men of middle-earth ∿ misc. númenóreans ∿ headcanon disclaimer
Orontor was a lord of Númenor, one of the Faithful, and a vassal to Lord Amandil of Andúnië. He was a skilled navigator and often guided ships through dangerous waters. His spouse was Anarroina, a cook in Amandil’s household, and together they had two children: first a son, Voronwë, and then much later a daughter, Fíriel. Voronwë was a fast friend of Amandil’s son Elendil and a mariner even greater than his father. Voronwë’s wife Netilya was a Rómenna-born farmer who passed her love of the earth to her elder daughter Cemniel, while the heart of her younger daughter Ilcanië was turned more toward the sea. Fíriel was dear friends with Cemniel and Ilcanië, being of age with her nieces rather than her brother; all three were swept up in the youth rebellion against Ar-Pharazôn’s oppressive policies stirred up by Herendil. Cemniel quickly grew close to Isildur, son of Elendil, and when she discovered her pregnancy she and Isildur were wed with great haste so their son Elendur might be born within wedlock. Despite the rushed wedding, Cemniel and Isildur would have many happy years together, though they waited to have more children for several decades after Elendur’s birth. As the Shadow lengthened over Númenor, Lord Amandil grew more and more concerned for the fate of his fallen people. Determining to seek the aid of the Valar in opposing Ar-Pharazôn’s wicked counselor Zigûr, Amandil passed the leadership of the Faithful to Elendil his son and embarked on a journey into the Uttermost West to beg forgiveness from Manwë for the sins of Númenor. With him he took three companions, including Orontor, who though he was reluctant to leave his spouse and daughter followed his lord into the West, never to return. Mourning her father’s departure, Fíriel was comforted by her friend Herendil, and soon great love grew between them. Herendil spoke to his maternal uncle Elendil and beseeched him to welcome Fíriel and Anarroina into his household, and for a few years he, Fíriel, and their friends worked under Elendil’s command to prepare for the evacuation of Rómenna should the doom of Númenor become full-wrought. Yet for Herendil and Fíriel, the bitter end came all too soon when one night Fíriel was overheard singing a song of Ilúvatar for her beloved and was dragged before Zigûr to be interrogated. Though her life was spared, she was forced into the priesthood of Melkor, and when Herendil himself was brought to the King’s twisted justice, it was she who wielded the blade that killed him, offering his heart to the Lord of Darkness. Fíriel thought it a mercy when the isle of Elenna was drowned, and herself with it, for at least then she could do no more evil. Though Orontor’s end was mysterious and Fíriel’s tragic, the rest of their family escaped with Elendil and his sons to Middle-earth. Voronwë and Netilya remained at the side of Elendil, though their daughters were swept away by the waves in the ships of Isildur and Anárion. Eventually they were reunited just in time for the wedding of Ilcanië to Sandor, a shipwright in the service of Isildur. Ilcanië and Cemniel her sister dwelt with their husbands in the city of Minas Ithil, Cemniel bearing Isildur two more sons and Ilcanië one child, a lad named Glanor. Their family would remain tight-knit to the end of their days, with Glanor serving as an ohtar to his uncle Isildur and his mother and aunt at one another’s side through many trials.