Quote:
Originally Posted by Belegorn
Yet he drew from among those who did not support him human sacrifices. So where there was support he still abused a segment of the population, and he did force his cousin into marriage. The only guy I can compare him with is Castamir who likewise took the throne from his cousin and was not a great ruler, although I'm not sure if he actually had a majority of the people on his side.
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In terms of your comparison between Ar-Pharazôn and Castamir, it's not clear how much support the latter actually had, only that enough people supported his usurpation, and that enough later turned against him due to his tyranny, allowing his cousin, the rightful king, to take back his crown. The main difference is that Castamir didn't have Sauron as an advisor, and Gondorians did
not, whatever their many faults, worship Morgoth or Sauron.
If we want to look at what happened in Númenor, we need to first go back to the reign of the previous king, Tar-Palantir, who repented of what his father and immediate predecessors had done:
But his repentance was too late to appease the anger of the Valar with the insolence of his fathers, of which the greater part of his people did not repent. And Gimilkhâd [his younger brother] was strong and uncouth, and he took the leadership of those that had been called the King's Men and opposed the will of his brother as openly as he dared, and yet more in secret. (My italics)
When, after that monarch's death, his nephew Pharazôn, the deseased Gimilkhâd's son, usurped the sceptre and married by force his cousin, the rightful heir, there seems to have been little opposition to all this.
After Pharazôn led an army against Sauron, who surrendered, the latter had in 3 years become '
closest to the secret counsels of the King'. Under the influence of Sauron, who claimed Eru didn't exist, and was simply a phantom devised by the Valar, the King turned to the worship of Melkor (i.e. Morgoth) '
at first in secret, but ere long openly and in the face of his people; and they for the most part followed him'.
(My italics)
The Meneltarma was '
utterly deserted' and '
though not even Sauron dared to defile the high place; yet the King would let no man, upon pain of death, ascend to it, not even those of the Faithful who kept Ilúvatar in their hearts'.
(My italics)
Sauron later persuaded Pharazôn to fell Nimloth, the White Tree, a memorial of the Eldar and the light of Valinor. He later caused a temple to be built in the capital at Armenelos, with an '
altar of fire' in its midst. The first fire was lit with '
the hewn wood of Nimloth'. After that:
the fire and smoke went up without ceasing; for the power of Sauron daily increased, and in that temple, with spilling of blood and torment and great wickedness, men made sacrifice to Melkor that he should release them from Death. And most often from among the Faithful they chose their victims; yet never openly on the charge that they would not worship Melkor, the Giver of Freedom, rather was cause sought against them that they hated the King and were his rebels, or that they plotted against their kin, devising lies and poisons. Those charges were for the most part false; yet these were bitter days, and hate brings forth hate. 
(My italics)
Tolkien then made this general comment:
And men took weapons in those days and slew one another for little cause; for they were become quick to anger, and Sauron, or those whom he had bound to himself, went about the land setting man against man, so that the people murmured against the King and the lords, or against any that had aught that they had not; and the men of power took cruel revenge.
He spoke about the Men of Númenor now being '
fierce men of war'. They hunted the men of Middle-earth, took their goods and enslaved them, and '
many they slew on upon their great altars'.
As a result:
Ar-Pharazôn, King of the Land of the Star, grew to the mightiest tyrant that had yet been in the world since the reign of Morgoth, though in truth Sauron ruled all from behind the throne. (My italics)
Sauron then persuaded Pharazôn to make war on the Valar. When rumours of this came to Amandil, leader of the Faithful, he told his son Elendil that he was going to sail to the West in the hope of speaking to the Valar, as their forefather Eärendil had done. When Elendil asked his father if he would '
betray' the King, saying that before, when allegations were made that the Faithful were '
spies and traitors', they had been false, Amandil said that '
there is but one loyalty from which no man can be absolved in heart for any cause'. (My italics) He said he would plead for mercy upon Men and deliverance from Sauron, as '
some at least have remained faithful'.
He advised his son to seek out the Faithful known still to be true, and let them join him and share in the plan. His advice was to not meddle in the planned war against the Valar, and to watch. He said it was '
most likely' that Elendil and his people should fly from Númenor, '
for the land is defiled'. (My italics) This was what happened, after Pharazôn and his force attacked Valinor.
It's clear that Tolkien believed that monarchs could become tyrants, and that it was legitimate on certain grounds for people to resist such tyranny. In the case of Pharazôn, the Faithful were right to rebel; because he and most of his people had become heretics, rejecting Eru and worshipping 'Satan', and had then committed the ultimate act of blasphemy by attacking Valinor. Amandil's statement about there being '
one loyalty' to Eru reminds me of St. Thomas Moore's statement before being executed at the orders of King Henry VIII that he died 'the king's good servant, and God's first'.