil remaining in the world, the survivors of Beleriand thrive in a united world and in friendship with the Valar. The faithful elves and men are permitted new opportunities to rebuild after the destruction of their kingdoms in Beleriand—the elves close to the Valar, and men in the sea between the two continents.
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While “light and wisdom” fade from Middle-earth because of Morgoth’s servants, the Dúnedain thrive in friendship with the Valar and the elves. They build ships and enjoy sea-faring, but the Valar forbid them from sailing west out of sight of Númenor so they aren’t tempted to find Valinor or covet immortality. At that time, the Valar remain visible and active in the world, and the elves of Tol Eressëa visit Númenor frequently, bringing them Celeborn, the White Tree descended from Telperion, as a gift. Because of the ban on traveling west, some of the Númenoreans sail east and return to Middle-earth to lead and teach the men there.
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Under Númenor’s guidance, Middle-earth heals and grows more righteous. But, as their power grows, the Númenoreans begin to want to go west and be immortal like the elves and the Valar. Manwë sends messengers to the Dúnedain to explain that Ilúvatar decided the fate of men and intended for it to be a gift. It isn’t a worse fate than the fate of the elves, just different, and only the shadow of Morgoth makes men fear the uncertainty of death. The Valar warn them that it’s impossible to change their fate.
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The king, Tar-Atanamir, doesn’t like the Valar’s message and clings to life and kingship for as long as he can. The people of Númenor become divided—some grow proud and estranged from the Valar and elves, but others, the Elf-friends, still listen to the Valar’s advice. Númenor declines in virtue but grows in power, and its people become obsessed with finding ways to extend their lives and building “great houses for their dead.”
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The Númenoreans begin to build settlements on Middle-earth and become masters of the men there rather than teachers. The Elf-friends only come to Middle-earth to aid Gil-galad in his conflict with Sauron, who takes over the land of Mordor and seeks absolute power over Middle-earth. He hates and fears the Númenoreans and ensnares three Númenorean lords with the Nine Rings of power he gives to mortal men. When those men become the Ring-Wraiths, he uses them to attack the Númenorean settlements on the coast of Middle-earth.
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The twentieth king of the house of Elros takes the name Adûnakhôr, meaning Lord of the West—stealing the title of the Valar. The twenty-third king forbids elven languages and leaves the White Tree untended. He forces the Elf-friends to move to Rómenna in the east to be watched, though they still sail to Middle-earth to speak to the elves of Gil-galad’s kingdom. The Valar, angry with the kings of Númenor, stop offering them advice and protection, and the elves of Eressëa also stop visiting.
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The lords of the royal house of Andúnië (descended from the line of Elros) are quietly loyal to the Valar and try to change their kings’ minds about them. A king of Númenor marries a daughter of the house of Adúnië, and their older son takes an elvish name, Tar-Palantir, when he ascends the throne. He is kind to the Elf-friends, makes offerings to Ilúvatar, and tends the White Tree. His younger brother Gimilkhâd leads a group called the King’s Men and opposes his brother. After the brothers die, Gimilkhâd’s son Pharazôn marries Tar-Palantir’s daughter Tar-Míriel against her will and becomes king, despite the fact that the marriage is illegal.
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Pharazôn takes the name Ar-Pharazôn and learns that Sauron is attacking Númenor’s settlements in Middle-earth. Gathering weapons and preparing for war, he decides to claim the title King of Men and make Sauron his servant. He sails his fleet to Middle-earth and sends out heralds demanding that Sauron swear to serve him.
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Both crafty and unprepared for Númenor’s power, Sauron bows to Ar-Pharazôn and swears loyalty. He seems reasonable to the other men, but Ar-Pharazôn doesn’t believe his act and decides to bring Sauron to Númenor to live as a hostage. Sauron agrees, secretly pleased. Within three years, he uses “the cunning of his mind and mouth, and the strength of his hidden will” to become Ar-Pharazôn’s closest advisor. His flattery endears him to everyone but Amandil, the lord of Andúnië. Many of the Elf-friends leave Númenor in fear, and their enemies call them rebels.
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Sauron teaches the Númenoreans to worship Morgoth as the Lord of Darkness and convinces them that Ilúvatar is only an invention of the Valar meant to control them. The Elf-friends, who remain faithful to Ilúvatar, are led by Amandil, a counselor of the king, and his son Elendil, whose sons are Isildur and Anárion. Sauron hates Amandil and convinces Ar-Pharazôn to dismiss him as a counselor, then begins to persuade Ar-Pharazôn to cut down the White Tree.
