by Codex Regius
Umbar developed into the strongest and by far the most important of the Númenórean ports south of Anduin. During the dissension that arose when the Shadow fell on the motherland, it became the northernmost settlement of the King’s Men - those Númenóreans who stayed loyal to the Line of Elros. When Sauron tried to break the Númenórean grip on the shores of Middle-earth no longer by instigation but by force and decided ‘to assail the havens and forts of the Númenóreans, and invaded the coastlands under their dominion’ (YS), he found that ‘Umbar he could not yet take’ (HA).
Very naturally ‘it was there that Ar-Pharazon the Golden, last King of Númenor, … landed and humbled the might of Sauron.’ (KR) This historic event occurred in 3261 SA, and its majesty and tragic is worth to be quoted from the unedited sources:
‘The fleet came at last to that place that was called Umbar, where was a mighty haven that no hand had wrought. Empty and silent under a sickle moon was the land when the King of the Sea set foot upon the shore. For seven days he journeyed with banner and trumpet. … Then he sent forth heralds, and he commanded Sauron to come before him and swear to him fealty.’ (AK, HA) Because of this glorious, though Pyrrhic, victory, Umbar remained a symbol of Dúnedainic national pride ever after, even among Ar-Pharazôn’s political opponents.
Its fortifications did not protect Umbar against the enemies from inside, however. When Sauron was in Númenor, even this last and strongest haven fell at last under his sway. From now on, ‘many of those who sailed east … and made fortresses and dwellings upon the coasts were already bent to his will, and they served him still gladly in Middle-earth. But because of the power of Gil-galad [the King of Lindon] these renegades, lords both mighty and evil, for the most part took up their abodes in the southlands far away’, (AK) that is, south of the river Harnen and along the coasts of Harad.
It was only then that Umbar became ‘a stronghold of the King’s Men, who were afterwards called the Black Númenóreans’ (KR) and who ‘established their dwellings in Middle-earth during the years of Sauron’s domination, worshipped him, being enamoured of evil knowledge.’ (RK) Without doubt, they converted Umbar into the most important point of deportation for slaves and taxes that Númenor pressed out of the peoples on the continent. Its sinister rôle came to a rapid end when the mother island foundered.
The land-locked firth of Umbar had been Númenórean land since days of old
[1] Except for the notion that at least three of the Nazgûls were recruited from them.
[2] There was allegedly no relationship of this name to the Quenya word umbar ‘fate’ (SW), but the Númenóreans were no doubt aware of the similarity. Maybe the tengwa sign umbar was represented in the official device of the port?
We have no information on how and in what condition the port of Umbar may have survived the cataclysm of 3320. It is hardly conceivable that anything would have been left at all. Nor is there a plausible reason why Eru the One should have deliberately spared the King’s Men along the coasts of Harad while he drowned all those innocent slaves at the oars of Ar-Pharazôn’s great armada. Perhaps the reason is purely physical: the narrow exit of the firth may have protected Umbarlondë from the worst inundations inflicted upon Middle-earth.
For whatever reason, it is a fact that not only the Elendili and some of the Faithful on the continent (that is, in Pelargir) survived the cataclysm but also the King’s Men of Umbar who had been ‘corrupted by Sauron, and who hated above all the followers of Elendil.’ (KR) Even at the end of the Second Age, Umbar was still powerful enough to remain self-sustaining, though as a satellite of Mordor, when Sauron returned and ‘gathered to him great strength of his servants out of the east and the south.’ As he set forth with his troops to finally destroy the surviving Faithful and their Elvish allies in the War of the Last Alliance, ‘among them were not a few of the high race of Númenor.’ (RP)
3320 - 3441 SA: SAURONIAN PERIOD
The names of two supreme commanders have been recorded: ‘Herumor and Fuinur, who rose to power among the Haradrim’[1] (RP) and appeared on stage in 3429, during the War of the Last Alliance. It is not explicitly stated that they had come from Umbar. But its special strategic position given, it is quite likely that they did.
Their fate is unknown. Probably they remained on the battlefield.
