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Old 06-25-2018, 01:33 PM   #11
denethorthefirst
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun View Post
The only reason Sauron 'capitulated' to Ar-Pharazon was that the mere sight of the Numenorean army was so intimidating that Sauron "could not trust even the greatest of his servants to withstand them".
Sauron may, or may not, have had evidence that his forces would refuse to fight out of fear, but at any rate he judged their chance of victory to be very small. Since Sauron's tendency was hardly toward feelings of inadequacy, I think his judgement was probably pretty sound in that instance.
Of course, you are right. Sauron made the prudent calculation to feign surrender, because he realized that he would probably lose the war. But he "surrendered" on his own, because he calculated that it would be better to achieve via stealth and cunning what he could not gain with brute force. Thats why i think that it would be wrong to say that Ar-Pharazon outright "defeated" Sauron.

The quote that you have mentioned is from the Silmarillion, chapter "Akallabeth": "And Sauron came. Even from his mighty tower of Baraddur (sic!) he came, and made no offer of battle. For he perceived that the power and majesty of the Kings of the Sea surpassed all rumor of them, so that he could not trust even the greatest of his servants to withstand them; and he saw not his time yet to work his will with the Dunedain. And he was crafty, well skilled to gain what he would by subtlety when force might not avail. Therefore he humbled himself before Ar-Pharazon and smoothed his tongue; and men wondered, for all that he said seemed fair and wise."
Another retelling of the incident is found in the chapter "Of the Rings of Power": "Yet there came at length a stay in the onslaught of Sauron upon the westlands. For, as is told in the Akkallabeth, he was challenged by the might of Numenor. So great was the power and splendor of the Numenoreans in the noontide of their realm that the servants of Sauron would not withstand them, and hoping to accomplish by cunning what he could not achieve by force, he left Middle-earth for a while and went to Numenor as a hostage of Tar-Calion the King.".

But we have to keep in mind that both the "Akallabeth" and "Of the Rings of Power" are supposed to be numenorean/gondorian accounts written from a gondorian viewpoint. The narrator(s) in those chapters is not all-knowing and, considering the perspective, appears all too eager to praise the numenorean power of old wistfully, even though he does not agree with Ar-Pharazon at all. Numenorean pride trumps all else. Even when Gondor was in possession of Umbar, the great monument that honored Ar-Pharazons "victory" over Sauron was left standing and it was only torn down (by the Corsairs) after Sauron declared himself openly in T.A. 2951. Gondor may oppose everything Ar-Pharazon stands for, but they still preserved the monument honoring his victory over Sauron, because it was a victory for NUMENOR. The same mentality is found in the aforementioned "numenorean" chapters. I would not go so far as to call the narrator(s) altogether unreliable, but his statements should be read with a little grain of salt. He is not all-knowing, he did not speak with Sauron, nor can he read his mind, how is he then supposed to know what went on in his head, how he viewed the military situation, his own strength, etc?

Still, the speculation of the narrator is probably correct after all and Ar-Pharazon may have been able to win that war. But i doubt that it would have been a walk in the park or that Saurons forces would have simply melted away and mass-surrendered like the narrator implies. The War of the Last Alliance went on for 12 years after all, and that host was very impressive, if we remember Elronds account during the Last Council. Yes, the Realms in Exile possessed only a fraction of the strength of Numenor at its peak, but then they had the help of all the Elves (of Lindon, Rivendell, Lorien, Greenwood, etc.) and the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum, so maybe, all together, they almost rivaled the strength of Numenor. Sauron was also a lot weaker as well, still traumatized from the downfall and by that point completely incarnated. And that war still went on for years ...

So in a potential War between Ar-Pharazon and Sauron a Numenor at its peak (but without the help of the Elves or the Dwarves) would have fought against a Sauron at his peak (before he spent a lot of his power in the corruption of Numenor, and before he lost his body in the Downfall). If Ar-Pharazons Numenor had won this hypothetical war, it would have taken at least a few years, and in the end, even if defeated, Sauron would have been able to just leave in a puff of smoke and escape further East, because, at this point, he was still able to change his shape at will or completely move without one! So even if Ar-Pharazons Numenor crushes the armies of Mordor after a prolonged campaign and a long siege of Barad-Dur, he can't really hope to defeat defeat Sauron, that is simply not in his power.

Last edited by denethorthefirst; 06-25-2018 at 02:10 PM.
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