But even before they are corrupted by Sauron, the Númenóreans begin to resent their mortality and murmur against the Valar. Ar-Pharazôn, the last king, no longer invites Sauron to Númenor but takes a great army to Middle-earth and demands that Sauron pay him homage. Sauron feigns submission, and is taken back to Númenor as a hostage, where he soon gains ascendancy over the king. Most Númenóreans cease to honour Ilúvatar, and instead human sacrifices, often of those who were faithful to the old ways, are offered to Morgoth in the temple built by Sauron. Those who sail east to Middle-earth now do so as cruel conquerors and enslavers. Among the Faithful are Amardil, his son Elendil, and Elendil’s sons Anárion and Isildur, who are descended from Earendil through a junior line. In despair at the king’s plans to invade Valinor, Amardil decides to follow the example of Earendil and sail into the West to seek aid of the Valar. He is never seen again. The eruption of the Pillar of Heaven, which is volcanic, contributes to the destruction of Númenor, which slides into the sea and is overwhelmed by gigantic waves. The ships of Elendil are driven east by the winds and carried on great waves to Middle-earth.
Tolkien evidently had clear pictures in his mind of events in the latter part of The Drowning of Anadûnê, which he transformed into passages of brilliant and memorable descriptive writing:
And now the fleets of the Adûnâi [Númenóreans] darkened the sea upon the west of the land, and they were like an archipelago of a thousand isles; their masts were as a forest upon the mountains, and their sails were like a brooding cloud; and their banners were black and golden like stars upon the fields of night. And all things now waited upon the word of Ar-Pharazôn; and Zigûr withdrew into the inmost circle of the Temple, and men brought him victims to be burned. Then the Eagles of the Lords of the West came up out of the dayfall, and they were arrayed as for battle, advancing in a line the end of which could not be seen. [etc.; p. 371, as emended from p. 391]
In the first version, the Númenóreans abandon their own language and adopt that of the Avalāi (Elvish). In the second version, most Númenóreans continue to speak their own Mannish tongue, Adûnaic, and only kings and princes learned the Elvish language. In the last two versions of The Drowning of Anadûnê, most of the names are in Adûnaic.
THE AKALLABÊTH AND APPENDICES A AND B TO THE LORD OF THE RINGS
Probably in the autumn of 1948, while working on material to be published in The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien wrote yet another account of the fall of Númenor, entitled The Downfall of Númenor, but always referred to it as the Akallabêth. In writing this work, he drew on both The Fall of Númenor and The Drowning of Anadûnê. He evidently intended it not for The Lord of the Rings, but for inclusion in a published ‘Silmarillion’. Neither The Fall of Númenor nor The Drowning of Anadûnê, however, suited that purpose. The Fall of Númenor is less than half the length of The Drowning of Anadûnê, which includes much fine description and new matter not found in the earlier account. But the parts of The Drowning of Anadûnê in which confused later ‘Mannish tradition’ is predominant made it unsuitable to accompany the other ‘Silmarillion’ texts derived from ‘true’ Elvish traditions.
Apparently influenced by the preference his friend *Katharine Farrer expressed in the autumn of 1948 for the ‘Flat World’ version of the Ainulindalë over the ‘Round World’ version, Tolkien, for a time at least, seems to have decided to retain the cosmology of the world being originally flat as it was in The Fall of Númenor. In addition, some new material needed to be added to the story of Númenor to take account of various matters introduced in The Lord of the Rings. Christopher Tolkien thinks that a note his father wrote many years later explains how he regarded the different accounts: The Fall of Númenor relates ‘Elvish tradition’, The Drowning of Anadûnê ‘Mannish tradition’, and the Akallabêth, which draws on both of the others, ‘Mixed Dúnedanic tradition’ (Sauron Defeated, pp. 406–7).
Before starting work on the Akallabêth Tolkien made an outline history of Númenor with rough dates for the thirteen kings (most not named) who followed after the death of Elros in Second Age 460, and for some significant events (e.g. the fourteenth and last king, Tarkalion or Arpharazôn, challenges Sauron in Second Age 3125, and the Downfall of Númenor takes place in 3319). The first text, a manuscript, is addressed to Ælfwine, presumably by Pengoloð, an Elf of Tol Eressëa, and begins with two new paragraphs summarizing the Elvish tradition of the coming of Men into the world, their falling under the dominion of Morgoth, the repentance of the Edain who fought with the Eldar against Morgoth, and the voyage of Eärendil into the West to speak to the Valar on behalf of Elves and Men. The text then briefly follows the third version of The Fall of Númenor for an account of the defeat of Morgoth, the summoning of the Elves into the West to the Isle of Eressëa whose haven was Avallónë, and the creation of Númenor for Men.
From that point the Akallabêth follows mainly The Drowning of Anadûnê, but takes or revises some passages from The Fall of Númenor. The language spoken by most of the Númenóreans is still Adûnaic, but most names are in the Elvish languages (*Languages, Invented), either that which their kings and lords had learned during their alliance with the Elves (here called Noldorin) or the High Eldarin tongue (Quenya) which their lore-masters learn. The Númenóreans are forbidden by the Valar to sail west out of sight of the shores of Númenor, but they know that Eressëa lies to the west, and beyond that is the Blessed Realm. The Eldar from Eressëa visit and bring gifts, including a seedling of the White Tree of Eressëa, itself a seedling of Telperion, one of the Two Trees of Valinor. The seedling is planted in the courts of the king. The Númenórean mariners again see the Gates of Morning in the East. The Númenóreans’ resentment of their mortality begins earlier, and it is to Tar-Atanamir, the seventh king, that the Valar send messengers, who now say nothing about the shape of the world but tell him that even if he came to Aman it would not profit him. ‘For it is not the land of Manwë that makes its people deathless, but the Deathless that dwell therein have hallowed the land; and there you would but wither and grow weary the sooner’ (The Silmarillion, p. 264).
More detail is given of the growing obsession of the Númenóreans with death, building great tombs, and seeking to prolong life, but discovering only how to preserve bodies of the dead. Most cease to show any devotion to Eru. Even before Sauron comes to power, they make settlements in Middle-earth, mainly in the south, and instead of teaching and helping those living there, they seek wealth and dominion. The Faithful sail mainly to the North-west, establish a haven at Pelargir, and help Gil-galad against Sauron. Some of this, and much else of the added material, derived from The Lord of the Rings. In the Akallabêth it is during the reign of Tar-Atanamir that Sauron completes the building of Barad-dûr and begins his campaign for domination of Middle-earth. He is said to hate the Númenóreans because they aided Gil-galad against him. Three of the nine Men whom Sauron snares with rings are great lords of Númenórean race, and he uses them (the Ringwraiths) to attack Númenórean strongholds by the sea. When he comes to Númenor, Sauron urges the king to cut down the White Tree growing in his courts, but before the king consents, Isildur manages to steal a fruit, and the sapling grown from this fruit and the Seven Stones given to them by the Eldar are included in the treasure the Faithful put aboard their ships (cf. the rhyme in The Lord of the Rings, bk. III, ch. 11). Sauron says nothing about the shape of the world except that many lands lie east and west. As in The Fall of Númenor, when the fashion of the world is changed Aman is not destroyed, and Aman and Eressëa are ‘taken away and removed from the circles of the world beyond the reach