The Second Age Read Along - Part 1 - Week 1: LotR: Appendix A and B

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#What we’re reading today

Welcome to the Second Age read-along! We’re starting off with some of the most widespread material from Tolkien’s Second Age, two passages from the Appendices of the Lord of the Rings. These can almost always be found in the back of the Return of the King, although you should double check to make sure your edition has the Appendices.

• Appendix A - I The Númenórean Kings - (i) Númenor

  This is at the beginning of Appendix A. Read until the words "So ended the Second Age." and do not start "(ii) The Realms in Exile"

• Appendix B - The Second Age

  This is at the beginning of Appendix B. Read until the words "The Second Age ends." Do not start "The Third Age".

#Resources

Family Trees:

These trees reflect just the texts we’re reading, and therefore have quite a few oversimplifications. We’ll learn a lot more details in later weeks.

• The parentage of Elrond and Elros, as told in Appendix A
• The Kings of Númenor, as told in Appendixes A and B

Maps:

From The Atlas of Middle-earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad:

• Overall map of the Second Age
• Relocation of Refugees (at the end of the first age)
• Advent of the Dark Years

From Amazon:

• Amazon’s map of the early Second Age

#Before you read

Both of these sections begin with brief summaries of the First Age, and it might seem like there are a lot of names and facts being thrown at you. Reference is made to The Silmarillion (which we will not be reading) and to the Akallabêth (which is now published together with The Silmarillion, and we will be reading it next week). All that you really need to pick up from there is that some Men helped in the war against the Dark Lord Morgoth and were rewarded with the island of Númenor.

The Appendix A passage will give you something resembling a narrative focused on Númenor. The Appendix B passage is just a timeline, but it covers the events of Middle-earth as well.

Some helpful terms:

Valar = powers (have similarities to angels as well as Greek/Roman pantheon)

Eldar = Elves

Noldor, Sindar, Silvan = Specific groups of elves

Edain = Men (or more specifically, the three houses of men who helped wage war against Morgoth and their descendents, the Númenóreans)

#After you read

These passages gave a brief overview of most of the important events of the Second Age. Don't worry if you found it hard to keep track of everything, as a lot of the stuff encountered here will be dealt more in depth later.

Appendix A opened with a very brief synopsis of The Silmarillion, with special focus on the unions between Elves and Men. Then we talked more about Elrond and Elros and their choices and then got a brief synopsis of the Akallabêth (the official title for the story of Númenor’s downfall). We got a list of the various Númenórean kings and some short accounts of some of the more notable events in Númenor’s history, and their gradual descent. This was followed by a short account of the exiles setting up the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, along with the mention of the Last Alliance against Sauron.

Appendix B focused more on the Elves in Middle-earth. It opened with a description of how they dispersed at the beginning of the Age, and then switched to a timeline format, highlighting both events in Númenor and events pertaining to the wars between the elves and Sauron, as well as the forging of the Rings of Power.

The main sequence of events is such:

The Númenóreans were granted long life and a special island as a reward for their actions during the First Age, but they were forbidden to sail west to the Undying Lands (that’s where the Valar and some of the Elves live). They endured a golden age of technology and wisdom. Over time they became corrupted and started fearing death. In Middle-earth Sauron had taught the Elves how to make rings, then made his own and waged war with the Elves. The Númenóreans captured Sauron, and he eventually convinced them to break the ban and to sail west to attack Valinor. As punishment, Númenor was sunk under a tidal wave, but a few ships of faithful Númenóreans escaped to Middle-earth where they established kingdoms and eventually helped the Elves overthrow Sauron in the Last Alliance.

Next week we're going to move on to some passages found in The Silmarillion.

#Discussion questions

• There are references in Appendix A to things being “told in The Silmarillion” or “told in the Akallabêth”. Editions of these works are currently available, but at the time Appendix A was first published, they would not be available for another 22 years. If you’ve already read these works, do you feel that Tolkien’s synopsis does an adequate job? If you haven’t read them, do you feel satisfied by them?
• What should Ar-Pharazôn have done when Sauron surrendered?
• Did Elros or Elrond make the better decision, regarding whether to be tied to the fate of Men or Elves?
• Men’s mortality was given as a gift from Eru, to be separated from the fate of Arda. However, it became Númenor’s greatest fear and downfall. Do you think that mortality is a gift or a curse?
• Was Eru tempting Men by letting them be so close to immortality?
• A theme in The Lord of the Rings is the return of the rightful king to the throne of Gondor. How does knowing that Gondor was only a remnant of an even greater society change or add to this theme?