Pride comes before a fall…

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has been expanding on the lore and world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved books and writings since it debuted in 2022. Melding both lesser known characters and fan-faves with new creations and set in the Second Age, the series often delves into events that we’ve only heard about in passing. From the first moment that the show introduced us to Númenor, Lord of the Rings fans immediately knew that the world of men was destined to take a tragic turn. In Episode 5, the series begins to pave the way to the kingdom’s downfall as the political shifts in the idyllic kingdom set the stage for tragedy, but to understand the end of Númenor and Queen Regent Miriel’s trials that will precede it, we have to revisit its beginnings to explore the connections between Númenor and some of Tolkien’s most enigmatic creations, the Valar.

What Are the Valar and Why Do They Matter?

Much of the lore of the Valar is laid out in the pages of The Silmarillion, published posthumously by Tokien’s son Christopher featuring stories, writing, and folkloric tales that establish the early days of Middle-earth. It’s there we learn about the closest thing to a Christian god in Tolkien’s lore “The One” also known as Ilúvatar or Eru. It was he who created the Valar simply by thinking of them, creating 14 of the “divine spirits” or “Holy Ones” who would craft and create the world of Arda with their own hands and powers in preparation for the arrival of life like elves and men.

While both elves and educated humans once worshiped Eru in the First Age as the creator of their world, the Númenorians are a special case. Their connection to the Valar goes back to the beginning of the Second Age, when they were gifted the island of Númenor by the Valar after the destruction of their home country of Beleriand in the War of Wrath that took place after the Valar Melkoth rebelled against Eru. Much of the country was destroyed but Lindon survived and the Valar decided to raise the island of Númenor out of the sea for the three faithful houses of Edain who they pitted after seeing they had survived the war but with great casualties.

The early inhabitants of Númenor had expanded lifespans and saw the Valar as generous beings who had given them a home and the tools to form a society that soon grew to be incredibly wealthy. The only rule that the Valar put on Númenor was the so-called Ban of Valar, which forbade humans from sailing too close to the Undying Lands. For some men, this became a sticking point. The feeling of being kept from the potential of an eternal life in paradise playing a major role in inciting the eventual rebellion that led to Númenor’s downfall.

Each of the Valar was able to transform and take on the physical appearance of any of the life in Middle-earth, though they don’t have a natural form of their own. When it came to their powers, they were that of creation as well as immortality. Although at times they were called “gods” in the writings of Tolkien, in one of his letters he explained that they were more akin to emissaries for “The One” rather than gods to be followed in their own right.

Interestingly, the humans who originally lived on Númenor known as the Dúnedain were seen as leaders due to divine right because of their connection to the Valar and their long life spans. This continued into the Third Age as King Aragorn took the throne and lived to be 210 years old. But he was the last of the King of Men who would benefit from the extended lifespans that came from a direct connection to Númenor and its original inhabitants.

The Rings of Power has taken great pains to build out the world of Middle-earth and Númenor, allowing us inside the temples of the Valar for the first time, showing us how they worshiped and grieved perhaps as we head towards the finale we’ll get a more expanded view on the relationship between the Númenorians and the Valar, perhaps even a glimpse at Valinor itself.

What are the Undying Lands?

Also known as Valinor and the Land Across the Sea, the Undying Lands are the realm where the Valar or Quenya chose to live after Melkor’s war that ravaged much of Middle-earth and the surrounding territories. Little is known about Valinor, as both the Undying Lands and the Valar were each left purposefully ambiguous by Tokien.

There are exceptions with the “elves only” rule as Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee were both welcomed into Valinor.

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What we do know is that in the First Age anyone could venture to Valinor by boat, but in the Second Age only elves could make the trip to live blissfully in the Undying Lands. We’ve now seen what the trip to Valinor looks like thanks to Season 1 when we witnessed Galadriel choose not to go to the Undying Lands and instead swam back to land via a little shipwreck with Sauron. Interestingly, we also know that there are exceptions with the “elves only” rule as Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee were both welcomed into Valinor to live forever as a reward for their destroying the One Ring and managing to survive wearing the ring at all.

We’ll have to see just how the Valar and the Undying Lands play into the rest of the season, but it feels like we’ll at least get a glimpse of them before Season 2 ends.

What Does Pharazôn Want?

During a telling interaction with his son, Pharazôn reveals that he thinks the elves have long been taunting men, building the ivory tower that signifies the entrance to the Undying Lands just within their sight so that they’d always be reminded of their mortality in the face of the Valar. It’s a telling tease that hints at his story to come. In the books we know that Pharazôn is the last King of Men because his greed and jealousy of the elves leads him to sail on the Undying Lands, which unsurprisingly doesn’t go well and causes the Fall of Númenor.

Now that he is about to take the throne and is sharing his disdain for the elves, it’s clear we’ll see him embark on his deeply flawed mission sooner rather than later. With the support of his son Kemen (Leon Wadham) and the traitorous Eärien (Ema Horvath), it’s clear that he’s lacking sensible counsel to suggest that he tries to make peace with the elves rather than war. Of course we also see in this episode that Pharazôn himself is planning to consult with the Palantir knowing that it has guided all the leaders of Númenor that have come before him. Perhaps he’ll find some guidance there but it feels unlikely now that he’s already set his sights on Valar.

With only three episodes remaining it’ll be interesting to see just how much of Valinor Rings of Power will deign to show and how close to the Fall of Númenor we’ll get before the finale.