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01-09-2007, 04:12 AM | #1 | |
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
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Ship of the Dark
In Tal-Elmar, one of the unfinished tales in Peoples of Middle-Earth (HoME XII), Hazad, a middle-earthian man, tells his son Tal-Elmar about Númenóreans' dark ships. He says:
Quote:
Or did the Númenóreans really "kidnap" some of the wild men? If yes, why? In my opinion they probably did, since "there's no smoke without fire" and I don't think some wild men would have just fabricated the story. But surely they didn't eat them or sacrifice them, that was most probably superstition and fear from the wildmen's side that caused such rumours. But what did they do with them then? Did Númenóreans have slaves? If yes, then I think they were taken as slaves. But shouldn't this all be against the Númenóreans' high sense of morale? I admit they thought they were lords of everything and "better" than the middle-earthians, but still... Can we actually compare Númenóreans with European colonialists? Any thoughts on this?
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01-09-2007, 05:47 AM | #2 |
Byronic Brand
Join Date: Mar 2005
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Well, I think if we are dealing with the latter days of Numenor, then the captives almost certainly were sacrificed in Sauron's cult, offerings to Melkor, the Giver of Freedom...
Unpleasant, and thought-provoking, and an excellent rebuke to any who see Tolkien as any form of colonialist or, insipid word, racist.
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01-09-2007, 07:00 AM | #3 |
A Mere Boggart
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Lommy, that's an excellent find!
Well, it could be any number of things that were going on. All that is known is that these people were taken away never to be seen again, and understandably, those who remained have constructed a horrific tale (which could even be true). It's also interesting as its very reminiscent of the slave trade, and if indeed Tolkien was drawing on that dark period of history then it's fantastic as even today a lot of the 'establishment' struggle or indeed refuse to acknowledge the part that millions of innocent victims played in the building of an empire. The 'black wings' are interesting - did this refer to actual wings, wing-like structures or the sails?
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01-09-2007, 08:05 AM | #4 | |||
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
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Quote:
Quote:
Lal, I guess the black wings refer to the sails, since the passage continues as: Quote:
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Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill I will conquer Blood is running deep, some things never sleep Double Fenris
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01-09-2007, 08:28 AM | #5 | |||
Cryptic Aura
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 5,996
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There's a later passage as well which seems to identify the black wings as sails.
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It's a fascinating little tale, especially with the story of Tal-elmar's mother, who clearly is a captive slave taken in marriage against her will. She has been kidnapped and taken away from a husband and first child. The story suggests that this 'marriage' is a preferable state to what usually happened to slaves. Quote:
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01-10-2007, 03:42 AM | #6 |
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
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I love the whole story of Tal-Elmar. Tolkien is often accused of a black-and-white worldview, but Tal-Elmar certainly makes the picture more gray. The pre-Pharazon () Númenóreans are portarayed somewhat ideal good (though they might have some little faults), but Tal-Elmar shows there's another side to them. It doesn't glorify the wild men of Middle-Earth either: Tal-Elmar's grandmother/mother (Tolkien varied their relationship and it was left a bit unclear who she was) was taken captive by the wildmen and forced to marry one of them, and as Bethberry says, that was gentle fate for one that was taken as slave.
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Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill I will conquer Blood is running deep, some things never sleep Double Fenris
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