[1] Though these may have been epithets rather than names. They are evidently Elvish, not Adûnaic, which would be uncommon among the King’s Men of Ar-Pharazôn’s age. And even among Black Númenóreans it seems unlikely that little boys would be called ‘Black Lord’ (Herumor, with mor as in Morgul) and ‘Servant of the Shadow’ (Fuinur, shortened from *Fuin-ndur).
Herumor and Fuinur, who rose to power among the Haradrim
The year 3441 SA had been disastrous for the Black Númenóreans. In the aftermath, their southern ‘settlements beyond Umbar had been absorbed [by the surrounding cultures of the Haradrim], or being made by men already in Númenor corrupted by Sauron had become hostile and parts of Sauron’s dominions.’ (TI) But Umbar recovered, and it grew greater than ever. The Haven was now no longer a satellite because nearby Mordor was desolate, but it had become a fully sovereign state. How far it extended its inland boundaries is not known, but since it was referred to as ‘the nearest of the southern realms’ in Gondor, its border may have stretched along the river Harnen as far as the Ephel Duath and maybe even Khand. That would have constituted a veritable third Realm in Exile which competed with fledgling Gondor and rivalled it in power. Unless inhospitable territory prevented those southern realms from expanding towards Harondor, that is. Some sketch maps of this part of Middle-earth suggest a desert in Near Harad; whether it was ultimately canonic or not cannot be told (see TI).
Unfortunately, we do not know how the Black Númenóreans perceived themselves. Gondor’s documents tell very little about the first millenium TA that may be unofficially attributed to the Ancient Realm of Umbar. This regrettable lack of information permits definite statements about the culture and traditions of Umbar, and nothing is known about the nature of the ‘evil knowledge’ that its loremasters allegedly had sought to gain from the Dark Lord. Some conjectures, though, may be possible.
3441 SA - 1050 TA: ANCIENT REALM
It is likely that Umbar was a very conservative society that struggled to observe the traditions come down to them from the late Second Age, like any isolated exclaves of that kind would do, and the last kings of Númenor were probably revered. The Black Númenóreans will have considered themselves the legitimate heirs of the aristocracy of Westernesse, regarding the Heirs of Elendil as usurpers. Remarkably, there was never a proclaimed King of Umbar. Some remote relatives of the Line of Elros may have claimed lordship but perhaps they anticipated the Ruling Stewardship of Gondor and preferred to rule in the name of Ar-Pharazôn ‘until the King returns to us’. It is noteworthy that the lords mentioned in the records came in pairs: Herumor and Fuinur, Angamaitë and Sangahyando. If this is evidence of a general tradition, Umbar may have been governed by a duumvirate like Carthage had two mayors or the Roman Republic two consuls.
It is obvious that the Black Númenóreans would not have exchanged their use of pure or Classical Adûnaic against the hybridised Adûnî (Westron) of the Elendili that had strongly absorbed Elvish influences. They will rather have clung to an old-fashioned Adûnaic as their language of lore and politics, until it developed into a distinct speech that might tentatively be called Black Adûnaic. It may even have served for some time as a Harad equivalent of the Common Speech. This is supported by the observation that Arundel Lowdham had visions not of one but of two Third Age derivations of Classical Adûnaic, and he gave the words for sun and moon in both of them (NC)[1]. If one of these descendants was Westron, then the other may very well have been Black Adûnaic.
A rather surprising notion is that the Black Númenóreans treated ethnic minorities in a much more liberal fashion than Númenor or the northern two Realms in Exile would. The Line of Elros had inbred f
or many generations; Gondor took meticulous care that the ethnic purity of its royal heirs was maintained and even Aragorn referred with distinct pride to his linear descent from Isildur and the early kings of Arnor. The lords of Umbar did not entertain such nationalist considerations. Hence, ‘after the Fall of Sauron, their race swiftly dwindled or became merged with the Men of Middle-earth’, (KR, IV) as a Gondorian chronicler scornfully sneered. This was written in the same spirit that had spawned the Kin-strife!
