Quote:
Originally Posted by Mithalwen
I wonder if the Numenoreans were particularly afflicted by Man-flu..
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## Probably not until the coming of Sauron, or even later:
"This was the beginning of that people that in the Grey-elven speech are called the Dunedain: the Numenoreans, Kings among Men. But they did not thus escape from the doom of death that Iluvatar had set upon all Mankind, and they were mortal still, though their years were long, and they knew no sickness, ere the shadow fell upon them.
Very much later, after 3264, and possibly as late as the building of the Great Armament in 3310-3319:
"Sauron daily increased, and in that temple...men made sacrifice to Melkor that he should release them from Death....But for all this Death did not depart from the land, rather it came sooner and more often, and in many dreadful guises. For whereas aforetime men had grown slowly old, and had laid them down in the end to sleep, when they were weary at last of the world, now madness and sickness assailed them; and yet they were afraid to die and go out into the dark, the realm of the lord that they had taken; and they cursed themselves in their agony."
http://readlotron-line.blogspot.co.u...kallabeth.html
Earlier: no H1N1 or norovirus or Man-flu - near the end, perhaps all three, and lots of other nasty ailments. Unfortunately, almost no epidemiological or demographic info is given. So there will be no dissertations on "Hydrological variables as agents of the transmission of disease in pre-Downfall Numenor".
Does anyone know whether the waning in lifespan under the Shadow was accompanied by waning in stature ? I don't know of any references in Tolkien - but it might make sense: Elendil must have been called "the Tall" for a reason. His height of 7 feet 11 inches may have been exceptional - though whether he was unusually tall even for a Numenorean, or by the standards of a particular group among them (such as the King's Men), is not clear.