Númenor
Westernesse; the island-kingdom of the Dúnedain
Name and Position
Númenor — “Westernesse”, in Quenya Andor (“the Land of the Gift”) and Elenna (“starwards”) — is the great island-kingdom granted by the Valar to the Edain after the War of Wrath, “raised from the sea” — “the mightiest and most blessed realm of Men” of the Second Age, lying in the Great Sea between Middle-earth and Aman. It was the home of the Dúnedain, the “Men of the West” (the Elf-friends’ descendants), who were given length of life and huge stature, and from whose line the kings of the later realms of the West descended.
The History
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The gift: To reward the Three Houses (Elros and his kin, and the remnant of the faithful), Elros (called Tar-Minyatur) became its first king, and its sceptre passed down the “Long Line” of his house.
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The glory and the ban: The Dúnedain grew great — wise, tall, long-lived, sea-faring, yet under the “Ban of the Valar” (no Armada to the West, no seeking of the Undying Lands), until their pride rose; the “shadow fell upon Númenor”. The White Tree (offspring of Telperion’s line) was the sign of their blessing; its withering marked the turn.
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The corruption by Sauron: Brought as a prisoner, Sauron swayed the kings, and under Ar-Pharazôn (the last king) turned the island to the worship of the Dark — the burning of the White Tree, the persecution of the Faithful, and the great folly.
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The Drowning: Ar-Pharazôn, desiring deathlessness, sailed with the Great Armament to assault Aman — and the One at the prayer of the Valar — the Isle of Númenor was swallowed by the sea (the Akallabêth), and the world was made round. Only the ships of the Faithful (under Elendil, Isildur and Anárion) escaped, carrying the seedling of the White Tree to Middle-earth.
Significance
Númenor is the “Atlantis” of the mythology — the greatest and most tragic parable of the Second Age, “the Fall of Númenor” parallel of the First Age’s Exile: the pride that loses the gift through the seduction of the shadow. Its fall is also the myth that reshapes the world (the rounding), and its survivors found Gondor and Arnor (, but the root of all the later kingdoms of Men).