[Celuien]

Interesting topic...

I don't see the Valar as culpable for Númenor's downfall.

Being near the Blessed Realm wasn't the reason for the change in the Númenoreans. It was Morgoth's schemes at work again. Inevitable perhaps, but not because of the Valar or the temptation of being close to Valinor, but rather because, as Eonwe said, Men listened to Morgoth. The source of the problem was the Númenorean fear of death. And that fear was implanted by Morgoth.

It is said by the Eldar that Men came into the world in the time of the Shadow of Morgoth, and they fell swiftly under his dominion; for he sent his emissaries among them, and they listened to his evil and cunning words, and they worshipped the Darkness and yet feared it.

Then the Men of Middle-earth were comforted, and here and there upon the western shores the houseless woods drew back, and Men shook off the yoke of the offspring of Morgoth and unlearned their terror of the dark.

Not written about the Númenoreans, but I think it applies to Men in general.

For though the Valar had rewarded the Dunedain with long life, they could not take from them the weariness of the world that comes at last, and they died, even their kings of the seed of Earendil; and the span of their lives was brief in the eyes of the Eldar. Thus it was that a shadow fell on them: in which maybe the will of Morgoth was at work that still moved in the world.

So the beginnings of the fall were in the reappearance of this fear. Something that would, I think, ultimately have resurfaced whether the Númenoreans were in Middle-earth or in sight of Elvenhome. They would still have been in contact with the Elves in Middle-earth and still reminded of their mortality. Maybe their fall would have been even faster there (if not so dramatic), being more removed from the influence of the Valar and closer to Sauron. After all, Sauron did trap Númenoreans with Rings. And I think his arrival in Númenor was the the final blow to their civilization. He was the one who brought Pharazon back to the "worship of the Dark."

Granted, none of Sauron's plots would have worked without Pharazon's cooperation. So the pride and similar failings of the Númenoreans play into this as well, but that can't be blamed on the Valar either.

Actually, the gift of Númenor seems very similar to the call to bring the Elves to the West. A well-intentioned effort to protect the Children of Iluvatar from Morgoth's machinations that ultimately failed. The reason for the failure both times seems to have been that a malevolant character worked on a proud member of the society. Morgoth:Feanor as Sauron/Morgoth's original plotting against humanity:Ar-Pharazon, anyone?