Black Númenóreans

The Black Númenóreans, initially self-named the King's Men, were a fallen group of Númenóreans descended from those who were loyal to the Númenórean crown but in opposition to the Valar and relations with the Elves. After Sauron's fellowship with Númenor under the identity of "Annatar", these Númenóreans listened to his words, were soon corrupted by him, and came to worship the Darkness and Morgoth.

History Edit

Second Age Edit

Origins Edit

As the power and knowledge of the Númenóreans grew throughout the course of the Second Age, they became increasingly preoccupied with the limits placed on their contentment in the world - and eventually their power - by mortality, the purpose of which they began to question.

As time went on they began to fear death more and more and ultimately wished to escape it. So the Númenóreans became envious of the immortal Elves (the Eldar), whom they had come to physically resemble as part of their reward from Ilúvatar for having been their allies. The Eldar sought ever to remind the Men of Númenor however, that death was a gift from Ilúvatar to all Men, and to lose faith in Ilúvatar would be heretical.

Nevertheless, after SA 2221, when Tar-Ancalimon became King of Númenor. The 'King's Men' therefore became increasingly predisposed to the corruption of Sauron after he came to Númenor.

Eventually, in Númenor's last years, its hugely powerful but elderly King Ar-Pharazôn, who had become "frightened of old age" (Letters, no. 156), was persuaded by Sauron that Ilúvatar was a lie invented by the Valar, and seduced him. Within Númenor, the majority immediately followed suit, and this worship quickly passed across the ocean when they sailed eastwards from Númenor, to most of Númenor's colonies in Middle-earth where the group started in proper.

The group thrived in Middle-earth, particularly in Umbar after the destruction of Númenor. They continued to oppose The Faithful, from which came the Kings of Arnor and Gondor. The Black Númenóreans remained loyal towards Sauron.

Three of the nine Ringwraiths can be considered among the first and most powerful Númenóreans who were corrupted by Sauron, 1000 years before the Downfall. They served Sauron, being enslaved to his will, having become so because of their lust for power or knowledge.

These sacrilegious 'black arts' and 'follies', which arose as a consequence of their worship of 'The Dark' and Melkor, marked the final, irrevocable division between the 'King's Men' and the minority known as the 'Faithful' Númenóreans, or the 'Elendili', who kept to their old faith in Ilúvatar. They were also presumably the earliest culture traits of those who became known afterwards as Black Númenóreans.

After the Fall of Númenor Edit

For many centuries after the Downfall, descendants of the 'King's Men' held onto colonies in Middle-earth, what became the most northerly and famous of their Realms in Exile, Umbar.

Most of those few Númenóreans who had never disavowed the Eldar, and had always remained true to their belief in Ilúvatar, also survived the destruction of their homeland, and they established their own Realms in Exile north of Umbar, in familiar and friendly colonies. The Faithful Númenóreans saw their southern counterparts as renegades. The Black Númenóreans held a similarly low opinion of 'The Faithful' and their descendants.

Only two Black Númenórean lords are named from the time of the late Second Age: Herumor and Fuinur. Like all Black Númenóreans and 'King's Men' before them, Herumor and Fuinur desired power over men of other, lesser races, and they "rose to (great) power amongst the Haradrim", the peoples neighbouring Umbar. Their fate is unknown, but they were likely defeated along with Sauron at the War of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

Third Age Edit

The Black Númenórean style of rule was no doubt tyrannical, but may also have involved a tradition of duumviracy, at least in Umbar, whose lords are usually paired when mentioned; Herumor/Fuinur for example, were probably rulers of Umbar, as much later Angamaitë and Sangahyando were.

The triumph of the Last Alliance marked the decline of the Black Númenórean race and the end of their racial superiority. Nevertheless, the Black Númenórean elite survived at least in Umbar for over a thousand years after Númenor's fall, maintaining much influence in Haradwaith. As late as Angamaitë for example, even after being exiled from their homeland for nearly a century.

Black Númenóreans in the Third Age eventually joined the Witch-king of Angmar in his conquests of Arnor. The fate of the Black Númenóreans of Angmar is unknown; they would have been at least disbanded after the Battle of Fornost.

The Black Númenóreans did not speak Westron, but probably retained their old tongue Adûnaic, speaking a dialect of it. (In The Notion Club Papers, part of Sauron Defeated, Arundel Lowdham cited two descendants of classical Adûnaic. One of these must have been Westron, the other the tongue of the Black Númenóreans).

The Black Númenóreans are absent from recorded history after their defeat by Ciryaher of Gondor in TA 1050, but a population of sorts must have survived somewhere at least until the end of the Third Age, as the Mouth of Sauron, who mocked the army of King Elessar in front of the Black Gate was described both as a Black Númenórean and "Renegade".

In one of his letters, Tolkien wrote that Queen Berúthiel, wife of Gondor's King Tarannon Falastur was a Black Númenórean, from a Black Númenórean realm he describes as "the inland city" somewhere south of Umbar. Her marriage was a loveless union, and was presumably a political accommodation.

Portrayal in adaptations Edit

Video games Edit

In The Lord of the Rings Online, the Black Númenóreans are in the service of the Angmarim and live in Carn Dûm in Angmar and served Mordirith and later Amarthiel.

In The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Agandaûr was a Black Númenórean, and is the game's main antagonist.

