[Dilettante]

Most people I know would pass over this chapter thinking "That's not very interesting, who cares what Numenor looks like?" It is certainly their loss if they do. This chapter adds so much to the rest of the story that it is almost essential. Case in point the Numenorians themselves, they can't seem to get over the fact that they are exiles and were once so much more than they are. Aragorn lived some 4,000 years after the Downfall yet they still refer to themselves as Numenoreans, Dunedain, rather than just regular men. There is no chance that they will ever, ever go back but they still consider themselves exiles. That is quite pointless until you get a sense, as seen in this chapter, of what they left behind really was. Essentially, they had paradise on earth and were the greatest men that ever would live, so certainly hundreds of generations later their descendants who never saw Numenor would claim to be from it.

I too like the idea of religion in Middle-earth. Most people in the world are religious in some form or another, and to have an idea of a structured religion (rather than just the occasional passing reference to the sky gods) makes imaginary worlds and lands seem all that more real.

Speaking of gifts to the most noble of men, this may be a topic for a later chapter discussion but I will risk mentioning it here. There is a passing mention of the king's sword and the footnote mentions Aranruth, which is the sword of Thingol, the Ring of Barahir, and several other relics of the past that belonged to the elder days. I find it interesting that practically all of these relics, though some belonged to elves and others to men, ended up being inherited by the Numenoreans, the Edain rather than the Eldar. Common sense would state the things of such high value would be in the hands of the Elder ones rather than the Younger.