Tar-Minastir sent aid to Gil-galad... or DID he?

[Valandil]

The Appendix B entries in LOTR tell us that the War of the Elves and Sauron began in 1693 of the Second Age. In 1700, the entry says that Tar-Minastir sent a great navy to Lindon and that Sauron was defeated. Then for 1701, it says that Sauron was driven out of Eriador and that the Westlands had peace for a long time.

However, according to 'The Line of Elros' in 'Unfinished Tales', Tar-Minastir was not King of Numenor in 1700. The last sentence of the account on him reads:

"He was born in the year 1474 and ruled for 138 years; he surrendered the sceptre in 1869, and died in 1873."

That would mean that he began his rule in 1731 (which agrees with the UT account of Queen Tar-Telperien, his predecessor on the throne) - which was after the War between Sauron and the Elves, so that he ruled from 1731 to 1869.

My understanding had always been that it was Tolkien's intent that Tar-Minastir was actually king at the time of this war, not acting as regent for Tar-Telperien (he was her nephew - for she remained unwed).

Has anyone ever noticed this / discussed this before (I tried a search but didn't see it)? Is it a big deal? I understand too that more credence is often given to those portions of work published during Tolkien's life, but in this case, the essay, 'The Line of Elros' seems to have been rather pain-stakingly worked out, and seems a cohesive whole, rather than fragments of manuscripts assembled together. Should this war be considered to have been a bit later than the App B entries? Or should the reigns and dates of the kings in this account from UT slide a bit to make a necessary adjustment?

Thoughts? Opinions? Other??

 

[Starbrow]

Maybe Tar-Minastir was the commander of the military before he became king.

 

[Maggot]

I have read Unfinished Tales and there is a few errors which Tolkien has overlooked . I mean who can blame him he had so much to check it seems it 's just an accident.
Unless Tar-Minastir sent aid to Gil-Galad behind his aunt's back unlikely but a suggestion.

 

[Annaheru]

In the akallabeth we are told that when Ar-Pharazon came back to Numenor from middle earth, he was a 'war hero'. The text indicates that he was a leader of Numenorean fighting forces by land and sea, if he could pursue wars under the reign of Tar-Palantir it seems probable Tar-Minastir could do the same, especially so considering that he was in line for the throne and Pharazon wasn't (he illegally married his cousin if you remember). Any way this example seems to indicate that commanders from the royal house had considerable military forces at their disposal

 

[Alcuin]

In footnote 9 of “The Line of Elros: in Unfinished Tales, Christopher Tolkien makes note of this discrepancy. Starbrow and Annaheru in their posts just preceding this one seem to me to be on the right track: Minastir was not yet king, and Tar-Telperion was still the second Ruling Queen. The easiest explanation – and one that I suspect cannot be demonstrated from the published work – is that Minastir led the force to Middle-Earth, or else he was acting in some capacity as regent for the expedition.

When Tar-Meneldur faced indecision in how to respond to Gil-galad’s request for assistance, he resigned in favor of Aldarion as a stroke of policy. Tar-Aldarion subsequently changed the law of succession to favor his daughter and only child, Ancalimë. Once enthroned, Tar-Ancalimë abandoned her father’s policies. She seems also to have been cruel: her granddaughters both disliked and feared her, and because they refused the scepter, “the Queen would not in revenge allow them marry.” (Unfinished Tales, “Aldarion and Erendis”) These two women would have been Tar-Telperion’s aunts: she must have known them well. Tar-Telperion’s father was the youngest child of Tar-Ancalimë’s son.

Tar-Ancalimë had been dead for 35 years when Telperion was born, but everyone Telperion knew growing up must have known the first Ruling Queen. With the kind of track record Tolkien lays out for Ancalimë, she cannot have been very popular in the royal family. (It is quite possible that visits to Aunt Silmariën and Uncle Valandil, and later their descendants, were welcome escapes from Tar-Ancalimë. (Silmariën was the eldest child of Tar-Aldarion’s grandfather, and had the law been then as Tar-Aldarion later changed it, Silmariën would have become the first Ruling Queen. Valandil was the Lord of Andúnië, and he and Silmariën were the direct ancestors of Elendil and Isildur.))

