Armenelos
Also calledArmenelos the Golden, The City of the Kings, Arminalêth
Armenelos was the royal city of Númenor, standing in the Kingsland east of the Meneltarma. It was the seat of the line of Elros for three thousand years, the home of the White Tree Nimloth, and at the last the site of Sauron's temple to Melkor.
Description
The golden city
Armenelos stood in Arandor, the Kingsland, the eastern part of the Mittalmar that lay between the Meneltarma and the haven of Rómenna. It was the first great city of the Númenóreans and remained their capital from the days of Elros to the Downfall. Its heart was the King's House, the seat of the sceptre, and in the court before it grew Nimloth the Fair, the White Tree, a seedling of the tree of Tirion that the Eldar had brought as a gift; its blossom opened at evening and filled the city with fragrance. The city was called Armenelos the Golden, and around the royal house lay the halls of the great families, the treasuries of a people that had grown rich on the trade of two continents, and the schools where the lore of the Eldar was kept. The road from Armenelos ran west to the foot of the Meneltarma, and from the city the kings went up in procession at the three great prayers of the year.
The court of the kings
Most of the recorded life of Númenor's rulers passed in Armenelos. Tar-Aldarion's long quarrel with his father over his voyages was fought out there, and there Erendis came from the west to be his wife; their daughter Tar-Ancalimë was brought to court as the first heir under the new law that let a daughter succeed. In later centuries the city was the centre of the King's Men, and the Faithful who lived there were watched. Tar-Palantir restored the observances that his predecessors had let lapse, but after his death his nephew Ar-Pharazôn took the sceptre in Armenelos by marrying the heir Tar-Míriel, and it was to this city that he brought Sauron as his prisoner.
History
Sauron in the city
Within a few years Sauron had risen from hostage to chief counsellor and had turned the king and most of his people to the worship of Melkor. Nimloth was cut down at his urging, though Isildur stole a fruit from the guarded court by night and was nearly killed. On a hill in the city Sauron had a temple built, a vast round hall with a silver dome five hundred feet high, whose only opening was at the summit; the White Tree was the first fire on its altar, and the smoke of the burning turned the dome black. In that place the Faithful were burned in sacrifice, and the city that had been the fairest work of Men became a place of dread. From Armenelos went out the orders for the Great Armament, and from it Ar-Pharazôn went down to Rómenna to board his fleet.
The end
When the world was changed and Númenor sank, Armenelos and its temple went down into the abyss with all who dwelt there. The city was remembered in exile as the pattern of a royal seat, and the kings of Gondor and Arnor took from it the custom of the White Tree in the king's court and the sceptre as the sign of kingship, so that a fragment of Armenelos survived in Minas Tirith and Annúminas until the end of the Third Age.
Geography
Armenelos lay inland in the eastern Mittalmar, a day's journey from Rómenna on the coast and within sight of the Meneltarma to the west. The Kingsland around it was the most populous part of the island, and the road from the city to the mountain and to the Noirinan was the ceremonial way of the kings.
Associated figures
Born in
Twenty-fifth and last King of Númenor
Ar-Pharazôn
NúmenóreansAr-Pharazôn the Golden, the last and mightiest King of Númenor, usurped the sceptre from his cousin Míriel, humbled Sauron and carried him to Númenor as a captive, and was corrupted by him into the worship of Melkor. In S.A. 3319 he sailed with the Great Armament to seize immortality from the Valar, set foot on Aman, and brought about the drowning of Númenor and the changing of the world.
NúmenorSixth King of Númenor
Tar-Aldarion
NúmenóreansTar-Aldarion, born Anardil, was the sixth King of Númenor and the first of its great mariners. He founded the Guild of Venturers, built the haven of Vinyalondë in Middle-earth, and befriended Gil-galad, but his voyages destroyed his marriage to Erendis. He changed the law of succession so that his daughter Ancalimë could reign after him.
NúmenorRightful Queen of Númenor
Tar-Míriel
NúmenóreansTar-Míriel, only child of Tar-Palantir, should have been the fourth Ruling Queen of Númenor. Her cousin Pharazôn forced her into marriage against the law and took the sceptre in her name, and she lived as his queen under the name Ar-Zimraphel until the Downfall, when the sea took her as she sought the summit of the Meneltarma.
NúmenorTwenty-fourth King of Númenor
Tar-Palantir
NúmenóreansTar-Palantir, born Inziladûn, was the twenty-fourth King of Númenor and the last to repent of the pride of the kings. He restored the reverence of the Valar, tended the White Tree, and foretold that when it died the line of kings would end; but his brother Gimilkhâd led the King's Men against him, and after his death his daughter Míriel was dispossessed by Ar-Pharazôn.
