After confining itself to largely acquainted Middle-earth locales in its first two episodes, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has lastly proven us a spot by no means depicted on display screen earlier than: Númenor. Indeed, a lot of the run time of the Prime Video collection’ third episode, “Adar,” is spent on the island kingdom, which — regardless of its legendary standing — by no means truly seems in both J.R.R. Tolkien’s unique trilogy or the Peter Jackson motion pictures it impressed.

That’s proper: The historical past, tradition, and geography of Númenor are all lined in The Lord of the Rings’ appendices, in addition to not-so-accessible tomes revealed after Tolkien’s dying, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. Because of this, Númenor’s introduction in The Rings of Power nearly definitely left extra informal followers scratching their heads over how the island kingdom matches inside wider Middle-earth lore.

If that’s you, this helpful roundup will convey you in control on all issues Númenórean very quickly — together with the dominion’s location, origins, present ruler, and connection to The Lord of the Rings.

[Ed. note: The following covers events not yet depicted in The Rings of Power.]

Where is Númenor?

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The star-shaped island of Númenor (additionally recognized by different names, together with Westernesse) is, as Galadriel notes in “Adar,” the westernmost level of Middle-earth. Tolkien describes its place within the Sundering Seas as nearer to Valinor, the continent on which the godlike Valar stay, than to Middle-earth.

It’s the logical place for Galadriel to wind up after being so near Valinor. And it additionally tracks with Númenor’s seafaring tradition, as their civilization was famend for the talent of each its shipbuilders and sailors. The Númenóreans’ nautical prowess additionally allowed them to make quite a few journeys to Middle-earth previous to The Rings of Power’s setting, regardless of their relative distance from the continent (extra on that later).

Who based Númenor?

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Like with so many facets of Tolkien’s legendarium, speaking about Númenor’s early days will get sophisticated quick. For starters, there’s the origin of the island itself, which was custom-made by the Valar for the traditional race of males who joined forces with the elves in conflict towards Morgoth. Then, there was the mass migration of males from Middle-earth to the newly minted Númenor, which took half a century and relied closely on help from the elves. So, when Galadriel provides the elves the credit score for the dominion even current in The Rings of Power episode 3, there’s a kernel of fact to what she’s saying.

That’s not the place the elves’ position in Númenor’s origin story ends, both. As touched on in “Adar,” the founding king of Númenor was an elf — albeit one with a number of mortals in his household tree. Like his brother Elrond (of Rivendell fame), Númenor’s inaugural ruler, Elros, got here from a combined bloodline. But whereas Elrond in the end selected to stay among the many elves, Elros opted to embrace his mannish roots. This meant giving up his immortality, though he nonetheless possessed a ridiculously lengthy lifespan and was as intellectually and bodily formidable as a non-elf can get.

Elros’ descendants likewise benefited from their supercharged half-elven DNA, which explains why his descendent, Aragorn, is such a powerful specimen. But even higher from an egalitarian standpoint, Númenóreans in a roundabout way associated to Elros additionally received an general XP enhance, scoring fairly a number of extra birthdays than their mainland counterparts. So, all in all, Elros’ determination to stay with Team Men labored out fairly effectively for everybody.

Who guidelines Númenor now?

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Elros’ reign lasted simply over 400 years, which is why he’s now not on the scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Twenty-four monarchs sat on the throne of Númenor between Elros’ dying and the occasions of the present, though that is one space the place the difference begins to take main liberties with the canon established by Tolkien.

In “Adar,” the rightful king of Númenor — unnamed within the episode, however presumably Tar-Palantir based mostly on the books — presently lives in exile atop a tower, having been deposed by his personal individuals. Meanwhile, his daughter Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) guidelines in his stead as queen regent, aided by her influential advisor Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle). All of that is materials invented by The Rings of Power showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay and their workforce of writers.

According to Tolkien, Tar-Palantir died of outdated age and was by no means pressured from the throne by anybody, a lot much less his personal topics. There’s additionally little or no in Tolkien’s writings to counsel that Tar-Míriel (to make use of her regnal identify) was in cahoots with the treacherous Pharazôn (her cousin within the books), particularly contemplating he pressured her to marry him to usurp the throne. Of course, there’s an opportunity that Míriel is just pretending to cozy as much as Pharazôn within the present, however for now, that entire subplot is veering very off-book.

That isn’t to say The Rings of Power has fully deserted its supply materials the place Númenórean royalty is anxious. If nothing else, episode 3’s characterization of Tar-Palantir as somebody nonetheless devoted to the Valar and sympathetic to the elves is bang on the cash. It’s additionally fairly clear that Payne and McKay are laying the groundwork for Pharazôn to make a play for the throne identical to he does within the books in some unspecified time in the future within the present’s deliberate five-season run.

And in a broader sense, the best way “Adar” portrays Númenórean society (together with these amongst its higher echelons) as rising more and more resentful towards the elves and the Valar broadly tracks with Tolkien’s personal historical past. Similarly, Elendil’s depiction as a high-born lord who bucks this pattern can also be true to Tolkien.

Where is Númenor within the Lord of the Rings collection?

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So, how come we don’t go to Númenor in The Lord of the Rings? To put it bluntly: as a result of it sank. Tolkien noticed the island kingdom because the Middle-earth analog of Atlantis, which is why — as recounted in The Silmarillion part entitled Akallabêth — it winds up on the ocean flooring. What’s extra, as within the unique Atlantis legend, the reason for Númenor’s downfall in the end boils down to 2 phrases: divine retribution.

After Pharazôn (now going by “Ar-Pharazôn”) defeats Sauron’s military and takes him hostage, the darkish lord wastes no time changing him and many of the kingdom into depraved Morgoth worshippers. Eventually, Sauron manages to persuade Ar-Pharazôn and his followers that they too may turn out to be immortal in the event that they went to conflict with the Valar and conquered Valinor. Unsurprisingly, this seems to be dangerous recommendation, and after the Valar name on Eru Ilúvatar (the supreme being of Tolkien’s cosmology) issues actually escalate. Eru Ilúvatar wipes out the Númenórean fleet together with the whole kingdom, in a cataclysmic occasion of actually world-changing proportions (we’re speaking shifting from flat earth to spherical earth right here).

The few Númenóreans who survived Eru Ilúvatar’s judgment have been largely those that stayed true to the outdated methods. Led by Elendil and his sons Isildur and Anárion (not like in The Rings of Power, he doesn’t have a daughter too) they made their method to Middle-earth’s shores and based the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor — the latter of which performs a significant position in The Lord of the Rings.