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Black Numenorean Books

A Black Númenórean conceived of by John Howe

The Black Númenóreans, initially named the King's Party or the King's Men, were a fallen group of Númenóreans descended from those who were loyal to the Númenórean Sceptre but in opposition to the Valar and relations with the Elves. After Sauron was brought as a captive to Númenor in fair form, these Númenóreans listened to his words, and were soon corrupted by him. They worshipped the Darkness and the Dark Lords, and oppressed the Men left in Middle-earth. Ever since, they were the servants of the Enemy and bitter adversaries of the Men of Gondor.

History[]

Second Age[]

Origins[]

As the power and knowledge of the Númenóreans grew throughout the course of the Second Age, they became increasingly preoccupied with the limits placed on their contentment in the world - and eventually their power - by mortality, the purpose of which they began to question.

As time went on they began to fear Death more and more and ultimately wished to escape it. So the Númenóreans became envious of the immortal Elves (the Eldar), whom they had come to physically resemble as part of their reward from Ilúvatar for having been their allies. The Eldar sought ever to remind the Men of Númenor however, that death was a gift from Ilúvatar to all Men, and to lose faith in Ilúvatar would be heretical.

476px-Paula DiSante - Ar-Pharazon Defies

Depiction of Ar-Pharazôn with some of the last of the "King's Party", by Paula DiSante

Nevertheless, after SA 2221, when Tar-Ancalimon became King of Númenor the majority began to break from the ways of their forefathers, forsaking the reverence of Eru and the Valar. These 'King's Men' therefore were already predisposed to the corruption of Sauron when he came to Númenor.

Eventually, in Númenor's last years, its hugely powerful but elderly King Ar-Pharazôn, who had become "frightened of old age" (The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, no. 156), was persuaded by Sauron that Ilúvatar was a lie invented by the Valar, and seduced him into worship of Morgoth. Within Númenor, the majority immediately followed suit, and this worship quickly passed across the ocean to most of Númenor's colonies in Middle-earth where the group started in proper.

The group thrived in Middle-earth, particularly in Umbar after the destruction of Númenor. They continued to oppose the Faithful, from which came the Kings of Arnor and Gondor. The King's Party remained loyal to Sauron and their lifespans began to wane even before the Downfall. After this time they became known as the Black Númenóreans.

Three of the nine Ringwraiths, who could be considered among the first and most powerful Black Númenóreans, were corrupted by Sauron, 1000 years before the Downfall. They served Sauron, being enslaved to his will, having become so because of their lust for power or knowledge.

These sacrilegious 'black arts' and 'follies', which arose as a consequence of their worship of the 'Dark' and Melkor, marked the final, irrevocable division between the 'King's Party' and the minority known as the 'Faithful' Númenóreans, or the 'Elendili', who kept to their old faith in Ilúvatar. They were also presumably the earliest cultural traits of those who became known afterwards as Black Númenóreans.

After the Fall of Númenor[]

Black Numenorean by Jan Pospisil

A Black Númenórean, by Jan Pospisil

For many centuries after the Downfall, the descendants of the 'King's Men' held onto colonies in Middle-earth, what became the most northerly and famous of their settlements in exile, Umbar.

Most of those few Númenóreans who had never disavowed the Eldar, and had always remained true to their belief in Ilúvatar, also survived the destruction of their homeland, and they established their own Realms in Exile north of Umbar. The Faithful Númenóreans saw their southern counterparts as renegades and as being responsible for the Downfall of Númenor. The Black Númenóreans held a similarly low opinion of the 'Faithful' and their descendants.

Only two Black Númenórean lords are named from the time of the late Second Age: Herumor and Fuinur. Like all Black Númenóreans and 'King's Men' before them, Herumor and Fuinur desired power over men of other, lesser races, and they "rose to (great) power amongst the Haradrim"[citation needed], the peoples neighbouring Umbar. Their fate is unknown, but they were likely defeated along with Sauron in the War of the Last Alliance.

Third Age[]

The triumph of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men and the subsequent growth in the power of Gondor marked the decline of the Black Númenórean race and the end of their racial superiority. Nevertheless, the Black Númenórean elite survived at least in Umbar for over a thousand years after Númenor's fall, maintaining much influence in Harad.

