The Last Alliance (Second Age 3320 - 3341)
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 Part Nine
The Last Alliance: "Foundations of the Realms in Exile…" through "Epilogue" (pg. 194 - 215)
Note: This section is quite well-adapted in the prologue of Peter Jackson’s “The Fellowship of the Ring”.
3320: Foundations of the Realms in Exile: Arnor and Gondor. The Stones are divided. Sauron returns to Mordor.
Elendil and his sons escaped the drowning of Númenor with nine ships and came to Middle-earth, bringing with them the seedling of Nimloth and the Seven Palantíri.
The end of the Second Age
“So the end of the Second Age draws on in a major catastrophe; but it is not yet quite concluded. From the cataclysm there are survivors…” - Letter 131
In this letter, Tolkien likens Elendil to a Noah-figure.
“‘Noachian’ references the patriarch Noah, who appears in the Biblical story of the Deluge (Genesis 6:11-9:19), both being faithful to their beliefs and prepared for what might befall.”
The Númenórean Kings in Exile: Elendil of Númenor, High King of Gondor and Arnor (Rule SA 3320 - 3441)
A small portion of the Númenóreans survived its destruction and came to Middle-earth.
Elendil came to Lindon where he befriended Gil-galad and then established his realm beyond Ered Luin; his chief city was at Annúminas.
Isildur and Anárion were carried South and came up the Great River Anduin. They established their realm in the land that was later called Gondor; the Northern Kingdom was later named Arnor.
In Minas Ithil was the house of Isildur; in Minas Anor was the house of Anárion; and they shared Osgiliath.
The White Tree, grown from the fruit of Nimloth, was planted in Minas Ithil since Isildur was the one who had saved it.
The Palantíri, the Seven Stones, were divided amongst the Kingdoms: three to Elendil and two to each of his sons. The Stones were used to communicate across distances, and by using them, the Númenóreans were able to learn many things that their enemies had wished to conceal.
As told in the Akallabêth, Sauron brought about the destruction of Númenor. Afterwards, Sauron returned in spirit to Middle-earth and was dismayed to see that the power of Gil-galad had grown great in his absence.
It was believed by the Exiles that Sauron had perished in the Downfall.
“[The ruin of Númenor] was more terrible than Sauron had foreseen, for he had forgotten the might of the Lord of the West in their Anger. This good at least [the Exiles] believed had come out of ruin, that Sauron had also perished. But it was not so.”
As the Exiles of Númenor established their realms in Arnor and Gondor, Sauron regained his strength in Mordor; in that land was the mountain of fire, Orodruin (Mount Doom).
Sauron took up a new form since his previous form had been destroyed with the fall of Númenor. Sauron gathered his servants, which included some Númenóreans that he had swayed to his service.
Sauron’s New Form: “There now he brooded in the dark, until he had wrought for himself a new shape; and it was terrible, for his fair semblance had departed for ever when he was cast into the abyss at the drowning of Númenor.”
Sauron directed his anger and hatred at Elendil, “whom he most hated” and prepared for war against the Elves and the Númenórean Exiles.
In this time, Orodruin was awakened again and this was taken as a sign that Sauron had returned. Men called it Amon Amarth, which meant Mount Doom.
3429: Sauron attacks Gondor, takes Minas Ithil and burns the white tree. Isildur escapes down Anduin and goes to Elendil in the North. Anárion defends Minas Anor and Osgiliath.
Sauron took Minas Ithil and destroyed the White Tree of Isildur
Isildur escaped with a seedling, his wife, and his sons and fled seeking out Elendil
Anárion defended Osgiliath.
3430: The Last Alliance of Elves and Men is formed.
Elendil and Gil-galad formed the Last Alliance
The great watch-tower of Amon Sûl was built.
3431: Gil-galad and Elendil march east to Imladris.
Gil-galad and Elendil marched east to assemble a host of Elves and Men, stopping at Imladris along the way for three years.
3434: The host of the Alliance crosses the Misty Mountains. Battle of Dagorlad and defeat of Sauron. Siege of Barad-dûr begins.
The disappearance of the Entwives: destroyed, enslaved, and/or estranged
“One of the outcomes of Sauron’s preparations for war was the dis-appearance from Middle-earth of the Entwives, mates to the Ents…”
Letter 144: “I think that in face the Entwives had disappeared for good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance (Second Age 3429-3441) when Sauron pursued a scorched earth policy and burned their land against the advance of the Allies down the Anduin.”
The host of the Last Alliance passed across the Misty Mountains and marched down the River Anduin, coming to the Battle Plain (Dagorlad) which lay before the gate of the Black Land.
3440: Anárion slain
Anárion was slain in the valley of Gorgoroth when he was crushed by a stone-cast from Barad-dûr.
3441: Sauron overthrown by Elendil and Gil-galad, who perish. Isildur takes the One Ring. Sauron passes away and the Ringwraiths go into the shadows. The Second Age ends.
Matters of the war became so desperate that Sauron himself was forced to come forth, where he wrestled with Gil-galad and Elendil. Gil-galad and Elendil were both slain, although Sauron was also thrown down.
The sword of Elendil, Narsil, was broken as he fell. With the hilt-shard of Narsil, Isildur cut the Ring from the hand of Sauron. Thus, Sauron was vanquished for a time.
Of the Last Alliance
“Never again shall there be any such league of Elves and Men…” - The Fellowship of the Ring
Epilogue
Númenórean Kings in Exile: Isildur, High King of Gondor and Arnor
Isildur kept the One Ring as a weregild, refusing the recommendation of Elrond and Círdan to cast it into Orodruin.
Isildur took the ring and returned to Minas Anor where he re-planted the White Tree in memory of his brother.
Isildur’s Description of the Ring is kept in Gondor and recalls:
The Ring was initially hot, though it cooled with time.
The writing on the Ring was of an elvish script of Eregion but the language is the tongue of the Black Land, which Isildur could not understand.
Isildur believed the Ring missed the heat of Sauron’s hand and that the script may reappear if it were placed in the fire, but he would not risk such a thing.
“Of all the works of Sauron the only fair. It is precious to me, though I buy it with great pain.”
The Death of Isildur
Isildur journeyed toward Eriador with the intention of taking up his father’s realm, but was assailed by Orcs along the way in the Gladden Fields.
There, most of his people were killed, although his wife and youngest son had been left in Imladris.
Isildur was initially able to escape by putting on the Ring and becoming invisible, but the Ring betrayed him and slipped from his finger into the waters of the River as he swam. There, he was seen by the Orcs and shot with many arrows.
More about this tale can be found in: Unfinished Tales Part 3, Ch. 1