[Nogrod]

The thing that fascinates me in the tales of the kings and queens of Númenor is the kind of myth of the frailty of the human nature where at first good and truly human intentions turn little by little into something bad... it looks like Tolkien is retelling the famous "myth of the downfall of human condition" by Plato ("The Republic" 543a-588a).

If you're not familiar with it, it goes more or less like this (it's been a long time I read the last time). First there is the aristocratic rule (the rule of the best who wish the best for their people for the sake of it being good in itself), but it will collapse into timocracy (the rule of honour) where the leaders kind of play it out who's the best to think the best of all eg. who makes the people most happy, who makes the most just decisions, who should be the most honoured etc. From there it is a short step into oligarcy where the rulers now familiar with competing each other start to think more of their own good than that of their subjects and will no more pay heed to their subjects' honour, needs or well-being but their own glory & riches.

Tolkien's story more or less ends here, but Plato actually continues saying that the people will revolt to the oligarcy and demand democracy (which is basically just the veiled rule of demagogues who promise people this and that) which then ends in lawlesness and chaos from which people wish to get out with any possible means, the easiest being tyranny which brings order and safety back - and destroys the last tiny pockets of freedom people had left...

Many people have called Plato a pessimist for a reason, but looking at our history I think he's not exactly deranged with his story either.

But Tolkien seems to be using the first stages of that story in his telling of the history on Númenor - and it should be quite obvious he knew the story, as any academic humanist would have at that time...