The Black Númenóreans are absent from recorded history after their defeat by Hyarmendacil I of Gondor in TA 1050, which broke their power for good, but a population of sorts evidently lived into the latter part of the Third Age. Queen Berúthiel, wife of Gondor's King Tarannon Falastur was a Black Númenórean, from a realm somewhere south of Gondor. Her marriage was a loveless union, and was presumably a political accommodation. Additionally, the Mouth of Sauron, who mocked the army of the west in front of the Black Gate was described both as a Black Númenórean and a "Renegade".

Language[]

The Black Númenóreans did not speak Westron, but probably retained their old tongue Adûnaic, speaking a dialect of it. (In The Notion Club Papers, part of Sauron Defeated, Arundel Lowdham cited two descendants of classical Adûnaic. One of these must have been Westron, the other the tongue of the Black Númenóreans).

Gallery[]

Witch King of Angmar as king
The Witch-king when he was a mere human
Grnazgul 021 Nazgul
The Witch-king's true undead appearance in the first Lord of the Rings film
Mouth of Sauron
The Mouth of Sauron

In adaptations[]

Rankin-Bass Black Númenóreans

A Black Númenórean in the 1980 film

The Return of the King (1980 animated film)[]

In The Return of the King (1980), a leader of a Black Númenórean battalion is seen briefly yelling at a group of Orcs. He is voiced by Don Messick.

Video games[]

750px-Black Númenórean

A typical Black Númenórean at Annúminas in The Lord of the Rings Online

In The Lord of the Rings Online, the Black Númenóreans serve the Angmarim and live in Carn Dûm in Angmar, and served at first Mordirith, then Amarthiel.

In The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Agandaûr, the prime antagonist, is of Black Númenórean origin.

In the story-line of The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king, the Black Númenóreans had already inhabited Angmar prior to its founding as a realm, enslaving and waging war against the Troll tribes until both groups are subjected by the Witch-king. The Black Númenóreans serve as the Angmar factions' elite units. They are portrayed as wearing fearsome iron masks, proud of their heritage as the "King's Men". They are split into Thrall Masters, Swordsmen, Dark Rangers, and Sorcerers from the "Temple of Twilight". Angmar is portrayed as a frozen wasteland, with units including the Black Númenóreans focusing upon this aspect in terms of clothing and weaponry.

In The Third Age: Total War (A Medieval II Total War modification), the Black Númenóreans are an elite bodyguard and soldier unit, either mounted or dismounted. They can do far more damage than Uruk-hai Berserkers, Troll-men of Harad, or Arnor Longswordmen put together.

Later, they were divided into the Temple units in Mordor and the Ar-Adûnaim (King's Men) units in Umbar in Divide and Conquer.

In Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, the Tower of Sauron, one of the Black Captains of Sauron and a primary antagonist, is said to be a Black Númenórean.

Games Workshop[]

In one of his letters, J.R.R. Tolkien stated that three of the Nazgûl were Númenórean; in the non-canon Games Workshop models only two of the Nazgûl are identified as Númenórean: The Dark Marshal - The most black-hearted and unrelentingly cruel of all the Nazgûl, his name is a byword for misery and death. Where the Dark Marshal passes, evil creatures fight harder, fearful of their lives whilst good warriors feel the icy touch of death upon their hearts. By his armour it is guessed that he is one of the three Númenórean Ringwraiths (the best match for this particular Nazgûl is Herumor or Fuinur) and The Knight of Umbar - The third of the Númenórean Lords to become one of Sauron's servants, the Knight of Umbar's past is shrouded in mystery. If the rumours pertaining to him hold any truth, he was once one of the great Númenórean kings who ruled the Southlands prior to the days of the Last Alliance. (the best match for this particular Nazgûl is also Herumor or Fuinur who came from Númenor island to the south during the second age, even though either one or both of them became the Lords of Haradrim. It is also known that both Haradrim and Umbar were in league to destroy Gondor).

