I prefer not to go theological, however I do have opinion on the original questions.
”Also, it appears from Akallabeth that the Valar were not prohibited from slaying Numenoreans.... Why couldn't the Valar have defeated the rebels, leaving the faithful to restore the realm?”
The reason to this is rather simple. Valar are rather wiser then the people of our world (and yes, I mean yanks in this particular issue.) There are many things one can do or enforce when one has power, armies etc. But no matter how much power or how great armies one has, you just cannot beat people into loving you and kill them into being loyal to you. (One cannot ”install” democratic governments, one cannot war people into upholding peace, one cannot conquer them into respecting their neighbours sovereignity and freedom, one cannot brutalise people into respecting human rights...)
If Valar go on to ”defeating the rebels” – i.e. the majority fraction of Numenor and install on throne the person they’d like to see there. Then they will propably have to do it again in a generation or so.... and every generation of orphans will hate them more for it. Every generation will speak in more hushed tones of puppet kings of the evil Valar. Every other generation will rebel against a king, behead him, build a new and improved fleet ”that will do the trick that our grandfathers failed to...” and attack Valinor... and again a new generation of orphans is learning of hate under a puppet king. Right or wrong, it is not workable sollution approach.
In the eyes of Valar, the problem is not that there is Ar-Pharazon on the throne. Problem is that the whoever that is currently holding the throne as well as most of Numenoreans think Valar are holding something out from them and have become proud and cruel and lusting for immortality and power. Now how do you solve that problem using force?
Numenoreans made a choise. There is no way that Valar could have prevented them making such choise. Just like they chose in the first age to be enemies of Morgoth they now chose to be the enemies of Valar.
The Valar had a big problem... They were rapidly falling out with the men. As immortal and eternal sees theese things, there was no way of stopping them short of killing them and killing them would make the falling out permanent and mean that they'd have to either destroy Numenor, leave the world themselves or expect to fight them on regular basis every century from then on. Talk about list of unsatisfactory choises. Let us also rember that the Vanayar and Noldor ”year” was something like one and a half solar centuries long. So basically using force to deal with numenoreans would mean that going to war with ”new and improved attackfleet” would become as routine affair as celebration of ones birthday for the Valar and Vanayar. Intolerable state of the affairs. Valar could not see it as option. Valar had made the continents. They did not need Eru for power but for wisdom. I suppose that Eru gave them OK on thinking that if men of Numenor go to war against them they’d be throwing away all the good they’d been rewarded with the isle of Numenor in the first place for. Maybe Erus wisdom included word or two of the Elendils fate and preventing such state of affairs from reoccurring as well.
Valar sent messagers as long as they were welcome. They sent warnings like violent but quite natural thunderstorms. The men chose against them. To warn of their power and wrath as well as advise on their goodwill and gifts was all Valar could do to influence this. In the end Valar had to employ two of their three not-so-desirable options.
Also the blockade of the shadow isles was perhaps slightly obsolete. It was designed to stop occasional stray Teleri pleasure cruising sailboat. Humans of Westernesse were not pleasure cruisers. The power of men is not like that of eleves, but it is not lesser neccesarily. They had since the times of Teleri developed ocean trade and transported armies to middle earth and back. They were great and they came with a great fleet of large galleons of war. What blocked Valinor from Teleri ships coming to beseech for help was likely viewed as ”annoying” by Ar-Pharazons head admiral. Winds were working against them and would have stopped Teleri... It made their slaves work harder
on the oars. Ships were getting lost from the fleet and falling under the spell of the isles, Teleri would not have passed... a warfleets have kind of cohesion, despite irksome attrition the fleet held together and pushed forth.
Janne Harju
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