#numenorweek2025

[atane-is-here]

@numenorweek

The Downfall

the imprisonment of Sauron

[eohwyyn]

@numenorweek Day 3: Daughters of the Great | The Ruling Queens of Numenor 

"And last of all the mounting wave, green and cold and plumed with foam, climbing over the land, took to its bosom Tar-Miriel the Queen"

[emyn-arnens]

@numenorweek Day 2: The Mariner's Wife ⇢ Erendis

Erendis alone at a window watched him riding down the hill, and she marked that he rode towards Hyarastorni and not towards Armenelos. Then she wept, from grief, but still more from anger. She had looked for some penitence, that she might extend after rebuke pardon if prayed for; but he had dealt with her as if she were the offender, and ignored her before her daughter. Too late she remembered the words of Núneth long before, and she saw Aldarion now as something large and not to be tamed, driven by a fierce will, more perilous when chill. She rose, and turned from the window, thinking of her wrongs. ‘Perilous!’ she said. ‘I am steel hard to break. So he would find even were he the King of Númenor.’

[edennill]

Tar-Míriel for @numenorweek

References under cut:

[numenorweek]

Welcome to the Numenor Week! Event created for fans of the tragic and beautiful story of the Land of the Gift, from its birth to its downfall.

The event will run from May 26 to June 1, and will accept all the type of fanworks (fanarts, fanfictions, edits, gifsets, remix, etc etc). please remember to tag @numenorweek and to add #numenorweek and #numenorweek2025 in the first 10 tags of your post. NSFW contents are welcomed, but mind to tag them or to put them under a cut. It's ok to submit Rings of Power contents because the show follows the events of the Akallabeth, but only if said content is about the Numenorean characters.

Numenor Week Prompts (those are just suggestions, you can follow them or either discard them completely)

Day 1: Elros Tar-Minyatur | The Line of Elros || Characters: Elros, Elwing, Eärendil, Vardamir Nólimon, Tindómiel, Manwendil, Atanalcar || Prompts: The Choice of the Peredhili - Mortality & Immortality - Rites at the Meneltarma - Kingship - The Legacy of Eärendil 

Day 2: The Mariner's Wife | Aldarion and Erendis || Characters: Tar-Aldarion, Erendis, Tar-Ancalimë, Hallacar, Tar-Meneldur, Almarian, Ailinel & Almiel || Prompts: Costumes and traditions of the Numenoreans, the Guild of the Venturers, laws of succession, expansion of the Numenoreans in Middle Earth, Uinen and the Uinendili

Day 3: Daughters of the Great | The Ruling Queens of Numenor || Characters: Tar-Ancalimë, Tar-Telperiën, Tar-Vanimeldë, Tar-Míriel, Silmariën || Prompts: the role of women in Númenor, usurpation, Queenship, the known and the forgotten women of the line of Elros

Day 4: The Faithful | Lords of Andunie || Characters: Inzilbeth, Amandil, Elendil, Tar-Palantir, Eärendur, Lindórië || Prompts: Secrecy, worship of the Valar, the White Tree, Pelargir, Strife between kin

Day 5: The King's Men | The Ban of the Valar || Characters: Tar- Atanamir the Great, Ar-Adûnakhôr, Ar-Gimilzôr, Gimilkhâd, the Witch King of Angmar || Prompts: Cult of the Dead, Fear of the unknown, Umbar, Pride, Ban of the Quenya, Nazgûl

Day 6: Akallabeth | The Downfall || Characters: Tar-Míriel, Ar-Pharazôn, Sauron, Amandil, Elendil, Elentir, Sauron/Tar-Mairon. || Prompts: Hybris, the cutting of the White Tree, the imprisonment of Sauron, Worship of Melkor, War against the Valar

Day 7: The Realms in Exile | The Line of Isildur and Anarion ||Characters: Elendil, Isildur, Anarion, Valandil, Meneldil, Ohtar ||Prompts: Exile, Gondor and Arnor, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Estel

If you have any questions, feel free to send an ask in my askbox!

