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Tumblr crosspost (13 July 2019)
Sep. 18th, 2019 09:24 amInspired by a Twitter conversation:
One of the more important things about the material around Aldarion and Erendis is that it destroys the idea that the early stage of Númenórean imperialism was purely benevolent.
Like—Erendis may berightfully bitter, but she is 100% right about sexism and war (certainly no one is able to offer a rebuttal, and her denunciation foreshadows where it’s going to lead). Tolkien says of Aldarion’s actions in Middle-earth:
That’s not “if you read between the lines you can see—” That’s The devastation wrought by the Númenóreans was incalculable, right there. It got very much worse later on, but at no stage was it harmless.
One of the more important things about the material around Aldarion and Erendis is that it destroys the idea that the early stage of Númenórean imperialism was purely benevolent.
Like—Erendis may be
The changes that followed were largely due to the operations of Tar-Aldarion, the Mariner-king, who formed a friendship and alliance with Gil-galad. Aldarion had a great hunger for timber desiring to make Númenor into a great naval power … [and i]n voyages down the coasts he saw with wonder the great forests, and he chose the estuary of the Gwathló for the site of a new haven entirely under Númenórean control. …[T]he native folk that survived fled from Minhiriath … The devastation wrought by the Númenóreans was incalculable.
That’s not “if you read between the lines you can see—” That’s The devastation wrought by the Númenóreans was incalculable, right there. It got very much worse later on, but at no stage was it harmless.