The White Council

Re: What was Umbar like?

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: : Tolkien actually paid more attention to classical mythology, : : legend, and history than most people give him credit for (for : : example, he confesses in one letter that the whole idea of : : inventing legends to go with a language extends all the way : : back to the Greek).

: Do you remember which letter that was? And do you mean Greek : mythology being invented to go with the language? But it is : astonishing the way everything in his historical background has : the ring of truth about it. As a minor example, the north west : of middle earth in it`s decline during the third age seems to : follow the pattern in late antiquity of the spread-out : classical cities being abandoned in favour of smaller : garrisoned fortresses on hilltops. Annuminas to Fornost, : Osgiliath to Minas Tirith...

The same pattern had occurred in previous periods of history. Whenever a civilization declines or collapses, many of its cities decline or are abandoned.

The Letter to which I referred was 180, where Tolkien writes:

   It has been a considerable labour, beginning really as soon   as I was able to begin anything, but effectively beginning   when I was an undergraduate and began to explore my own   linguistic aesthetic in language-composition.  It was just as   the 1914 War burst on me that I made the discovery that   'legends' depend on the language to which they belong; but a   living language depends equally on the 'legends' which it   conveys by tradition.  (For example, that the Greek mythology   depends far more on the marvellous aesthetic of its language   and so of its nomenclature of persons and places and less on   its content than people realize, though of course it depends on    both.  And vice versa.  Volapuk, Esperanto, Ido, Novial,   etc. etc. are dead, far deader than ancient unused languages,   because their authors never invented any Esperanto legends.)... 

: : Unfortunately, her story comes out in bits and pieces, and : : was never fully realized. : : It`s the same with the Black Numenoreans as a whole, isn`t it? : The Akallabeth`s description of Numenoreans before the end, : when Sauron began to make human sacrifice to Melkor in : Armenelos, makes it clear that almost all of them by that stage : had fallen very low indeed, and their colony in Umbar was close : enough to Mordor to be further influenced by Sauron after his : return. Now, the civilisation of corrupted Numenor had become : frenzied, torn with internal hatreds and divisions, and it : seems to me inherently unstable - one of the reasons Sauron : found it so easy to focus their fears and discontent against : the Valar. For this reason, I`ve often wondered how Umbar could : have survived and prospered for so long. Of course, according : to Faramir most communities of the Black Numenoreans didn`t, : but it seems that Umbar did, and I wonder why. Can Umbar have : been more like Gondor than I had imagined? Faramir tells Frodo : that the same temptations that led astray Numenor (and its : colonies) were also felt in Gondor too, all except actual : worship of the enemy.

Well, I think this is where a feudalist might provide a reasonable answer, although I cannot think of the term(s) right now that accurately describe what might have happened. If we assume (dangerous territory to tread!) that the Numenoreans in their warlike days became invested in "clans" or "societies" or "guilds" which followed leaders of immense personal prestige, then Umbar could have been one haven out of many for lesser groups who though loyal to the King and perhaps Sauron nonetheless had lost out in some tangible way in one of the pettier squabbles.

Exile to one of the colonies might indeed have been the only means of preserving personal power for the Numenorean lords, who could then engage in wars of conquest, levy tribute, raid neighbors, and extend Numenorean power -- all in the name of the King -- and win back (or perhaps earn for the first time) some prestige which eventually would merit a return to the glorious homeland in a state of honor and renown.

I think Tolkien hints that adventuring under charismatic leaders must have arisen in Numenor, much like the Spanish Conquistadors recruited semi-private armies in the names of the King and Queen of Spain and led them overseas in search of personal wealth and glory. The Venturers Guild founded by Aldarion would have been only a foreshadow of what must have arisen after the War of the Elves and Sauron. I'm sure it was that war which set off the Numenorean expansion-via-conquest in Middle-earth, because it was only 100 years later that the Numenoreans began to oppress Middle-earth.

Probably the early dominions were military colonies established to help curb the power of Sauron, who turned his attention to the East. Numenor's early fortresses would probably have been farther south than Umbar. And these first colonies may not have been as ruthless as the later colonies.

But Faramir doesn't say that most communities of Black Numenoreans disappeared. He says that some of the Numenoreans were conquered by the wild men, but not most. Of course, it would be fair to include Arnor in Faramir's history of the Numenoreans in Middle-earth. In fact, his words, "some fought among themselves, until in they were conquered in their weakness by the wild men" is very applicable to Arnor, and especially to Rhudaur.

In Appendix A, of course, Tolkien wrote "after the fall of Sauron [the race of the Kings Men, or Black Numenoreans] swiftly dwindled or became merged with the Men of Middle-earth...." This, too, could also be said of the Numenoreans of Gondor and Arnor. Dwindling implies a decrease in numbers, and Numenoreans of pure blood dwindled in both Arnor and Gondor. But if Umbar's Numenoreans became few, there were still other enclaves of Black Numenoreans -- at least for a while. And they appear to have survived until the end of the Third Age, despite what some people insist about the Mouth of Sauron, who could not possibly have been born in the Second Age (every Numenorean in Middle-earth would have turned to Sauron if he could really give them immortality).

: Do you have any idea who the Black Numenoreans in Umbar may : have worshipped? If Morgoth or Sauron were openly worshipped : there, would a royal marriage with Gondor have been hard to : imagine, or would that have been no more implausible than (say) : Ahab`s marriage to Jezebel? Could they have kept a vague memory : of the Iluvatar they had abandoned, and who was almost too : remote for worship even the for men of Gondor, or did they : adopt the superstitions and beliefs of the peoples they had : conquered. Certainly the story of Beruthiel suggests that magic : was practiced there - but Faramir hints it was in Gondor as : well.

The Kings Men worshipped Morgoth in the Second Age. Whehter they retained that cult in the Third Age is not stated, but Tarannon Falastur's marriage to Beruthiel could have been solely for political reasons. And just as the Numenoreans apostatized from their reverence for Iluvatar, so the Black Numenoreans could have fallen away from the Morgothian cult in the wake of Sauron's defeat and in the absence of his influence. At least until he rose again.

: Going back to the Phoenician parallel, I do wonder if Carthage : could serve as a model for Umbar. It was founded as a port on a : gulf that formed a large natural harbour, and as a colony a : very long way from the mother country, at a similar latitude : and, I imagine, with a similar climate - and the Carthaginians : clung to their Phoenician traditions perhaps because they were : a minority in an alien land. One assessment I read recently : suggested that in a city of perhaps 400,000 only a quarter were : Phoenician, the rest of mixed blood or native stock. Just as : Carthage had neighbouring Punic cities in subjection, bound by : tight trade and protection agreements - Umbar might have : dominated other cities of Numenorean origin, as well as a : hinterland of unassimilated tribes she only partly controlled. : Also, both peoples were the greatest mariners of their age.

The parallel seems most applicable. Even the tradition of Gondor losing a fleet in a great storm reminds one (who is familiar with Roman history) of the fleet Rome lost during one of the Punic Wars.

: I can only take the analogy so far, of course, as Carthage : ceased early on to be ruled by Kings, and I suppose Umbar : didn`t - but I think that Tyre and the cities of the motherland : retained were ruled by kings till Alexander`s day, although : with frequent usupations and changes of dynasty.

Tolkien, if he did indeed model Umbar on Carthage in some ways, would not have felt obliged to follow all of Carthage's history. But clearly the rulers of Umbar were of minor importance to him. They were there, but their records and traditions were not preserved.