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Re: The Downfall of Numenor
From the Milton Waldman letter, published as letter 151 in
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien and in the second edition of the
The Silmarillion:<blockquote>
Quote:<hr> Faced by this rebellion, of appalling folly and blasphemy, and also real peril (since the Númenóreans directed by Sauron could have wrought ruin in Valinor itself) the Valar lay down their delegated power and appeal to God, and receive the power and permission to deal with the situation; the old world is broken and changed. A chasm is opened in the sea and Tar-Calion and his armada is engulfed. Númenor itself on the edge of the reft topples and vanishes for ever with all its glory in the abyss.<hr></blockquote>In this account it is made clear that the armada could have caused harm to Valinor, especially if the Valar and Maiar were, in most circumstances, not supposed to interfere with Men. Also, the resulting Change of the World was effectively done by the Valar and not by Eru directly.
None of this answers the basic questions of this thread.
I think the effect Tolkien wanted to put forth was of very powerful beings, who might be called gods, but who were not allowed to meet this kind of unbelievable threat, mortals whom they were generally not supposed to meddle with, but were attacking them.
Something has to break the impasse.
The change in weather, the storms, the foundering of ships, and the lightning bolts are perhaps a mistake by Tolkien. These are the kinds of signs by which gods let their will be known in old tales. They are displeased. So:<blockquote>
Quote:<hr> Sauron stood there upon the pinnacle and defied that lightning and was unharmed; and in that hour men called him a god and did all that he would.<hr></blockquote>Realistically this is inexplicable,
Perhaps Sauron knew that he was in no danger (it was just a lightning storm and he would probably be lucky) as the dome was no longer the highest point in the city and lighting would be unlikely to strike there again.
Perhaps Manwë or some Maiar under his command were actually only flinging down lightning bolts at random, but because they were doing it more often, more men god hit. Again Sauron could play the odds.
If Manwë or some Maiar under his command were actually trying to hit particular people, and they didn't go for Sauron, or couldn't hit him, that certainly doesn't make them appear very competent.
Of course late Myths Transformed Tolkien might have explained it something like this: T
This is a legend preserved among the survivors of the sinking. In fact the earth has always been round. To some degree other distortions must have occurred. Perhaps a normal thunder storm happened and by chance the temple dome was broken, Sauron made a brilliant recovery, and the accounts of
many others being struck by lightning in that period were exagerated by Sauron, to gain support for his plans. Actually no more were injured by lightning in those days than at any other time.
All this is guesswork.
As to how we know the fate of the amada and of Ar-Pharazôn and those who landed in Valinor, recall that the version on which the account in the published
Silmarillion was based is presented as related to Ælfwine in Eressëa, probably by Pengolodh. Christopher Tolkien removed references to this setting. See his account in
The Peoples of Middle-Earth (HoME 12), chapter V, "The History of the Akallabêth".
As JRRT wrote it there would be no problem.
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