NúmenorSeventh Ruler of Númenor
Tar-Ancalimë
NúmenóreansTar-Ancalimë, daughter of Tar-Aldarion and Erendis, was the first Ruling Queen of Númenor under her father's new law of succession. Raised by her mother to distrust men, she married Hallacar only to secure the sceptre, ruled for two hundred and five years, and let her father's havens and alliances in Middle-earth decay.
Númenor
Dwelt in
Twenty-fifth and last King of Númenor
Ar-Pharazôn
NúmenóreansAr-Pharazôn the Golden, the last and mightiest King of Númenor, usurped the sceptre from his cousin Míriel, humbled Sauron and carried him to Númenor as a captive, and was corrupted by him into the worship of Melkor. In S.A. 3319 he sailed with the Great Armament to seize immortality from the Valar, set foot on Aman, and brought about the drowning of Númenor and the changing of the world.
NúmenorLord of Mordor
Sauron
MaiarSauron was a Maia of Aulë who became Morgoth's lieutenant in the First Age and, after his master's fall, the Dark Lord of the Second and Third Ages in his own right. He forged the One Ring to rule all others, brought about the Downfall of Númenor, and was finally destroyed when the Ring was unmade in Mount Doom.
Mordor; Barad-dûrQueen of Númenor
Erendis
NúmenóreansErendis of the Westlands was the wife of Tar-Aldarion, the Mariner-King of Númenor. Their long courtship and short marriage were destroyed by his voyages, and she withdrew with their daughter Ancalimë to her house at Emerië, where she raised the future Queen to distrust men. She died in the sea in S.A. 985.
Númenor; the Westlands and EmeriëRightful Queen of Númenor
Tar-Míriel
NúmenóreansTar-Míriel, only child of Tar-Palantir, should have been the fourth Ruling Queen of Númenor. Her cousin Pharazôn forced her into marriage against the law and took the sceptre in her name, and she lived as his queen under the name Ar-Zimraphel until the Downfall, when the sea took her as she sought the summit of the Meneltarma.
Númenor
Visited
Second High King of Arnor and Gondor
Isildur
NúmenóreansIsildur, elder son of Elendil, stole a fruit of the White Tree in Númenor, founded Minas Ithil in Gondor, and cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand at the end of the Last Alliance. He refused to destroy it, and two years later he was slain by Orcs at the Gladden Fields when the Ring slipped from his finger, so that his name was bound to it as Isildur's Bane.
Gondor; later Arnor as High KingLast Lord of Andúnië
Amandil
NúmenóreansAmandil, last Lord of Andúnië and father of Elendil, was the leader of the Faithful in the reign of Ar-Pharazôn. Dismissed from the King's council when Sauron rose to power, he withdrew to Rómenna, and when the Great Armament was planned he sailed secretly into the West to plead with the Valar, as Eärendil had, and was never heard of again.
Númenor; Andúnië and Rómenna
Founded
First King of Númenor
Elros
Half-elvenElros, twin brother of Elrond and son of Eärendil and Elwing, chose under the Choice of the Peredhil to be counted among Men. He led the Edain over the sea to the new land of Númenor and reigned there for four hundred and ten years as Tar-Minyatur, the first of a line of kings that ended with Elendil's heirs on the thrones of Gondor and Arnor.
Númenor
Died in
First King of Númenor
Elros
Half-elvenElros, twin brother of Elrond and son of Eärendil and Elwing, chose under the Choice of the Peredhil to be counted among Men. He led the Edain over the sea to the new land of Númenor and reigned there for four hundred and ten years as Tar-Minyatur, the first of a line of kings that ended with Elendil's heirs on the thrones of Gondor and Arnor.
Númenor
Peoples
Timeline
- S.A. 32
The seat of Elros
Elros Tar-Minyatur makes Armenelos the royal city of Númenor.
- S.A. 600
Nimloth planted
The Eldar bring a seedling of the White Tree of Tirion; it is planted in the king's court.
- S.A. 883
Aldarion's reign
The mariner-king rules from Armenelos and changes the law of succession.
- S.A. 3177
Tar-Palantir restores the rites
The White Tree is tended again and the old observances are renewed.
- S.A. 3255
Ar-Pharazôn seizes the sceptre
The king's nephew weds Tar-Míriel by force and takes the throne.
- S.A. 3262
Sauron comes to Armenelos
Ar-Pharazôn brings Sauron to the city as a hostage; he becomes counsellor to the king.
- S.A. 3310
The Temple and the felling of Nimloth
Sauron's temple to Melkor is raised in the city and the White Tree is burned on its altar.
- S.A. 3319
The city drowned
Armenelos goes down with Númenor in the Downfall.
Sources
- The SilmarillionAkallabêth
- Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earthA Description of the Island of Númenor; Aldarion and Erendis
- The Lord of the Rings: AppendicesAppendix A I, on the White Tree and the line of kings
See also
Part of
Elsewhere in Mittalmar
- Meneltarmamountain
- Rómennacity
- Emeriëregion
- Noirinanvalley