Sauron Begins to Stir (Second Age 40 - 750)
This post is a part of our Book Club reading of The Fall of Númenor: And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth: January - April 2023
Order the book from Amazon or Blackwells if you don’t already have your copy.
Learn more about this book club here.
The Fall of Númenor Book Club Notes: Part Three
Sauron Begins to Stir: "Many Dwarves leaving their…" through "Eregion founded by the Noldor" (pg. 43 - 65)
40 - Many Dwarves Leaving their old cities in Ered Luin go to Moria and Swell its Numbers
Durin the Deathless:
The eldest of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves was called Durin.
He was the ancestor of all the kings of the Longbeards.
He lived so long that he was called During the Deathless, though he died before the Elder Days had passed.
His lineage ‘never ended’; five times an heir received the name of Durin.
He came to the region that became Khazad-dûm (Moria).
After the end of the First Age, Khazad-dûm was thriving after Nogrod and Belegost were ruined.
Death of Elros Tar-Minyatur
First King of Númenor: Elros Tar-Minyatur ruled for 410 years and lived 500 years.
He had been given the longest lifespan of any Man, and though his descendants didn’t live as long as he did they still lived longer than any of the Númenóreans.
Elros had four children:
Vardamir Nólimon (“Learned One”), Tar-Vardamir
Manwendil
Atanalcar
Tindómiel (daughter)
Second King of Númenor: Tar-Vardamir
He chose not to rule, immediately passing the sceptre to his son.
“He is nonetheless accounted the second of the Kings, and is deemed to have reigned one year.”
It became the custom for the Kings to pass the sceptre of their own free will before their death, and this continued until the latter years.
Four children: Amandil, Vardilmë, Aulendil, Nolondil
Third King of Númenor: Tar-Amandil ruled from 442-590
Amandil (“Lover or Friend of Aman”)
Three children: Elendil, Eärendur, Mairen
C. 500, Sauron begins to stir…
Sauron in the Beginning
In the beginning of Arda, Melkor had seduced Sauron (also called Gorthaur), and he became the greatest servant of the Enemy. Sauron could assume many forms and could appear noble and beautiful for a long time.
“‘Yet the lies that Melkor, the mighty and accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even until the latest days.’ Those new-sprouting lies and hatreds were tended and nurtured by Sauron[.]”
Sauron in the Beginning of the Second Age
After the fall of Morgoth, Sauron “put on his fair hue again” and repented before Eönwë. Sauron was commanded to return to Aman to receive judgment but ultimately refused and hid himself in Middle-earth where he eventually turned back into evil.
“Therefore when Eönwë departed he hid himself in Middle-earth; and he fell back into evil, for the bonds that Morgoth had laid upon his were very strong.”
Sauron’s Motivations
Letter 153: Sauron was not “evil” in origin; his “temporary turn to good and “benevolence” ended in a greater relapse, until he became the main representative of Evil of later ages.”
Letter 131: “He lingers in Middle-earth. Very slowly, beginning with fair motives: the reorganising and rehabilitation of the ruin of Middle-earth, “neglected by the gods”, he becomes a reincarnation of Evil…”
Sauron began with the desire for order and reformation but ultimately became almost wholly evil.
“[I]t had been his virtue (and therefore also the cause of his fall, and of his relapse) that he loved order and coordination, and disliked all confusion and wasteful friction…”
“[H]is ‘plans’, the idea coming from his own isolated mind, became the sole object of his will, and an end, the End, in itself.”
Read more about his motivations in Morgoth’s Ring
Greater than Morgoth?
“Sauron was ‘greater’, effectively, in the Second Age than Morgoth at the end of the First. Why? Because, though he was far smaller by natural stature, he had not yet fallen so low.”
Morgoth had let most of his being pass into the physical constituents of the Earth as he sought to dominate it; Sauron only did so with the Rings because he wanted to dominate the creatures of the earth in their minds and wills.
“Sauron, however, inherited the ‘corruption’ of Arda, and only spent his (much more limited) power on the Rings; for it was the creatures of earth, in their minds and wills, that he desired to dominate. In this way Sauron was also wiser than Melkor-Morgoth. Sauron was not a beginner of discord; and he probably knew more of the ‘Music’ [the Music of the Ainur, the great song of creation before the beginning of Time] than did Melkor, whose mind had always been filled with his own plans and devices…”
He did not want to destroy the world as Morgoth did, but to rule it as he wished.
“He did not object to the existence of the world, so long as he could do what he liked with it.”
Sauron felt that the Valar had forgotten Middle-earth, which swelled his pride.
Looking at Sauron as a more subtle and mature villain.
521 - Birth in Númenor of Silmariën
Fourth King of Númenor: Tar-Elendil
Elendil (Quenya “Star-lover”; “Elf-friend”), also called Parmaitë (“Book-Handed”)
The Children of Tar-Elendil:
Silmariën, born 521
The son of Silmariën was Valandil, from whom came the Lords of Andúnië: “Of Valandil came the Lords of Andúnië, of whom the last was Amandil father of Elendil the Tall, who came to Middle-earth after the Downfall.”
Isilmë, born 532
Meneldur, born 543
Meneldur would become the next King due to the laws of the time which did not allow a female descendant to take the sceptre.
In Tar-Elendil’s reign the Númenóreans first journeyed to Middle-earth.
600 - The first ships of the Númenóreans Appear off the Coasts
Ship-building and sea-craft were prioritized over any other arts; the Númenóreans became great mariners.
The Ban of the Valar:
Manwë allowed the Númenóreans to sail, but never so far west that they could not see the coasts of Númenor. In these days, Valinor still remained within the world; Avallonë, though not within Aman, could still be seen from Númenor, and he did not want the Númenóreans to be tempted to travel to Aman.
“But the design of Manwë was that the Númenóreans should not be tempted to seek the Blessed Realm, nor desire to overpass the limits set to their bliss, becoming enamoured of the immortality of the Valar and the Eldar and the lands where all things endure.”
Due to the Ban, the Númenóreans sailed ever eastwards.
Note that at this time, the world is still flat!
In this time, the Númenóreans first came to Middle-earth.
Vëantur, Captain of King’s Ships under Tar-Elendil, first came to Mithlond (the Grey Havens).
Upon their first visit, they were welcomed by Gil-galad and became friends and allies.
The Men of Eriador were filled with wonder because they had believed all Men beyond the ‘Western Mountains’ had drowned when Beleriand was destroyed; they sent emissaries to meet the Númenóreans.
“Thus it came about that there was a meeting between them on the Tower Hills; and to that meeting with the Númenóreans came twelve Men only out of Eriador, Men of high heart and courage, for most of their people feared that the newcomers were perilous spirits of the Dead.”
They met in friendship but could not understand each other at first.
The Númenóreans pitied the Men of Middle-earth and initially came as teachers and helpers, givers of gifts.
Gifts from the Númenóreans:
Gifts such as corn and wine.
Knowledge of their language, of sowing seed, grinding grain, hewing wood, shaping stone, and of ordering their life towards bliss.
In this time, “Men shook off the yoke of the offspring of Morgoth, and unlearned their terror of the dark.”
During this time, Sauron remained hidden; hating the Eldar and fearing the Númenóreans.
The Voyages of Aldarion
This story is told more fully and uninterrupted in Unfinished Tales Part 2
Meneldur, son of Tar-Elendil married Almarian (daughter of Vëantur)
Their son was Anardil (“Lover of the Sun”), who would become Tar-Aldarion
Daughters: Ailinel (who married Orchaldor) and Almiel
Aldarion (“Son of the Trees”) was fair, proud; tree-steward and forester; loved the sea and ship-building; loved to be in Romenna; was much loved by his mother’s father.
Year 725: For his 25th birthday, his grandfather suggested that they sail to Middle-earth together.
His father was wary to allow him to go but allowed him to go nonetheless.
“But to not become enamoured of the Great Lands, you who one day must be King and Father of this Isle!”
His first journey lasted two years where he met Círdan and Gil-galad, journeyed far in Lindon and in the West of Eriador.
When Aldarion returned, his “eyes were brighter; but they looked far away.”
Unfortunately he had, in fact, become enamoured of the Sea.
Three years after his return, Aldarion went back to Lindon and did not return for three years. The voyage after that lasted four years.
Fifth King of Year Númenor (Year 740): Tar-Meneldur
When Aldarion was 40 years old, Tar-Elendil surrendered the sceptre and Meneldur (Aldarion’s father) became King.
Meneldur was a gentle and kind man without pride, dearly loved Númenor, uninterested in the Sea, preferred to watch the stars. He built a tall tower from which to study the stars.
Year 750: Eregion founded by the Noldor
Around 700, Eregion (later called Hollin) was founded by Celeborn and Galadriel, populated primarily by Noldorin elves.
Elves and Dwarves
Galadriel may have chosen this area to be close to Moria; Galadriel was sympathetic towards the Dwarves as one of the Noldor; for the Dwarves are the Children of Aulë and Galadriel had been a pupil of Aulë and Yavanna in Valinor.
Celeborn did not like Dwarves due to their participation in the ruin of Doriath, even though the Dwarves of Moria had not directly been involved.
Galadriel perceived that Middle-earth could not be saved without a union of all the peoples who opposed the evil left behind by Morgoth.
“Galadriel became aware that Sauron again, as in the ancient days of the captivity of Melkor [Morgoth], had been left behind…”
In this time, Sauron was not operating with a single name but Galadriel perceived that there was “an evil controlling purpose abroad in the world”.
In Eregion dwelt Celebrimbor as their chief artificer.
Celebrimbor’s greatest friend among the Dwarves was Narvi, a dwarvish craftsman.
750: The building of the chief city of Eregion, Ost-in-Edhil (“Fortress of the Eldar”)
Gwaith-i-Mirdain (“The People of the Jewel-smiths”) founded by Celebrimbor
Reference to The Fellowship of the Ring: the Doors of Durin as discovered by the Fellowship of the Ring were made in collaboration between Celebrimbor and Narvi.
Notes about Mithril (Moria Silver)