NÚMENÓREANS, “MEN OF ATLANTIS”

one of the most obvious connections between the legends of the ancient Greeks and Tolkien’s imaginative fiction lies in the story of Atlantis. Tolkien’s account of the downfall of Númenor in Akallabêth is his self-confessed reinvention of the Atlantis legend. This was one very distinct case of Tolkien taking an ancient legend and rewriting it in such a way as to suggest that his tale is the real history on which the ancient myth was based. So that we do not miss the point, Tolkien tells us that the High Elven (Quenya) name for Númenor is Atalantë (“The Downfallen”).

Plato’s dialogues Timaeus and Critias are the primary sources, and in them the philosopher claims to quote the Athenian statesman Solon, who, he says, learned of Atlantis while studying ancient Egyptian records. According to Plato, beyond the Pillars of Hercules in the mid-Atlantic, on “this island of Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvellous power, which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent.” In Tolkien's retelling of the Atlantis story, this island continent of Númenor is located in the midst of the Great Western Sea between Middle-earth and the Undying Lands. Like Atlantis, Númenor is a fabulously rich and blessed realm whose kings wield great power and hold sway over not only all the island but, with their fleets of mighty ships, many parts of Middle-earth.

Númenóreans – “Men of Atlantis”

In Númenor, we see a great civilization corrupted by power and pride slowly evolve into a tyranny that threatens the peace of the world – and finally self-destructs. The tale of Atlantis, as a lost ancient utopian civilization, was known from antiquity onwards and has engaged philosophers and thinkers ever since. It became even more evident in the popular imagination after the publication of Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882), whose author, Ignatius Donnelly, argued for the historical truth of the legend. Indeed, Theosophists and numerous other occult groups accepted the historic Atlantis as part of their doctrine. It also resulted in several real-world searches for the geographic location of Atlantis.

For his part, J. R. R. Tolkien appears to have believed that Atlantis existed – at least as a kind of genetic memory – in the minds of the human race. However, although he acknowledged that he had something of an “Atlantis complex”, Tolkien rejected outright some of the more outrageous Nazi theories that the men of Atlantis had been an Aryan master race who had brought civilization to the world.

Changing of the World: the Destruction of Númenor

In fact, Christopher Tolkien suggests that his father’s portrait of the decline of Númenor into a militaristic tyranny victimizing its own people and threatening to enslave the world with its imperialist ambitions was an implicit criticism of Nazism. Parallels may be seen, too, between Nazi rearmament and the regime’s development of secret weaponry and the Númenórean Great Armament, fired by Sauron’s technocratic teachings, that introduced sail-less metal ships, missiles and armoured fortresses to the kingdom. All this paved the way for the Númenóreans’ doomed and vainglorious attempt to invade the Undying Lands of the Valar and its final downfall.

Like the myth of Atlantis, Númenor is an exemplar of the rise and fall of empires. The fall of Tolkien’s Númenor is of the kind that is most often recorded in tales of downfall throughout history and myth where the mighty are seen as growing too proud and self-entitled. In this, it is akin to the biblical second Fall of Man as portrayed in the story of Noah and the Great Flood (Genesis 6–9). For the ancient Greeks, too, it was this tragic flaw of excessive pride, overconfidence and contempt for the gods – known as hubris – that ultimately resulted in disaster and self-destruction.

Black Númenorean