Aldarion and Erendis, part two (Second Age 870 - 1000)
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
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The Fall of Númenor Book Club Notes: Part Five
Aldarion and Erendis, part two: "The Wedding of Aldarion and Erendis" and "The Accession of Tar-Aldarion" (pg. 83 - 114)
The Wedding of Aldarion and Erendis
870: The Wedding of Aldarion and Erendis in Armenelos
After their wedding, they rode through the isle; at the end of this period of time, they came to Andunie for the last feast which was attended by the Eldar.
There is a mention of the elanor flower in this section which is significant in The Lord of the Rings: the flower grew in Lothlorien; and Sam Gamgee named his daughter after it.
Gifts from the Eldar:
For Aldarion, a sapling tree.
Aldarion, the idiot, immediately wants to use it for wood
For Erendis, a pair of song birds.
Aldarion and Erendis returned to live in Armenelos.
873: Ancalimë is born.
Erendis was glad that their first child was a girl so that she might keep Aldarion near enough to conceive a son.
Erendis continued to be jealous of the Sea, refusing to go with him upon his ship.
In this time, Aldarion remained in Numenor and was a responsible Forrester. However, Erendis was resentful of him because Aldarion didn’t love the trees for themselves but only as far as they could be used for timber.
When Ancalimë was nearly four years old, Aldarion confessed his desire to set sail once again. He intended that he would only be gone for two years. He left after her birthday.
In this time, she became bitter and nurtured her daughter with bitterness against men. Erendis left Armenelos and dwelt in Emerië with her daughter.
Erendis dismissed her elven birds, telling them this was no place for joy such as theirs.
When the time for Aldarion to return came, Meneldur summoned Erendis to Armenelos to await his arrival; she prepared her home in Armenelos but would not herself come. He did not return at this time.
Erendis grew even more bitter and silent. She shut their house in Armenelos.
Erendis became even more obsessed with her daughter and would not allow her to leave her side.
Their home was quiet and hushed, “as if one had died there not long since.”
When she was seven years old, Ancalimë saw a boy for (essentially) the first time.
In this time, she also began to ask questions about her father who she had forgotten.
882: When Ancalimë was 9 years old, Aldarion returned and word was sent to Emerië of his arrival. But Erendis did not go to meet him or tell Ancalimë of it.
Aldarion told Meneldur of the happenings in Middle-earth: he returned bringing news that a shadow has fallen upon Men, and a letter from king Gil-galad.
Meneldur urged Aldarion to return home to deal with his own affairs before concerning himself with Middle-earth.
“Let a King first rule well his own house ere he correct others.’”
Aldarion confessed that he would have returned home if he knew where his home was.
When Aldarion returned to Emerië, he received a cold welcome. Aldarion perceived then that he no longer had a wife.
“‘I was told in Armenelos that my wife was here, and had removed my daughter hither,’ he answered. ‘As to the wife I am mistaken, it seems, but have I not a daughter?’
‘You had one some years ago,’ she said. ‘But my daughter has not yet risen.’”
In the morning, Aldarion left after speaking to Ancalimë and reminding her that she was the daughter of the King’s heir.
After he left, Erendis wept because she had hoped he would apologize and they could be reconciled.
Aldarion rode to the house of Hallatan where he gave a jewel to Ulbar’s wife as repayment for all of the time he had kept her husband from her.
After this, Aldarion dismissed his companion and rode to Armenelos alone.
Back in Armenelos, Meneldur read the letter from Gil-galad.
In the letter:
Gil-galad asked the King’s pardon for detaining Aldarion
“A new shadow arises in the East… a servant of Morgoth is stirring.”
Request for Númenor’s aid in defending Middle-earth
Meneldur was troubled by this letter and determined to resign the sceptre to Aldarion sooner than he had intended so that Aldarion could decide how to handle this.
“‘May Eru call me before such a time comes!’ he cried aloud. Then to himself he said: ‘Alas! That his pride and my coolness have kept our minds apart so long.’”
Aldarion brought his men to Armenelos where they felled all of the trees in his garden except for the white Elven-tree, and he commanded his house to be razed to the ground.
Aldarion confronted Meneldur, which he endured patiently. Then, he turned and told Aldarion that he would pass the sceptre to him soon.
The King bid Erendis to return to Armenelos with Ancalimë; she relented to send Ancalimë but refused to return herself, asking to remain in her solitude.
The Accession of Tar-Aldarion
883: Tar-Aldarion becomes the Sixth King of Númenor
From this point forward, the narrative becomes fragmented.
Christopher Tolkien editorialized the remaining notes under the title: “The Further Course of the Narrative”
883: Aldarion returned to Middle-earth once more very shortly after becoming King.
He did not place a bough on his ship, but an image of an eagle with a golden beak which had been a gift from Cirdan.
In this time, he met Galadriel.
There is no conclusion to Gil-galad’s request for aide:
“Aldairon was too late, or too early. Too late: for the power that hated Númenor had already waked. Too early: for the time was not yet ripe for Númenor to show its power or to come back into the battle for the world.”
Hallatan was left as regent when Aldarion journeyed to Middle-earth.
Aldarion changed the laws of Númenor because of his disastrous marriage:
“Tar-Aldarion caused the law of succession in Númenor to be changed. It is said specifically that Tar-Aldarion did this ‘for reasons of private concern, rather than policy’ and out of ‘his long resolve to defeat Erendis’.
The New Law:
A female descendant of the King may inherit the sceptre if he had no son. She would be free to refuse and then the sceptre would pass to the nearest male kinsman.
A female heir must resign if she remained unwed by a certain time. (At some point Tar-Aldarion rescinded this provision.)
The King’s Heir should not marry outside of the Line of Elros.
Of Ancalimë:
She was proclaimed the King’s Heir at age 19; in this time, Aldarion changed the law to allow for a female heir to inherit the sceptre.
She had been nurtured against Men; she was accustomed to the society of women and found men irritating.
She had approved of her mother’s treatment of Aldarion as well as Aldarion’s treatment of her mother.
“She was clever, and malicious, and saw promise of sport as the prize for which her mother and her father did battle.”
Ancalimë profoundly disliked obligatory marriage and did not desire love but ultimately married Hallacar after he sought her out in the borders of the lands of Hallatan.
She had a son named Anarion but withheld him from her husband.
She would not allow her servants, who were all women, to be married; but her husband arranged a secret marriage feast for them where Ancalimë was humiliated. After this, Ancalimë never came back to Emerië and hated Hallacar afterwards.
Death of Erendis
When Erendis was old, she missed Aldarion and began the journey to Rómenna where she ultimately passed away.
“There, it seems, she met her fate; but only the words ‘Erendis perished in water in the year 985’ remain to suggest how it came to pass.”
“Of the life-span granted to the Númenóreans, Erendis had once said that women ‘became a kind of Imitation Elves; and their Men had so much in their heads and desire of doing that they ever felt the pressure of time, and so seldom rested or rejoiced in the present. Fortunately their wives were cool and busy -- but Númenor was no place for great love.”
Timeline for this Section (via Tolkien Gateway)
S.A. 870 - The marriage of Aldarion and Erendis
S.A. 873 - Ancalimë is born
S.A. 877-882 - Voyage of Aldarion with Hirilondë
S.A. 882 - Aldarion and Erendis are separated
S.A. 883 - Aldarion becomes king of Númenor
S.A. 892 - Ancalimë is declared heiress to the throne
S.A. 985 - Erendis dies after journeying to the haven of Rómenna
S.A. 1075 - Aldarion's reign ends
S.A. 1075 - Ancalimë becomes the first ruling queen of Númenor
S.A. 1098 - Aldarion dies