-- banner artwork by Felix Sotomayor

[magedarkwood]

Elros & Elwing inspired moodboard

@numenorweek Day 1: Elros & Elwing + mortality & immortality

[riding-with-the-wild-hunt]

"And that dome was roofed all with silver, and rose glittering in the sun, so that the light of it could be seen afar off; but soon the light was darkened, and the silver became black. For there was an altar of fire in the midst of the temple, and in the topmost of the dome there was a louver, whence there issued a great smoke. And the first fire upon the altar Sauron kindled with the hewn wood of Nimloth, and it crackled and was consumed; but men marvelled at the reek that went up from it, so that the land lay under a cloud for seven days, until slowly it passed into the west. Thereafter the fire and smoke went up without ceasing; for the power of Sauron daily increased, and in that temple, with spilling of blood and torment and great wickedness, men made sacrifice to Melkor that he should release them from Death." - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, "Akallabêth"

@numenorweek day 6 ⇢ WORSHIP OF MELKOR

[ID: a moodboard comprised of nine images in dark browns and greys, with accents of bronze, gold, and orange.

1: A light-skinned person wearing a white blindfold and holding a snuffed white candle before them / 2: Stormy ocean waves crashing against the shore / 3: An ornate building, the air filled with smoke. Shafts of light come down from a large window, illuminating the haze / 4: A hallway lined with decorated columns. Light comes in between them, but the hall remains mostly in shadow / 5: A light-skinned person under a sheer black veil, their face obscured by a dark cloud / 6: A brown-skinned person crossing their hands over their chest. They wear an ornate golden bracelet that covers the back of their hand and connects to rings on their fingers / 7: The sun setting between mountains, with dark clouds above / 8: A stone and metal decoration on a wall or ceiling depicting a skull pierced through the mouth with a dagger / 9: A line of people lifting braziers of fire //End ID]

[eri-pl]

For @numenorweek day 6, though tbh it's not very prompt-related and could go on 4 or 5 as well. I hope essays/headcanons are ok too.

The problem of Pharazôn's heir (some very naturally arising from the text HCs about late Númenor)

Personally I don't think Ar-Pharazôn had ever tried to have any children — not only because Miriel was not interested in the marriage obligations (she might have been, but at this point she probably was not into him anymore, it can be discussed whether or not pre-Sauron Pharazôn would care about her consent), but also because begetting children took away strength (Númenoreans had this effect, like Elves, and were aware of it) and I think Pharazôn would assume (and there may have been some truth to it) that having children would decrease his lifespan.

But they married late: just after Tar-Miriel inherited the throne. He was 137 at the time, and she was 138; both much older than the typical child-having age at that time, even for kings. This leads to an interesting question: why did they go so long unmarried? Was there no worry about an heir, especially for Miriel, who had been the heiress of the King?

And since we have no mention of Tar-Palantir worrying about it, or the Council pressuring Miriel to marry, I would assume two things:

It was known to the king and his close advisors (read: Amandil) that Miriel had a thing for Pharazôn, so she would not marry anyone else, and surely she would not be allowed to marry her heathen cousin either. And

In SA 3175 when Tar-Plantir took the sceptre, his daughter was 58, which for Numenorian standards is not an old spinster yet, but for late Numenor may be a little worrying. Since nobody is mentioned to worry about Miriel's situation, there must have been a natural heir either already present in the family or born not long after.

But Miriel had no siblings, and Tar-Palantir had only one brother.

Or did he?

Tolkien had the habit of not mentioning female children in many families. Therefore I would assume that either Gimilkhad (father of Pharazôn) had a daughter, or Gimilzôr and his poor wife had a daughter, younger than both Palantir and Gimilkhad. But this seems less likely; she would be mentioned, she'd probably take after her mother and Miriel would have a supportive aunt.

So, Pharazôn has a sister. (It isn't actually very important where she is in the family tree, so if you prefer her further it can still work. what's important is that this Lady is the next-of-kin after Tar-Miriel, but also after Pharazôn.)

Let's name her. The family seems to love metals: Gimilzôr is "silver fire", Gimilkhad is "star/silver ??? unknown root]", Pharazôn is "golden". Let's go with silver beloved (We'll give you a pretentious name to compensate for the lack of parental love! Yay!): Gimil+ izrê → Gimlizrê.

Let's say that Lady Gimlizrê was born in SA 3055-ish, married in SA 3130-ish maybe? Anyway she would likely marry before Tar-Palantir took the throne, and have children. Let's be vanilla and say she had a son first. He would be the closest in line both from Miriel and from Pharazôn, so regardless on what we assume about the legality of Pharazôn's rule, this man would be the next king.

