In response, I would think we need to consider the exact but multiple application of words. Granted, in regards to a hair-splitting point above, Sauron did not "trust" the Nazgûl as honorable comrades, and to say he controlled them is operatively correct, but the bottom-line is that he could "rely" on them.
As for seduction and culpability among the Númenóreans, to seduce has a wide array of implications, and though Sauron precipitated things, as much as anything, he certainly did seduce in one way or another, in that by intent, machinations and actions he caused people to do as he wished and not necessarily in their best interests.
For me, however, to give credit to Sauron's cunning as opposed to Ring greatly increases the folly and guilt of the Númenóreans'. They are not supposed to be ultimately better and more pure than other men, and Sauron and Morgoth had somewhat comparably tricked even the Eldar before, as well as corrupted some at times.
I would thus hold in the absence of convincing evidence to the contrary that the Ring was left behind, or that if brought along, it was not overtly and decisively a factor in Sauron's influence in Númenor.
True, the fidelity and wisdom of the majority of Númenóreans had been in decline for centuries, but Sauron's presence was crucial and decisive in its effect on Ar-Pharazôn and Númenórean society. He turned a troubling and sometimes violent trend into an all-out collapse into cruelty, blasphemy, wickedness and insanity.
Obviously, the Ring could have played some part, but still the Moral of that story is the Fall, fear of death, and the overwhelming temptation of having had such long lives and close proximity to Valinor.
Also, it is noted above that the Ring works by finding character weaknesses, and this is true in terms of Boromir, Isildur, Smeagol and even Frodo, in terms of his ultimate sense of bitterness at having been unfairly burdened with the Ring.
But in the hands of Sauron (or potentially Gandalf or Galadriel) its power to raise armies and bend minds need not be at all subtle. To ascribe Sauron's effect on the Númenóreans to the Ring is to say that they became puppets on the strings that he pulled. The power of the Númenóreans was that their army could dismay even his forces, but had he risked and succeeded at really using the Ring against them (without their noticing) in time, he might have corrupted the Númenóreans, even if they were as steadfast and true as they had been centuries earlier.
Nay, the impression from the
Akallabêth is that Sauron picked up on the undercurrents in Númenórean society and in the King's mind, and that through clever lies, manipulation and plotting he brought about a Second Fall of Men, like the Serpent in the Garden.
The evidence to the contrary are the statements in
Letters #211, where it does indeed say:
Quote:
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He naturally had the One Ring, and so very soon dominated the minds and wills of the Númenóreans.
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But I think this may be one of the extremely few times when JRRT was not too careful in writing of these his letters. To this end, I submit, that the entire letter has a slightly cursory and dimissive tone, as if he wants to simply provide any answer, and this letter, as indicated in the notes, has two or three "slips" or errors in other ways.
Finally, it is worth noting that the
Akallabêth had largely been completed by forerunners to that story before completion of the
Lord of the Rings, and that the brief treatment in App. A I(i) was his reluctant concession to his vision of the full Legendarium, as described in HoME V, IX and XII.
So, really it seems that the
Akallabêth was conceived without the History of the Rings of Power, and to blame the One Ring for the Númenóreans contradicts the entire rationale behind the
Akallabêth, that JRRT ultimately chose to maintain, despite and probably in his time after Letter #211, even in the Context of the Ring's existence in mind and possible possession by Sauron when in Westernesse.