Of Pharazon and Miriel

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Did they have the manpower to pull that off? The days when the Faithful and the King's Men were balanced forces were long past; Tar-Palantir's reforms were met with open revolt, and he seems to have basically holed up in his tower in Andunie to avoid actually dealing with them. I'm sure he felt supported, hanging out in the Faithful heartland - that's why he thought Miriel would be able to take the sceptre - but I don't think he was generally popular.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Gimilkhad was actually running Numenor 'in the king's name' for most of Tar-Palantir's reign. He was the king's brother, and with Tar-Palantir off in Andunie, who else would take over administration? The Gateway specifically says that 'most of the Numenoreans... were led by Gimilkhad and Pharazon, and given the latter's known throne-taking tendencies, are we really to believe they confined themselves to ideological leadership?

As supporting evidence, I offer up the fact that the eventual Faithful evacuation used only 9 ships. Assuming they somehow managed to cram them in as densely as the inmates on a prison hulk, that's still under 5000 surviving Faithful at the Downfall. Okay, that's after the Sauronian persecutions - but Numenor was on a scale with Great Britain, which had a population in the millions during the Medieval period. The Faithful were a tiny religious minority by this point.
hS

Maybe not, but here is my counter-offer: assassination. Gimilkhad was long-dead at this point of time. If Pharazon died childless, then the throne would automatically revert to the last remaining descendant of Elros: Miriel, and no one would be left to oppose her. And ensuring he died childless would be easy too, for someone with sufficient knowledge of herbs.

Pharazon could be manipulated by those he considers his enemies (as proven by Sauron). So it'd be easy for the Faithful to install a sleeper agent at the court, who would pretend to support Pharazon but in reality, support Miriel. They could regularly serve her with some sort of beverage (i.e tea) that would keep her from becoming pregnant with his child. And then, at the opportune moment, they would kill him.

He is dead. He has no children. Miriel becomes Queen, as not even the King's Men would have anyone else to rally behind.

Of course, all of this happens before Pharazon captures Sauron, as he could be the heir that the King's Men could rally behind.

Which brings me to another point: Perhaps Sauron wanted this all along. He never intended for Numenor to be sunk. He only wanted Pharazon to die. Miriel would have inherited the throne with his backing, and then he'd have enticed her somehow. Maybe he'd be like 'I killed him, I gave you what you've always wanted, ruling Numenor and bringing it back to his former glory. Surely I deserve a reward?' in order to get into her good graces, and eventually, get her to consider marrying him. Then he'd rule Numenor through her.