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When Elendil and his sons hear a rumor about it, Isildur travels in disguise to Ar-Pharazôn’s court and steals a fruit from the White Tree, then fights his way out again. He’s gravely wounded in the fight but returns to Rómenna and gives the fruit to Amandil, who plants it in secret. A tree sprouts, and when the first leaf grows, Isildur’s wounds heal. After the theft, Ar-Pharazôn cuts down the White Tree and Sauron uses it to fuel the altar of fire in a new temple where men make blood sacrifices to Melkor. They often use the Elf-friends as their victims.
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Though the men of Númenor were blessed with health and long lives, they’re now plagued by illness and madness. Through Sauron’s influence they become violent and quick to anger, enslaving the men of Middle-earth and killing them on their altars. When Ar-Pharazôn grows old and fears his impending death, Sauron convinces him that he could become immortal if he takes Valinor from the tyrant Valar.
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Amandil hears about Ar-Pharazôn’s plan and tells Elendil that he’ll try to sail secretly to Valinor to ask Manwë for mercy and aid. Elendil worries what will happen to the house of Andúnië if Ar-Pharazôn finds out what Amandil’s doing, so they prepare ships to flee. Amandil instructs him not to interfere in the war and to find a place to lead the Elf-friends in their exile. Amandil sails west with three servants that night and is never heard from again; men won’t be saved a second time by a petitioner of the Valar.
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Elendil and the Elf-friends prepare to leave, filling their ships with supplies, treasures from Númenor, and the tree grown from the fruit of the White Tree. The climate of Númenor has changed, growing dark and stormy. Sometimes Manwë’s giant eagles approach from the west, carrying lightning that strikes Melkor’s temple, and Sauron spreads the rumor that they’re part of a plot against the Númenoreans. Rather than recognizing the lightning as a sign of Melkor’s evil, the men of Númenor see that Sauron is unharmed by the blast and call him a god.
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Ar-Pharazôn’s fleet rows towards Valinor, breaking the Valar’s ban. The fleet surrounds Eresseä, and Ar-Pharazôn, reaching the coast of Aman, almost turns back. But, driven by his pride, he goes ashore, and his armies camp near Tirion for the night in the cleft of the mountains.
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Meanwhile, Manwë calls on Ilúvatar, who uses his power to change the shape of the world. A chasm opens in the sea between Valinor and Númenor; the earth shakes and Númenor’s fleets are sucked into the abyss. Ar-Pharazôn and his men, already in Valinor, are buried in falling rock. Ilúvatar sends the western seas further west and the empty eastern lands further east, drowning islands and raising new ones on the coasts of Middle-earth. Valinor and Tol Eressëa are removed from the reach of the men of Middle-earth into “the realm of hidden things.”
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The foundations of Númenor are completely destroyed, and the land and everyone on it fall into the sea. A huge wave covers Númenor, sweeping Tar-Míriel away as she tries to climb Ilúvatar’s sacred mountain. Whether or not Amandil ever reaches Valinor, Manwë hears his prayer and spares Elendil and his people on their nine ships, sheltering them from the abyss and the giant wave. They reach Middle-earth and found new kingdoms there, though their knowledge and craft are only an “echo” of what they were before Sauron came to Númenor.
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Sauron sits in the temple and laughs when Ar-Pharazôn leaves to fight the Valar, when he hears the storm, and when he considers what he’ll do next. As he laughs, the temple falls into the sea. Though he’s robbed of his physical form and can’t ever take another “fair” shape, his spirit escapes and returns to Mordor, where he makes himself a new hideous disguise.
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After Númenor’s destruction, men call it Akallabêth the Downfallen, or Atalantë. Legend says that Númenor’s sacred mountain rose again out of the sea, and many of the Dúnedain search for it, hoping to see Valinor from its top. The Dúnedain know Valinor departed from the world, but still believe they would be able to look into the past and see a vision of it from the top of the mountain. Mariners don’t find it, however, and only discover new lands or sail completely around the earth back to where they began. They realize that “All roads are now bent”—the earth has become round.
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However, the elves are still permitted to travel to Valinor and Tol Eressëa, leading men to believe that a Straight Road must still exist. They teach that “the old road and the path of the memory of the West” rises out of the world’s curvature like a bridge and breaks through the atmosphere to where the ancient elves live and the Valar still watch the earth. There are tales of lost sailors who accidentally discover the Straight Road and see the ancient west before they die.
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