Tar-Palantir and the Valar

[Morwen]

She was the legitimate heir with a well established tradition of strong ruling queens behind her.

Miriel was indeed her father's legitimate heir but I disagree with the idea that Numenor had any strong tradition of ruling queens.

Of the twenty five rulers of Numenor only three were Ruling Queens. Of the three, Tar-Vanimelde, the third and last, was queen in name only, leaving the actual ruling to her husband. The number of queens who had actually held the reins of power by the time Miriel was born stood at two, which seems hardly sufficient to found a tradition.

As such she would have been able to claim the support not only of the Faithful but of many King's Men if she'd chosen to resist her cousin's demands.

I don't see the above as a realistic proposition. The political climate after Tar-Palantir's death was hardly favourable to Miriel and that political climate had been long in the making.


Tar-Palantir's father, Ar-Gimilzor, is described as a great enemy of the Faithful and would have preferred to yield the sceptre to his like minded younger son rather than the rightful heir "if the laws had allowed". But because Gimilzor was somewhat less outrageous than his grandson, the future Ar-Pharazon, Tar-Palantir was able to ascend the throne.

His brother however became a thorn in his side.

"And Gimilkhad was strong and ungentle, and he took the leadership of those that had been called the King's Men and opposed the will of his brother as openly as he dared, and yet more in secret. Thus the days of Tar-Palantir became darkened with grief..." (my emphasis)

The Akallabeth

This fomenting of revolution is continued by Gimilkhad's son Pharazon after his father's death.

"For Pharazon son of Gimilkhad had become a man yet more restless and eager for wealth and power than his father. He had fared often abroad, as a leader in the wars that the Numenoreans made then in the coastlands of Middle-Earth, seeking to extend their dominion over Men; and thus he had won great renown as a captain both by land and by sea. Therefore when he came back to Numenor, hearing of his father's death, the hearts of the people were turned to him; for he brought with him great wealth, and for the time free in his giving."

Therefore when Tar Palantir eventually grew weary of grief and died, he left his daughter in precarious position.

1.Her father's actions (honouring Eru, tending the White Tree) would not have endeared him to the majority of the Numenoreans who we are told did not repent.

2. Her uncle and later cousin steadily worked to undermine Tar-Palantir and expand their own power base and Pharazon at the time of Tar-Palantir's death had managed to gain popular support and present himself as a leader and an alternative heir.

3.Even if the Faithful had supported Miriel, the Akallabeth indicates that this is a minority group in Numenor.

I therefore don't see that Miriel was in a position to oppose her cousin anymore than her grandmother Inzilbeth was in a position to oppose Ar-Gimilzor.