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Swart Númenóreans
Albanian E zezë Númenórean
Amharic ጥቁር ኙመኖረኣን
Arabic نومينوريان أسود
Armenian Սև Նումենորյաններ
Azerbaijani Qara Númenóreans
Basque Númenóreako beltzak
Belarusian Cyrillic Цёмныя Нуменорцы
Bengali ব্ল্যাক নিউমেনোরিয়ানস
Bosnian Crni Númenóreans
Breton Du Númenóreans
Bulgarian Cyrillic Черни нуменорци
Catalan Númenóreans Negres
Cebuano Itom Númenóreans
Chinese (Hong Kong) 黑暗努曼諾爾人
Cornish Du Númenóreans
Croatian Crni Númenóreans
Czech Černí Númenorejci
Danish Sort Númenóreans
Esperanto Nigraj Númenóreans
Estonian Must Númenóreans
Faroese Svartur Númenóreans
Fijian Númenórean loaloa
Filipino Itim na Númenóreans
Finnish Mustat Númenórlaiset
French Númenoréens Noirs
Frisian Swart Númenóreans
Galician Númenóreanos negros
Georgian შავი ნუმენორეანი
German Schwarze Númenórer
Greek Μαύροι Νουμενόρειοι
Gujarati બ્લેક ન્યુમેનોરિયન્સ
Haitian Creole Nwa Númenóreans
Hebrew נומנורים שחורים
Hindi ब्लैक न्यूमेनोरियन्स
Hmong Xim dub Númenóreans
Hungarian Fekete Númenori
Icelandic Svartur Númenóreans
Indonesian Hitam Númenóreans
Irish Gaelic Dubh Númenóreans
Italian Númenóreani Neri
Jamaican Creole Blak Númenóreans
Japanese 黒ヌーメノール
Javanese Ireng Númenóreans
Kannada ಕಪ್ಪು ನ್ಯೂಮೆನೋರಿಯನ್ಸ್
Kazakh Қара Нуменориялықтар (Cyrillic) Qara Nwmenorïyalıqtar (Latin)
Korean 검은 누메노르인
Kurdish Reş Numenoreans (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic кара Нумэнорэан
Latvian Melna Númenóreans
Lithuanian Juoda Númenóreans
Luxembourgish Schwaarz Númenóreans
Macedonian Cyrillic Црни Нуменореци
Malayalam കറുത്ത ന്യൂമെനോറിയൻസ്
Malaysian Númenórean hitam
Maltese Sewda Númenóreans
Manx Númenórean Doo
Maori Pango Númenóreans
Marathi ब्लॅक न्यूमेनोरियन्स
Mongolian Cyrillic Хар нуменорчууд
Nahuatl Tlīltic Númenóreans
Nepalese कालो न्यूमेनोरेन्स
Norwegian Svart Númenóreans
Occitan Negre Númenóreans
Old English Sweart Númenóreans
Pashto تور نومېنورېان
Pennsylvania Dutch Schwatz Númenóreans
Persian سیاه نومهنورهان
Polish Czarni Númenorejczycy
Portuguese Númenórean preto
Punjabi ਕਾਲੇ ਣੁਮੇਨੋਰੇਅਨ
Romanian Negru Númenórean
Romansh Númenórean Nair
Russian Чёрные нуменорцы
Sanskrit कृष्ण वर्णःणुमेनोरेअन्
Scottish Gaelic Dubh Númenóreans
Serbian Црни Нуменорејци (Cyrillic) Crni Numenorejci (Latin)
Sicilian Nìuru Númenóreans
Sinhalese කළු නියුමෙනෝරියන්
Slovak Čierni Númenórejci
Slovenian Črna Númenórean
Somali Madaw Númenóreans
Spanish Numenóreanos Negros
Sundanese Hideung Númenóreans
Swahili Númenórean nyeusi
Swedish Svart Númenóreanskt
Tagalog Itim Númenóreans
Tajik Cyrillic сиёҳ Нуменореан
Tamil கறுப்பு நியூமெனோரியன்கள்
Telugu నల్ల న్యూమెనోరియన్లు
Thai ชาวนูเมนอร์ดำ
Turkish Kara Númenórlu
Turkmen Gara Númenóreans
Ukrainian Cyrillic Чорні Нуменорці
Urdu سیاہ نمانورین
Uzbek Қора Нуменореан (Cyrillic) Qora Númenórean (Latin)
Vietnamese Đen Númenóreans
Welsh Du Númenóreans
Xhosa Mnyama Númenóreans
Yiddish שווארץ נומענאָרעאַן
Yoruba Dudu Númenóreans

References[]

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