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The Faithful referred to the minority faction of Númenóreans who remained friendly with the Elves and respectful and obedient to the Valar. Their most noted leader was Elendil, the Lord of Andúnië, who later founded the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor in Middle-earth.

History[]

The Faithful emerged as a result of the division that occurred in Númenórean society by the middle of the Second Age during the reign of Tar-Ancalimon. The Númenóreans had become split between the Elendili and the King's Men, a faction centered around the King that rejected friendship with the Elves and allegiance to the Valar. With Númenor reaching the apex of its might, the King's Men eventually espoused open defiance of the Valar. This split would eventually precipitate the Fall of Númenor.

The Elendili, however, not only preserved their ancient friendship with the Elves, they also regarded the burgeoning arrogance of the King's Men as blasphemy, but the King's Men became more powerful, and by the end of the Second Age had begun to persecute the Elendili as rebels and dissidents.

As use of Elven-tongues and respect for the Valar began to wane, the Faithful became the only ones to preserve these traditions unto themselves. In SA 2350 to escape persecution, the Faithful founded the haven of Pelargir on the shores of Middle-earth as opposed to Umbar which became a haven of the King's Men. As the King's Men's influence grew and the people and their rulers became more and more greedy of wealth and power, the situation of the Faithful worsened dramatically with the accession of Ar-Gimilzôr in SA 3102. Being one of the King's Men, he openly persecuted the Faithful, forbidding the teaching and speaking of the Elven tongues nor was meeting with Elves permitted. The Faithful were then forced to move from the west havens (away from possible contact with the Elves) to Rómenna where they were carefully watched. In these evil days, many of the Faithful emigrated to the friendly havens in Middle-earth.

Some relief came to them in SA 3177, when Elf-friend Tar-Palantir took the sceptre and began to turn Númenor back to the ways of the Faithful. He repented the ways of his forefathers, stopped the persecution of the Faithful, and tried to amend the corruption of Númenor, but his policies were rejected by the majority. On his death, Tar-Palantir's nephew Ar-Pharazôn, son of Gimilkhâd forcibly usurped the throne and the Elendili were more vigorously oppressed. He defeated Sauron, the Dark Lord and took him prisoner to Númenor. It was not long before the King listened to his evil words and took him deep into his counsels, Sauron playing off his fear of death. The Dark Lord established an evil cult on the island, introducing dark practices such as human sacrifice to corrupt and eventually destroy Númenórean society.

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King Elessar's family tree

It was during these dark times that the Faithful endured their most grievous woe for the King. The Faithful were hunted, killed and even sacrificed in the Temple for Morgoth to the cult of Melkor. When the King prepared the Great Armament, Amandil, the leader of the Faithful attempted to sail to Aman to beg for forgiveness and mercy from the Valar. Before doing so, he entrusted his son, Elendil with the task of preparing a fleet of ships to depart to Middle-earth to escape the coming darkness. As Ar-Pharazôn led his grand armada to Aman to challenge the Ban of the Valar, Elendil and the remaining, Elf-friends were warned by the divine powers to leave Númenor forever. They were thus spared the downfall of Númenor when, as punishment for the attempt to defy the Ban, Eru Ilúvatar sank the island kingdom into the sea.[1][2]

When Númenor was destroyed in SA 3319, the fleet reached the shores of Middle-earth and were welcomed by the Elves and Faithful Númenórean colonists, founding the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor and a lineage leading down to King Elessar.[3]

Etymology[]

The Faithful were also called Elendili, which means Elf-friends in Quenya. Another name, perhaps Adûnaic, of uncertain meaning was Avaltiri that contains the root "Avalô", the Adûnaic name for the Valar.[4]

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Die Getroue
Albanian Ortodoksët
Amharic ታማኝዎቹ
Arabic المؤمنين
Armenian հավատարիմ
Basque Fededunak
Belarusian Cyrillic верны
Bengali বিশ্বস্ত
Bosnian Vjernik
Bulgarian Cyrillic правоверните
Catalan La Fidel
Cebuano Ang Matinud-anon
Chinese 忠信
Cornish Len
Corsican u Più Fidu
Croatian Vjerni
Czech Věrní
Danish Den Trofaste
Dutch De Gelovigen
Esperanto La Fidela
Estonian Truu
Fijian Na Yalodina
Filipino Ang Tapat
Finnish Uskollinen
French La Fidèles
Galician Os Fieis
Georgian ერთგული
German Die Getreue
Greek η Πιστή
Gujarati વિશ્વાસુ
Haitian Creole Fidèl La
Hawaiian Ka Hoopono
Hebrew ה נאמנים
Hindi वफादार
Hungarian Hívők
Icelandic Hinir Trúuðu
Indonesian Persis dgn kenyataan
Irish Gaelic Na Dílse
Italian I Fedeli
Japanese 忠実
Kannada ನಿಷ್ಠಾವಂತ
Kazakh адал (Cyrillic)
Korean 충실한
Kurdish Dîlsoz (Kurmanji Kurdish)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic ишенимдүү
Laotian ໃນສາດສະຫນາ
Latin Fideles
Latvian Uzticīgs
Lithuanian Ištikimasis
Macedonian Cyrillic верен
Malagasy Mahatoky
Malaysian Mukminin
Malayalam വിശ്വസ്തരായ
Maltese Il Fidili
Manx Jeelys
Maori Te Tūturu
Marathi विश्वासू
Mongolian Cyrillic Итгэмжит
Nepalese विश्वासी
Norwegian Den Trofaste
Pashto د اميرالمؤمنين
Persian وفادار
Polish Wierni
Portuguese Os Fiéis
Punjabi ਵਫ਼ਾਦਾਰ
Querétaro Otomi Ya Fieles
Romanian Credincioşii
Russian Верные
Samoan O le Faamaoni ?
Scottish Gaelic Tha Dìleas
Serbian Тхе Фаитхфул (Cyrillic) Verne (Latin)
Sesotho Le Tšepahalang
Sinhalese විශ්වාසවන්ත
Slovak Verní
Slovenian Verniki
Somalian Kuwa Aaminka ah
Spanish Los Fieles
Swedish Den Trogna
Tajik Cyrillic Дар мӯътамад
Tamil நம்பிக்கையின்
Telugu ఫెయిత్ఫుల్
Thai เอกภักดิ์
Tongan E kau Faivelenga
Turkish Vefakâr Insanlar
Ukrainian Cyrillic Вірність
Urdu وفادار
Uzbek Садоқатли (Cyrillic) Sadoqatli (Latin)
Vietnamese Tín đồ
Welsh Mae'r Ffyddlon
Yiddish דער געטרייער
Yoruba Awọn Olódodo
Yucatec Maya Le Fieles

References[]

  1. The Silmarillion, Akallabêth (The Downfall of Númenor)
  2. Unfinished Tales
  3. The Atlas of Middle-earth, The Second Age, "Númenor"
  4. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. IX: Sauron Defeated, Part Three: "[The Drowning of Anadûnê]]"
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