The Encyclopedia of Arda - Queen of Númenor (original) (raw)

Dates Location Race Division Culture Family Descended from, or married into, the House of Elros Settlements The royal seat of Númenor was at Armenelos Pronunciation Númenor is pronounced 'noo'menorr' (where 'rr' indicates that the final 'r' sound should be pronounced) Meaning Númenor means 'land in the west' Other names The three Queens who ruled Númenor in their own right were known as Ruling Queens of Númenor Title of Indexes: Alphabetical: N Alphabetical: Q Men About this entry: Updated 10 July 2018 Updates planned: 1

The ruler of Númenor, or its King’s consort Strictly a title of the spouse of any King of Númenor, but especially used of the three Queens who ruled by their own power: Tar-Ancalimë, Tar-Telperiën and Tar-Vanimeldë. For a detailed list of the three Queens who ruled in their own right, see the entry for Ruling Queen of Númenor. Notes 1 We have little detailed information for Queens who did not play a direct part in history, and dating is therefore difficult. II 32 is the year that Elros became Tar-Minyatur, the first King of Númenor. For dating purposes we assume that he had a Queen at that point, though in fact no consort is ever explicitly identified. Elros' eldest child Vardamir was born several decades later, so conceivably he may have married after taking the throne. All we can say with absolute certainty is that there was a Queen by II 61, the year of Vardamir's birth. Similarly, it seems unlikely that there was a completely unbroken line of Queens throughout Númenor's history. From what little we know of this aspect of Númenórean culture, the King's Heir did tend to marry before assuming the throne, and there was a nearly unbroken line of descent (on which see note 2 below) so in general there would have been a Queen throughout Númenor's history. There may have been breaks in the line due to late marriages or early deaths, though we have a record of only one such case. After the death of Ruling Queen Tar-Vanimeldë, her consort (against custom and law) held the Sceptre himself for twenty years before the true heir, his son Tar-Alcarin, succeeded. Even this is a doubtful case, since Tar-Alcarin was nonetheless the rightful King during this period; he already had a son, and therefore there was a rightful Queen, legally speaking, throughout this period. One date we can be sure of is the end of the last Queen's reign. In the Akallabêth, the account of Númenor and its Downfall, Ar-Pharazôn's Queen Tar-Míriel is the last character we see in Númenor before it is overwhelmed by the ocean. So we can date the end of the last Queen with certainty as II 3319, the date of the Downfall of Númenor. 2 There were twenty-five Rulers of Númenor across its history, and of these only three were Ruling Queens (Tar-Ancalimë, Tar-Telperiën and Tar-Vanimeldë) leaving twenty-two Kings. The line of Rulers remained almost unbroken, and so we can be sure that each King had at least one Queen. We know the names of four of these remaining, non-Ruling, Queens (Almarian, Erendis, Inzilbêth and Tar-Míriel) leaving a further eighteen Kings whose Queens' names we do not know. In principle, one or more of these Kings might have remarried, so there may have been more than eighteen unnamed Queens, but if so, no suggestion of any such remarriage is recorded. The line of Rulers was in fact broken twice. The first case was Queen Tar-Telperiën, who remained unwed and had no children, being succeeded by her nephew Tar-Minastir. In the second case, Tar-Palantir's true heir was his daughter Tar-Míriel, who would lawfully have become the fourth Ruling Queen, but her throne was usurped by her cousin Ar-Pharazôn. Neither of these cases affects the number of unnamed Queens. See also... Alcarin, Almarian, Anárion, Ancalimë, Ar-Zimraphel, Axantur, Beregar, Captain of Ships, Captain of the King’s Ships, City of the Kings, Elestirnë, Elves of Lindon, Erendis, Hallacar, Heir of Eärendil, [See the full list...]Herucalmo, House of Elros, Îbal, Írildë, King of Númenor, King of the Númenóreans, Lady of the Star-brow, Lindórië, Line of Elros, Minastir, Nessanië, Noirinan, Nolondil, Oromendil, Prayer to Eru, Roots of the Pillar, Ruler of Númenor, Ruling Queen of Númenor, Sceptre of Númenor, Súrion, Tar-Anducal, Tar-Ardamin, Tar-Elestirnë, Tar-Herunúmen, Tar-Minastir, Tar-Míriel, Tar-Telperiën, Tar-Vanimeldë, Tarinya, Tarmasundar, The Farsighted, ‘The Mariner’s Wife’, The Unwilling, Tombs of the Kings, Uinendili, Valley of the Tombs, Wand of the Stewards, White House of Erendis Indexes: Alphabetical: N Alphabetical: Q Men About this entry: Updated 10 July 2018 Updates planned: 1 For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1999, 2001, 2009, 2018. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ. Website services kindly sponsored by Axiom Discovery aptitude and skill testing.Axiom Discovery gives you comprehensive online aptitude testing covering core skills across a wide range of disciplines.