Ohmygosh! Squatter, how've you been? It's been a while.
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Numenor's most important legacies are the common history that it provides for Elves and Men; its literature, which records a great deal of useful information that would otherwise be forgotten, and its technology, which proves so valuable in countering the common enemy.
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I realize that this is going to sound a bit far fetched, but bear with me.
The original source of this knowledge and technology, the Elves, had not entirely vanished by the time of the Downfall of Numenor. I think that if the Elves had been reduced to desperate enough straits they would have aided the lesser men in their development, just as they had the Edain. Of course the fundamental problem with this is lack of time, but I think that some degree of cultural transference would have taken place.
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I also see the fall of Numenor as a salutory lesson in humility to any society, which is never a bad thing to have.
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Unfortunately, humanity has an exasperating ability to ignore such lessons whenever it wants something that could ultimately be destructive.