Melkor's Letters: Tar-Atanamir's Ruling and Reign
This is when we see all the fruits of our work come into place.
Dear Sauron,
Tar-Atanamir the King of Númenor is at a crossroads. By design, our Enemy made Men like him to be mortal. This means, that they are to be born, live, and die all within a span of time appointed by our Enemy. Meanwhile, he loved ruling, as he was proud and greedy like his father.
Typically, the Kings stop ruling and pass it over to their sons once they reach old age. However, Tar-Atanamir will continue to reign until his dying day. From then on, all the Númenórean Kings will reign until their dying days. Meanwhile, he also recognized one thing: the (dreaded) Ban of the Valar, imposed by friends of our Enemy. The Númenóreans should not sail so far west from their island, Númenor, that they can’t see its coasts. So, I convinced him that going to Aman, which is so far west from their island, would grant him immortality. Cha-ching!
A longer life is what these poor Men wanted all along. “The more joyful was their life, the more they long for the immortality of the Eldar.” (Silmarillion, Akallabêth) A shadow is looming. This shadow was first discovered by Tar-Minastir, the eleventh (11th) King of Númenor, and now, it had just finally fell upon Númenor. Make sure Tar-Atanamir speaks openly against the Ban of the Valar! While they awarded Númenor with the long life they had, this still didn’t keep them from their inevitable “weariness” of the world. The Valar knew that Aman would make these Númenóreans desire immortality more and more.
There are three (3) steps to achieve our goal of destructing Númenor by feeding into their desire for immortality: obedience, brooding, and rebellion (breaking the law). The first is obedience, which is officially called mere acquiescence, which is their willful obedience without understanding. See, we are already in this phase, as everyone is, and Atanamir only thought it, but he didn’t really do anything about it besides that. This is in contrast already, to the early history of Númenor, where these Men were perfectly satisfied to live under the will of our Enemy!
The second step is their brooding, which is shown by their increased murmuring. We are now well underway! This is when their obedience becomes unwilling. Or, when they finally realize their dream of being immortal! Once Atanamir speaks openly against the Ban, the others will do so as well. This is the most pivotal step to destroying Númenor, as more and more of their people will follow the King’s lead However, in this step there are many “sub-steps.” For example, the first one is that we make them jealous of the Eldar and Valar. Some want to go for a day! Especially as they discover Eärendil’s voyage. According to our Enemy (or rather, my brother Manwë, the chief messenger of our Enemy), Eärendil is one of the Firstborn, while Atanamir is a mortal. Then, we convince them how unfair it is. See, the Doom of Men, which is their death, was at first a gift. But our shadow made them “willful and proud, and would not yield. until life was reft from them.” (Fall of Númenor, “The Shadow Falls on Númenor”) This would make them desire immortality more and more. And not only that, we are able to impose on them a great distraction of the wills of our Enemy.
Lastly, the final step is their rebellion! This is when we see all the fruits of our work come into place. We rejoice in the idea of having all the Númenóreans greedy and angry, and jealous of the Eldar and Valar!
Cheers,
Morgoth
P.S. This is only the beginning - it’s a domino effect! As one man desires immortality, they all will!