Assembly of the First White Council
After the War of the Elves and Sauron finished with the victory of the elves of Eriador and Numenor, the first White Council was assembled in Imladris that will later be named Rivendell. Cirdan, Celeborn, Galadriel, Gil-Galad and Elrond attended the first White Council to discuss plans to resist Sauron.
At the first white council, Gil-Galad gave the ring of power Vilya to Elrond. After the White Council, Celeborn and Galadriel would travel to Belfalas. Instead of recovering the ruins of Eregion, Elrond would continue to keep rule of Imaldris or Rivendell instead of returning to Lindon.
Sauron’s plot with the rings of power
Now Numenor and the elves of Eriador and the elves of Rhovanion(Greenwoods and Lorien) were alert of the presence of Sauron.
Sauron’s initial plan to conquer the elves with the rings of power failed but Sauron would gift the nine rings of power to human lords that would include at least 3 Numenorians presumably those that were part of the King’s men and at least 1 Easterling lord and Sauron gifted the seven rings of power to the dwarf lords as well.
Sauron plotted to corrupt the human lords and turn them into his personal slaves that would later become the nazguls with the nine rings to men.
As the Valar Aule who created the dwarves made the dwarves impossible to manipulate, Sauron expected that the seven dwarf rings would at least tempt the greed of dwarfs so they wouldn’t interfere with his conquest of Middle-Earth.
Resistance against the Valars – 14th king of Numenor, Tar-Ancalimon
Tar-Ancalimon was the 14th king of Numenor and was the first king to resist the Valars where he stopped the tradition to pay tribute to the Valars. Tar-Ancalimon would even take down the nests of eagles that used to reside on the towers of Armenleos the capital of Numenor as well.
Overall, the rapid expansion of Numenor without any forces able to rival Numenor on Middle Earth tempted the arrogance of the humans and enlarged the fear of death.
Tar-Ancalimon started to resist the Valars as he started to question on the Gift of Iluvatar, Death as he found the Ban of human’s entrance into Valinor by the Valars was contradictory.
Although the name Tar-Ancalimon itself was Quenya, Tar-Ancalimon would also start to ban the usage of elf language Quenya and Sindarin in Numenor.
Yet Tar-Ancalimon was unaware that the Numenorians were blessed by the Valars with long-life but more and more men started to question the Valars since Tar-Ancalimon.
The opinion of the people of Numenor also started to divide with those who were faithful to the Valars and those who resisted the Valars agreeing to Tar-Ancalimon, the king of Numenor.
King’s Men – Resistance against the Valars and hostility against elves
The King’s Men or the King’s Party was the majority political opinion of the Numenor that supported the anti-Valar policy of Tar-Ancalimon.
The Numenorians started to grow arrogant as they were able to expand their influence deeper into Middle Earth while they’ve colonized to the further south of the seas. The inevitable fate of human death which the Allmighty Iluvatar gave to humans as a gift was the primitive fear to humans.
Humans have long desired immortality, yet the Valars didn’t grant Numenorians to slae to the west and reach Valinor which was called the Ban of the Valar.
The Valars only banned the Numenorians because humans were to enjoy the Gift of Iluvatar, Death, yet the fear and arrogance of the Numenorians consumed their minds. This arrogance and fear of the King’s Men would even lead to the hatred of Numenorians towards the elf the Eldar as the Kings’ Men of Numenor were jealous of the elf’s immortality.
The Faithful – Loyalty to the Valars and the friendship with the elves
The Faithful or the Elendili which means friends with elves was the minority opinion that was against the anti-Valar and anti-elf policy of the King’s Men. The Faithful were still loyla to the Valars and even feared the consequences of the arrogance of the King’s Men.
Although among the Faithful many feared death as well, the Faithful remained with the teachings of the Valar.
After the rise of the King’s Men and Tar-Ancalimon’s anti-Valar and anti-elf policy became the popular opinion, only Tar-Palantir the 24th king of Numenor would once again favor the elves and try to restore the Numenor traditions worshipping the Valars.
However, Tar-Palantir would meet a rebellion by the King’s Men led by Ar-Pharazon and fail to restore the relationship with the Valars and Numenor. After Ar-Pharazon overthrew Tar-Palantir and became king of Numenor, Numenor would have to face the judgement by the Valars and the Downfall of Numenor.
Reduction of the Lifespan of Numenor, Fear of Death and the Nazguls
After the arising of the King’s Men and the loss of faith in the Valars among the humans of Numenor, the life span of the Numenorians started to shrink.
The Valars have blessed the lifespan of the humans of Numenor as their ancestors the Edain humans of House of Harleth, House of Hador and House of Beor aided the Valars and the elves during the War of the Wrath and throughout the war against Morgoth.
However, after humans grew arrogant, became jealous of immortality and resisted the Valars and elves, the lifespan of the humans of Numenor started to reduce as the Blessings of the Valars started to wear off.
Interestingly after the humans of Numenor started to express their fear of death, the first Nazguls that were twisted by the rings of power and corrupted by Sauron took place in Middle Earth.
With a high chance the Numenorians of the King’s Men would have become a Nazgul as one of the abilities of the Rings of Power was to lock the ring bearer’s soul into the One ring and the ring of power.
Expansion of Numenor
Especially under the 14th king of Numenor, Tar-Ancalimon, Numenor started to expand and established many ports and land on Middle Earth. The port Lond Daer that played an important role for the Battle of Gwathlo was established as a port city called Lond Dear Enedh by the Numenorians.
However, Numenor’s expansion was so massive that the Numenorians would sail and travel further south to the cities of Pelargir and Umbar.
Pelargir was located near the end of the Anduin River and Umbar was located further south from Pelargir. Pelargir would later become the major harbor for Gondor and it became one of the main ports for the Faithful.
Umbar would later become the homeplace for the corsairs and pirates during the Third Age as the native people were oppressed by Numenor especially by the King’s Men.
