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Would Sandra Bullock be a good Mrs. Isildur? - Page 2

© Michael Martinez

One of the great symbols of the Numenoreans' ties to the Valar and the Elves was the White Tree of Armenelos, Nimloth, which had been given to the Edain when they first settled in Numenor more than 3,000 years earlier. Nimloth was a sapling of Galathilion, the White Tree of Tirion, the city of the Noldor in Aman, and Galathilion was a sapling of Telperion, the White Tree of the Valar which Morgoth had poisoned long before. As Sauron's influence over the king increased he urged him to slay the White Tree. Ar-Pharazôn refrained for a while but word reached the ears of Amandil, Lord of Andunie, the westernmost region of Numenor. Amandil's son was Elendil, who in turn had two sons, Isildur and Anarion. Isildur and Anarion were still very young but they were already married and had young children of their own. Learning of the threat to Nimloth, Isildur passed secretly into the royal city of Armenelos and he stole a fruit from the tree, braving the guards in the courtyard of the royal palace where the tree stood. He was wounded and barely escaped with his life. Sauron failed to learn who had taken the fruit but the assault finally convinced the king to have the tree destroyed. Amandil and Ar-Pharazôn had been friends in their youth, and for the sake of this friendship the king refrained from condemning Amandil to certain death, but Amandil saw the inevitable conclusion of events. Sauron was slowly persuading the king to rebel against the Valar and he was systematically destroying or driving off all opposition. Eventually, there were only enough Faithful Numenoreans left to fill nine ships, and we don't know how large or how crowded these ships were. As the king prepared to mount an assault on Valinor (and so force the Valar to grant him immortality) Amandil decided to sail West, defying the ban of the Valar before his people did, in an effort to repeat the great plea his ancestor Ëarendil had made thousands of year before. But Amandil was never heard from again and the Valar did not send any great army to Numenor to oppose Sauron. The departure of Amandil left Elendil in a precarious position. He had no long history of friendship with the king, and was not as honored among the Numenoreans as his father had been. He put his people aboard nine ships and waited. Fortunately, Ar-Pharazôn's plans were nearly complete and the king left the Faithful alone. Among them were Elendil, his wife, Isildur and Anarion, their wives, and their sons Elendur and Meneldil. Elendur was a young man of 20 but Meneldil was just a baby, born the year before.

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