Akallabeth: Did Eru and the Valar know?

[Arvedui]

A thought struck me the other day, as I was re-reading some book from my favourite author:

When Sauron and the Númenóreans prepared for the assault on Valinor, did Eru and the Valar know what they were up to?

If they did: why wasn't something done to prevent the loss of so many lives, to counter Sauron and show the Númenóreans what was wrong and what was right??

If they didn't know: then what sort of Lords of the West were they really? Were they simply not paying attention?

 

[Confusticated]

I would think Manwe at least saw it coming, but I can't recall anything in the texts that makes this clear. Amandil apparantly thought they would not. Did he have a reason to think that?

But, just what could the Valar have done to counter Sauron and show the Numeoreans what was right? If there was a quick-fix, shouldn't they have done it long before? Back when the shadow first began to fall on the people?

Numenor did not trust the Valar, and had the Valar come with an army to get Sauron, wouldn't Ar-Pharazon have seen them coming and thought (doubtless Sauron would also tell him this) that the Valar or Eldar were going to attack Numenor before it had a chance to strike first? And wouldn't Pharaon then rush out to battle? And what then would the host of the Valar do, being under attack?

Of course, this is just one idea. Who knows what they might have been able to do to stop Sauron.

But the way I see it,they must have known Sauron would poison the Numenoreans. It would have really come down their word vs. Sauron's word. Most of Numenor (and importantly, the king) did not trust the Valar. Sauron told the king what he wanted to hear. Who would Ar-pharazon have believed?

 

[Inderjit S]

I think any attempt to do so would have been futile. The Númenóreans were blinded by their Morgoth worship and anti-Valarin sentiments. They wanted immortality etc. They should have known better and they scoffed at any of Manwë’s previous messengers.

I think any conciliatory gestures by the Valar would have been ineffective since they could not give the Númenóreans what they wanted: immortality.