Quote:
Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin
But then (just to play Devil's Advocate), Numenor's corruption and downfall can be traced directly to its expansion back to the Great Lands and their endemic infection with Morgoth/Sauron taint. Had the Dunedain stuck to their island, it wouldn't have happened.
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The only ban the Numenoreans faced was sailing West to Aman, and the westward ban itself was the germinal factor leading to their eventual downfall -- long before the Cult of Morgoth accelerated the process.
There was never a prohibition on them sailing to the East, nor did the Valar insist the Dunedain stay locked in the harbors of their island home (as the Valar had proscribed the Eldar from leaving Valinor); therefore, Numenor was never isolationist.