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Originally Posted by Ivriniel
I've grown to realise that Numenorean imperialism, like any kind, disrupts culture, presumes authority, is ethnocentric and incites hatred.
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I may be misremembering, but I thought that Tolkien himself made this point in regards to the Numenoreans that they changed during their decline from traders who helped (materially, at least) uplift the people they interacted with to dominators who were interested in conquest.
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I also understand that Tharbad allied itself with Sauron in SA (or allowed Sauron passage) during the sack of the Mirdain, but this reminds me that Numenor was an imperialist, expansionalist power that claimed sovereignty 'because it could' (ie power- and Arnor/Gondor TA came 'afterwards'). I wonder if Tharbad was suspicious of Eregion and of the wealth and splendour of the Ost In Edhil. Well, in a way, they were correct. After all, the Ring haunted Middle Earth for another 3000 years after this and it was the Noldorin susceptibility to Evil by Saurnonic seduction (Annatar) that brought Sauron to the Ost In Edhil in the first place. Thus, (reasoning 'as though' we were of Tharbad for the time), those Elves cooked up that stupid magic stuff and that Annatar is coming to level them. So be it. We never liked that Celebrimbor anyway. He was rude. So there! His head's on a pike for his Elvish greed.
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I agree with
Findegil, what is the reference for the behavior of Tharbad during the attack on Eregion?
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I don't see Rohan or Gondor or Arnor as legitimate 'owners' of Cardolan, Calenardhon, Rhun or any other part of the regions. They overreached and took no heed of prior people's presence. So, long-term grievances and wars over territory are expected. The human territorial instinct is strong and especially so when land ownership/access equates to 'survival' needs.
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In the case of Arnor in particular, I'm not sure this applies as the area seems to have been almost desolate population-wise before the Numenoreans settled. I may have the timeline messed up in my head, but were the Bree-folk (who were also from the same stock as the Dunlendings) already in Breeland at the time of the foundation of Arnor? If so, they do not seem to have experienced great disruption at the foundation of Arnor.