In the story-line of The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king, the Black Númenóreans were conquered and subjected by the Witch-king, and serve as Angmar faction's elite units. They are portrayed as wearing fearsome iron masks, proud of their heritage as "the King's Men". They are split into Thrall Masters, Swordsmen, Dark Rangers, and Sorcerers from the "Temple of Twilight". Angmar is portrayed as a frozen wasteland, with units including the Black Númenóreans focusing upon this aspect in terms of clothing and weaponry. 

In The Third Age: Total War (A Medieval II Total War modification), the Black Númenóreans are an elite bodyguard and soldier unit, either mounted or dismounted. They can do far more damage than Uruk-hai Berserkers, Troll-men of Harad, or Arnor Longswordmen put together.

Later, they were divided into the Temple units in Mordor and the Ar-Adûnaim (King's Men) units in Umbar in Divide and Conquer.

Translations around the world Edit

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Swart Númenórean
Albanian	E zezë Númenórean
Amharic	ጥቁር ኙመኖረኣን
Arabic	أسود نومينوريان
Armenian	Սև Նúմենորեանս
Azerbaijani	Qara Númenórean
Banjar	Hirang Númenórean
Basque	Númenórtar Beltza
Belarusian Cyrillic	Чорныя нуменорцы
Bengali	ব্ল্যাক ণুমেনরেঅন
Bosnian	Crni Númenórean
Breton	Du Númenórean
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Черни нуменорци
Catalan	Negre Númenórean
Cebuano	Itom Númenórean
Chinese (Hong Kong)	黑暗努曼諾爾人
Cornish	Du Númenórean
Croatian	Crni Númenórean
Czech	Černí Númenorejci
Danish	Sort Númenórean
Esperanto	Nigra Númenórean
Estonian	Must Númenórean
Faroese	Svartur Númenórean
Fijian	Númenórean loaloa
Filipino	Itim na Númenórean
Finnish	Mustat Númenórlaiset
French	Númenoréens Noirs
Frisian	Swart Númenórean
Galician	Negro Númenórean
Georgian	შავი ნუმენორეანი
German	Schwarze Númenórer
Greek	Μαύροι Νουμενόρειοι
Gujarati	બ્લેક ણુમેનોરેઅન
Haitian Creole	Nwa Númenórean
Hausa	Baƙi Númenórean
Hebrew	נומנורים שחורים
Hindi	काले णुमेनोरेअन
Hmong	Xim dub Númenórean
Hungarian	Fekete Númenori
Icelandic	Svartur Númenórean
Indonesian	Hitam Númenórean
Irish Gaelic	Dubh Númenórean
Italian	Númenóreani Neri
Jamaican Creole	Blak Númenórean
Japanese	黒ヌーメノール
Javanese	Ireng Númenórean
Kannada	ಕಪ್ಪು ಣುಮ್ನೊರನ
Kazakh	Қара Нұменореан (Cyrillic) Qara Numenorean (Latin)
Korean	검은 누메노르인
Kurdish	Reş Numenorean (Kurmanji Kurdish)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	кара Нумэнорэан
Latvian	Melna Númenórean
Lithuanian	Juoda Númenórean
Luxembourgish	Schwaarz Númenórean
Macedonian Cyrillic	Црн Нуменореан
Malaysian	Númenórean hitam
Maltese	Sewda Númenórean
Manx	Númenórean Doo
Maori	Pango Númenórean
Marathi	काळा णुमेनोरेअन
Mongolian Cyrillic	Хар Нуменореан
Nahuatl	Tlīltic Númenórean
Navajo	łizhin Númenórean
Nepalese	काला णुमेनोरेअन
Norwegian	Svart Númenórean
Occitan	Negre Númenórean
Old English	Sweart Númenórean
Pashto	تور نومېنورېان
Pennsylvania Dutch	Schwatz Númenórean
Persian	سیاه نومهنورهان
Polish	Czarni Númenorejczycy
Portuguese	Númenórean preto
Punjabi	ਕਾਲੇ ਣੁਮੇਨੋਰੇਅਨ
Romanian	Negru Númenórean
Romansh	Númenórean Nair
Russian	Чёрные нуменорцы
Sanskrit	कृष्ण वर्णःणुमेनोरेअन्
Scottish Gaelic	Dubh Númenórean
Serbian	Црни Нúменóреан (Cyrillic) Crni Númenórean (Latin)
Sicilian	Nìuru Númenórean
Sinhalese	කළු ණුමෙනොරෙඅන්
Slovak	Čierni Númenórejci
Slovenian	Črna Númenórean
Somalian	Madaw Númenórean
Spanish	Numenóreanos Negros
Sudanese	Hideung Númenórean
Swahili	Númenórean nyeusi
Swedish	Svart Númenóreanskt
Tagalog	Itim Númenórean
Tahitian	Númenórean ereere
Tajik Cyrillic	сиёҳ Нуменореан
Tamil	பிளாக் ணுமெநொரெஅந்
Telugu	బ్లాక్ ణుమెనొరెఅన
Turkish	Kara Númenórlu
Turkmen	Gara Númenórean
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Чорний колір Нуменореан
Urdu	سیاہ نمانورین
Uzbek	Қора Нуменореан (Cyrillic) Qora Númenórean (Latin)
Vietnamese	Đen Númenórean
Welsh	Du Númenórean
Xhosa	Mnyama Númenórean
Yiddish	שווארץ נומענאָרעאַן
Yoruba	Dudu Númenórean

References Edit

• The Complete Guide to Middle-earth
• The History of Middle-earth: Sauron Defeated
• The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien