Numenorean Likenesses

[Lalwendë]

At an entirely non-political, non-philosophical level, many people may well suffer a Numenorean fate in some way as our growing demand for land has led people to build on land which it is not safe to build on. We drain water meadows in the UK to build housing estates and they invariably end up flooding, and though people at the moment only lose their furniture and carpets, if the ice caps continue to melt they will start to lose a lot more.

The idea of the all-consuming wave is a common one in world cultures and myths, and Tolkien picks up on this. I'm sure such myths will continue to have relevance as time moves on; cultures have been lost to the waves before and they will be lost again. I suppose the element of greed comes into modern examples where people are building over our natural meadows and trying to tame rivers and seas that do not need to be tamed, as we could live elsewhere?

[Glirdan]

The idea of the all-consuming wave is a common one in world cultures and myths, and Tolkien picks up on this. I'm sure such myths will continue to have relevance as time moves on; cultures have been lost to the waves before and they will be lost again. I suppose the element of greed comes into modern examples where people are building over our natural meadows and trying to tame rivers and seas that do not need to be tamed, as we could live elsewhere?

Actually, a certain "mythological" civilization that comes to mind is Atlantis. We have absolutely no proof proving or disproving that Atlantis in fact existed, kind of like the case with Numenor. The only difference is that Eärendil brought scrolls and other artifacts with him back to Middle-Earth. However, almost all of those are now lost with the exception of the two (or is it three?) Palantiri along with the few scrolls that were salvaged. Can we link this Atlantis? I believe yes, no matter how weak it is. I myself do believe that there was an island that was sunk due to natural disasters. I mean, look at the state of California! Pretty soon, the entire state will be sunk under water due to the movements of the earth's tectonic plates. Here's how I look at it: once California goes under, how much proof will we have to prove that California did exist? Not a whole lot except old maps and other old records which might end up being burned or recycled (well, the maps will anyway). Yes, there is a point to all this jumbled up madness and here it is: besides the fact that they were also men, how many ways can we compare ourselves to the Numenoreans?

[Thinlómien]

Númenor was certainly Tolkien's Atlantis.

After its downfall it was called Atalantë (you don't even need to be a linguist to see the similarity between Atalantë and Atlantis) which is simply the Quenya word for "the downfallen".