Let us suppose that Tar-Telperion is (1) aware of all this unhappiness, and she could hardly have missed it; (2) not really interested in military matters herself, which is (please pardon what some might consider a sexist comment) not all that unlikely, or in any case not thoroughly conversant with them; and (3) wise enough to realize that (a) repeating Tar-Meneldur’s strategic resignation would cause the court and council to recall the troubles that followed, and (b) she needed and clearly had at her disposal a ready and able military commander capable and willing to accomplish the task at hand: to wit, her nephew, Minastir.

So Minastir is entrusted with the power and authority to do whatever is necessary to prepare for and wage war in alliance with Gil-galad in Middle-Earth. That is no small undertaking: the Númenóreans had never before been to war. None of their ancestors had engaged in warfare on this scale for almost two millennia, since the end of the First Age. While the Númenóreans had been preparing for this for over 800 years (off and on: remember that Tar-Ancalimë neglected her father’s policy of alliance with Lindon), this was probably the largest project the Númenóreans had ever attempted until that time. In order to accomplish this, Tar-Telperion would almost certainly have invested her nephew Minastir with royal authority.

Besides the recent family history, which was pretty serious baggage (Erendis, Ancalimë’s mother, was never reconciled to Aldarion and apparently committed suicide; Ancalimë had a terrible marriage; Ancalimë seems to have been something far less than a loving mother, reflected in her remark about her son Anárion: "Must I become like Queen Almarian [Ancalimë’s grandmother], and dote upon him?"; she refused to permit Anárion’s granddaughters, Telperion’s aunts, to marry. In fact, Telperion refused to marry. In short, Ancalimë sounds like an unhappy and unpleasant person, however beautiful she may have been. The citation is from Unfinished Tales, “Aldarion and Erendis”, near the end), Tar-Telperion needed to consider the rule of her kingdom while the Númenórean expedition was at war in Middle-Earth.

The natural solution seems to me to make Minastir coregent for the purpose of waging war, while Tar-Telperion continued to rule Númenor. In the Third Age, King Narmacil I of Gondor made his nephew Minalcar Regent of Gondor (Karma-kundo, or 'Guardian of the Helm') for very different reasons. (Basically, Narmacil didn’t want to be bothered with ruling the kingdom, while Minalcar was a man of great vigor.) The relationship set forth by Tar-Telperion with her nephew and heir Minastir, and perhaps even the title Karma-kundo, might well have been the model that King Narmacil I used to elevate Minalcar. In any case, had Tar-Telperion pursued such a policy, she would have remained Ruling Queen while Minastir was effectively coregent preparing for and then waging war in Middle-Earth; compare that to Tar-Meneldur’s policy, when Tar-Aldarion returned to Middle-Earth after becoming king, with the result that Meneldur refused the regency in his son’s absence, and Hallatan of Hyarastorni became regent. (Hallatan’s son Hallacar became Ancalimë’s husband.) Remaining Queen and sending Minastir to do the hard job he probably wanted anyway would have been a much better solution for Tar-Telperion.

So, if you’re a Númenórean fourth-grader learning who built and sent the first great Númenórean fleet to aid Gil-galad, what will you be taught? That Tar-Telperion sent it, or that it was Tar-Minastir who sent the fleet? Before you answer, consider that Tar-Minastir had 140 years after his aunt died to be sure the history books properly covered his greatest achievement.

A final note: regents might well have become quite important in the later years of Númenor. As the rebellious Kings of Númenor refused to resign the throne or willingly lay down their lives, it is quite likely that there were some incapacitated – or mentally challenged – rulers sitting on Elros’ throne in Armenelos. While no mention is made of it, it is not hard to imagine that one or more of the Crown Princes might have exercised power as Regent while his father slowly slipped into oblivion.

 

[Valandil]

Alcuin - thanks for the thorough analysis! I guess we have to accept the 'regent' thing, even though, as you say, the published work does not support it.

I also see that you've just joined TTF! Welcome to a new member... who really knows his stuff!

 

[Alcuin]

Valandil, thank you.

The idea that Minastir was co-regent with his aunt Telperion is speculative. It fits the material Tolkien left behind, and I am pleased you think that it explains what would otherwise be an untidy error, as Maggot posted before us. It remains speculation unless someone at Marquette University or Bodleian Library in Oxford finds something like it in Tolkien’s papers. Otherwise, it is an untidy error that left us room to roam.