Black Númenóreans

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Black Númenóreans
Race
Brian Durfee - Black Númenóreans.jpg
General Information
MembersHerumor, Fuinur, Berúthiel, The Mouth of Sauron
Physical Description
DistinctionsSurvivors of the Downfall of Númenor, loyal to Sauron
GalleryImages of Black Númenóreans

The Black Númenóreans were High Men from Númenor. They were under the Shadow like the King's Men, cruel oppressors and overlords over the more primitive Middle Men of Middle-earth. As they were colonizing the continent, they survived the Downfall of Númenor.

History

The Númenóreans' power and knowledge had grown throughout the course of the Second Age, and became increasingly preoccupied with the limits placed on their happiness—and eventually their power—by mortality, the purpose of which they began to question. They started fearing the Gift of Men and attepted to delay it or recall life.

This growing wish to escape death, made most of the Númenoreans envious of the immortal Eldar, who they had come to physically resemble. The Eldar sought ever to remind the men of Númenor however, that death was a gift of the One God, Ilúvatar, to all men, and the will of Ilúvatar could not be gainsaid.

Nevertheless, after S.A. 2221, when Tar-Ancalimon became King of Númenor, the Númenóreans became divided. The King's Men who turned away from the Valar and the Eldar, and eventually became vulnerable to the corruption of Sauron, who dominated the minds and wills of most of the Númenóreans with the One Ring.[1] The powerful and elderly King Ar-Pharazôn, had become frightened of old age[2] was persuaded by Sauron that Ilúvatar was a lie invented by the Valar, and seduced him.

Even the colonists who had settled on the shores and seaward regions of the Westlands making fortresses and dwellings, turned to evil, the Darkness and the black arts.[3][4]

After the Downfall

For many centuries after the Downfall, some descendants of the "King's Men" held onto what became the most northerly and famous of their realms-in-exile, the Haven of Umbar, although

"...because of the power of Gil-galad these renegades, lords both mighty and evil, for the most part took up their abodes in the southlands far away."
― "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age", The Silmarillion

Most of those few Númenóreans who had never envied the Eldar, and had always remained true to their belief in Ilúvatar, also survived the destruction of their homeland, and they established their own realms-in-exile north of Umbar, where previously had come

"...only the Faithful of Númenor, and many therefore of the folk of the coastlands in that region were in whole or in part akin to the Elf-friends and the people of Elendil..."
― "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age", The Silmarillion

After founding Gondor and Arnor these self-styled "Faithful" Númenóreans saw their southern counterparts as renegades, calling them:

"...the Black Númenóreans; for they established their dwellings in Middle-earth during the years of Sauron's domination, and they worshipped him, being enamoured of evil knowledge."
― "The Black Gate Opens", The Lord of the Rings

The Black Númenóreans held a similiarly low opinion of 'The Faithful' and their descendants, as

"..they inherited without lessening their hatred of Gondor."
― "Appendix A" of The Lord of the Rings

Two early Black Númenórean lords are named from the time of the late Second Age: Herumor and Fuinur. Like all Black Númenóreans and 'King's Men' before them, Herumor and Fuinur desired power over men of other, lesser races, and they "rose to (great) power amongst the Haradrim", the peoples neighbouring Umbar. Their fate is unknown, but they likely shared Sauron's defeat at the hands of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

The Black Númenórean style of governing was no doubt tyrannical, but may also have involved a tradition of duumviracy, at least in Umbar, whose lords are usually paired when mentioned; Herumor/Fuinur for example, were probably rulers of Umbar, as much later Angamaite/Sangahyando were. Whatever political system was in place, however, the Black Númenóreans did not govern effectively;

"...some were given over wholly to idleness and ease, and some fought amongst themselves, until they became conquered in their weakness by the wild men."
― "The Window on the West", The Lord of the Rings

The triumph of the Last Alliance marked the decline of the Black Númenórean race and the end of their racial superiority;

"After the fall of Sauron their race swiftly dwindled or became merged with the Men of Middle-earth..."
― "Appendix A" of The Lord of the Rings

Nevertheless, a Black Númenórean elite survived at least in Umbar for over a thousand years after Númenor's fall, maintaining much influence in Haradwaith. As late as Third Age 1015, for example, even after being exiled from their homeland for nearly a century

"...the Men of Harad, led by the lords that had been driven from Umbar, came up with great power against that stronghold..."
― "Appendix A" of The Lord of the Rings

The Black Númenóreans did not use Westron, but probably retained their old tongue Adûnaic, speaking a dialect of it. (In The Notion Club Papers, part of Sauron Defeated, Arundel Lowdham cited two descendants of classical Adûnaic. One of these must have been Westron, the other the tongue of the Black Númenóreans).

The Black Númenóreans are absent from recorded history after their defeat by Ciryaher in 1050, but a population of sorts must have survived somewhere at least until the end of the Third Age, as The Mouth of Sauron, who mocked the army of King Elessar in front of the Morannon was described both as a Black Númenórean and "Renegade", which is presumably the term used by the Free Peoples of that time to describe all folk of similiar ancestry.

In an interview Tolkien described Queen Berúthiel, wife of Gondor's King Tarannon Falastur, as "a black Númenórean". This was a loveless union, and was presumably a political accommodation: that such arrangements were possible implies the existence at that time of more Gondor-friendly Black Númenóreans than the much later Mouth of Sauron.

Three of the Ringwraiths can be considered among the first and most powerful Black Númenóreans, even though their origin predates Númenor's fall by about 1,000 years: they served Sauron, being enslaved to his will, having become so because of their lust for power or knowledge.

Portrayal in Adaptations

File:Black Númenórean.jpg
A typical Black Númenórean within the city of Annuminas (The Lord of the Rings Online).

2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:

The Black Númenóreans are portrayed in service of the different Lieutenants of the Enemy. The Angmarim inhabit the lands surrounding Carn Dum in Angmar and serve Mordirith and later Amarthiel. Much later, Umbarrim Númenóreans make appearance in Dol Guldur of Mirkwood.

2011: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North:

Agandaûr, the game's main antagonist, is a Black Númenórean.[5]

References