Messengers of the Valar

From Tolkien Gateway

The messengers of the Valar were a group of people who came to the isle of Númenor from the West in the middle of the Second Age. They appeared during the reign of Tar-Atanamir, the thirteenth King. Tar-Atanamir ruled during a time of great upheaval in Númenor; he and most of his people had begun to question the justice of their mortal state and the Ban of the Valar.

The messengers (it is never said whether they were Elves or Maiar) explained to the Númenóreans why they could not sail to the Blessed Realm, and urged them not to spurn the Gift of Men, for this would merely make life harder for them. The Númenóreans asked them many questions about the nature of Men in return. A part of this converse was later recorded in the Akallabêth.

In the end, the greater part of the Númenóreans decided to ignore the advice of the messengers, and drifted away from the friendship of the Eldar and the Valar. This group became known as the King's Men, for most of the later Kings of Númenor supported their policies. The small number of Númenóreans who did put their trust in the messengers' words came to call themselves the Faithful.[1]

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