But let's take a step back. Whom would she marry? Neither Tar-Palantir not Pharazôn seem to worry about the succession or try any political maneuvreing about it (and Pharazôn was not plaiing to be immortal at first, it came later, so he would intially think about the problem of succession, unless he was too egoistical for it). So I would assume both Gimlizrê and her husband were very lukewarm politically, going along with whatever the current King was saying. Also, in order to make it more stable in terms of succession, I'd say the husband was from the line of Elros too.

Let's name the husband. He's some centrist lord, likely rich, probably from a sailing family, tied to the colonies (maybe even a cousin of a Nazgûl!), so something sea-related… Azra = sea, nîlu = moon and we haven't seen this word in names yet, so Azranîl, let's remove the vowel at the end for aesthetics. This sound suspiciously Elvish, but is not. Fits well for a centrist.

The son would be born in, say 3135-ish 3150-ish, and very likely had his own family before all went down, may have even died before the Fall if he was unlucky. I doubt he was even named the King's Heir, because Pharazôn would not admit his mortality in such a public way. In SA 3200-3210-ish 3230-ish he'd have his first child, and in 3280-ish 3300-ish a grandchild. Very interesting times for the grandchild to live through.

Let's name him too. Remember, he's being born with hopes that one day he'll be the King. There's a long queue now, but Zimraphel is not married and not looking like she wants to. So, the hopes are high. The name should be fit for a king.

"Phazân" means "prince" and you know what? At this point I can see them using it as the name root. Yôphazân, the prince who was a gift. Mhm, I love that. I need to edit the dates and make him born later, this would explain the name. His parents had trouble getting a child (at this point it doesn't feel counter-canon). Hmm, this name is suspiciously Faithful-ish in its logic. But let's roll with it.

Born 3150-ish, so he was 25-ish when Tar-Palantir ascended, and spent his formative years during the civil war. And he was 100-ish when it ended with Tar-Palantir's death and Pharazôn's coup.

The gift-prince who was born to be an heir, but never acknowledged, who fell with the land that he was supposed to inherit (I don't think he's go with the armada, he would stay in hope that something happens and he'll be the king).

Or maybe not?

Maybe, shaped by the good king of his youth, Yôphazân turned against the king and his ideology, and joined the Faithful (and either changed his name instead of simply translating it; or maybe the Faithful at this point didn't know the history well enough to notice the problem*)? At this point we have enough possible successors anyway, because Yôphazân has at least one child, maybe more, and later grandchild(ren). So there wouldn't be any succession problems even if he… you know, disasapeared one day. Either as in "was killed in the temple" or as in "ran away to Romenna".

Or maybe he tried, together with Miriel, to just navigate this whole mess somehow without taking and strong stances.

(Or maybe Sauron simply had him murdered just for "stealing" his cool name XD)

\* Just imagine it: Yôphazân becomes an Elf-friend, translates his name to Quenya, due to small vocabulary and lack of historical knowledge he ends up with Annatar and sees no problem with this. Then he's 170-ish (physically he's about 50 years old), Númenor falls, he escapes with the other Faithful. As a descendant of the old Edain and kinsman of Pharazôn the blond (my HC, yes) he is blond and quite beautiful for a guy his age. Generally, the Tuor genes are showing.

PoV: you are Gil-Galad. The Numenorians capture Sauron. 60-something years later there is a world-shattering storm and you have the worst nightmares about the island drowning. Some time later the remaining Men arrive at the shore… with the fourth most important of them being a blond guy calling himself Annatar.

This needs a fic.

Why do I always end up with so much mood whiplash?

And yes, Yôphazân would end up being important in the ranks of the Faithful. He was raised to be able to rule, and is old and wise enough to have joinded them despite being the heir to the throne… He is an extremely competent leader. I imagine he'd be Anarion's second-in-command. Anarion's because his name has "sun" in it, and Yôphazân is blond, so it fits together in my head.

But what with the whole "kings of Gondor descend from Elendil" if we have a more direct Númenorean heir and he's not dead? Well. He surely accepted Elendil's leadership. And also either Yôphazân lost his whole family in the Fall and after his death the most direct line from the kings was Elendil… or Yôphazân's family escaped too, and in this case I'm pretty sure that his granddaughter married …I don't have a good sense for the generations, but I suppose a grandson of Elendil? Anyway the lines merged together.

Ok tbh this issue does suggest that Yôphazân shouldn't survive the Fall. But I want to see Gil-Galad's face, so maybe I'll ignore it.

…So yea. I started with logic and "there must be a family there" and ended up with some quite detailed HCs.