It is doubtful what the Black Númenóreans had really done to provoke the final clash with their northern neighbour before 1050. The general accusation that they ‘hated above all the followers of Elendil’ (KR) is too vague to allow conclusions and does not even suggest practical consequences beyond keeping the borders shut. And a rather curious remark in the Red Book of Westmarch may even indicate that the lords of Umbar had been wise enough to recognise the supremacy of Osgiliath even before the war of 1050: ‘In those days our bounds were away south beyond the mouths of Anduin, and Umbar, the nearest of their realms, acknowledged our sway.’ (TT) This indicates that, contrary to some claims, there were at times dealings between Gondor and the Ancient Realm of Umbar on a friendlier level. These conditions allowed one aristocrat from ‘the nearest of their realms’ to even become queen of Gondor.
The betrothal of crown-prince Tarannon (654 - 913 TA) with Berúthiel[2] was no doubt a diplomatic move, arranged by his father Siriondil to create ties between the two Realms in Exile. The marriage was not happy, though. Despite her origins from a seafaring nation, Berúthiel resembled the Númenórean queen Erendis insofar as she ‘loathed the smell of the sea, and fish, and the gulls. Rather like Skadi, the giantess, who came to the gods in Valhalla, demanding a recompense for the accidental death of her father … after she’d married [Njörd, the sea-god], she got absolutely fed up with the seaside life, and the gulls kept her awake, and finally she went back to live in Jotunheim. Well, Berúthiel went back to live in the inland city [of Osgiliath], and went to the bad (or returned to it—she was a black Númenorean in origin, I guess).’[3] Which is an equivocal statement that Berúthiel was a native of Umbar.
It was further said that ‘Berúthiel lived in the King’s House in Osgiliath, hating the sounds and smells of the sea and the house that Tarannon built below Pelargir “upon arches whose feet stood deep in the wide waters of Ethir Anduin;” she hated all making, all colours and elaborate adornment, wearing only black and silver and living in bare chambers, and the gardens of the house in Osgiliath were filled with tormented sculptures beneath cypresses and yews. She had nine black cats and one white, her slaves, with whom she conversed, or read their memories, setting them to discover all the dark secrets of Gondor, so that she knew those things “that men wish most to keep hidden,” setting the white cat to spy upon the black, and tormenting them. No man in Gondor dared touch them; all were afraid of them, and cursed when they saw them pass.’ (TI)
Tarannon occupied himself with extending ‘the sway of Gondor far along the shore-lands on either side of the Mouths of Anduin.’ (HE) Upon ascension to the throne he stylised himself Falastur, ‘Lord of the Coasts’, and he became the first of the four ‘Ship-kings’. The ill-fortuned link between the aristocracies of Gondor and Umbar, though, let him refuse the consummation of the marriage, and he remained childless. The line of succession was for the first time disrupted.
Ultimately, Berúthiel’s ‘name was erased from the Book of the Kings (“but the memory of men is not wholly shut in books, and the cats of Queen Berúthiel never passed wholly out of men’s speech”), and … King Tarannon had her set on a ship alone with her cats and set adrift on the sea before a north wind. The ship was last seen flying past Umbar under a sickle moon, with a cat at the masthead and another as a figure-head on the prow.’ (TI) Seen by whom? Who gave that report? Umbar was still a sovereign nation, yet the Black Númenóreans casually reported to Osgiliath that they had witnessed their lady of old passing by?
Gondor’s view of the third Realm in Exile was at that time clearly ambiguous, and the Black Númenóreans were not generally enemies. But this relationship cooled down after the incident with Berúthiel. The ambitions of the next Ship-kings were partially driven by public sentiment for the Firth of Umbar and its historical significance, for ‘even the followers of Elendil remembered with pride the coming of the great host of Ar-Pharazôn out of the deeps of the Sea.’ (KR, IV). The descendants of ‘the great host’ were now called ‘renegades’ (RP), and Gondor turned aggressive against them.
We do not know which event provoked the war or how Gondorian authorities justified it. In 933 TA, Falastur’s nephew ‘Eärnil I. … laid siege by sea and land to Umbar, and took it, and it became a great harbour and fortress of the power of Gondor. But Eärnil did not long survive his triumph. He was lost [in 936 TA] with many ships and men in a great storm off Umbar.’ (KR, IV)
She hated the sounds and smells of the sea
Gondor had seized the heart of the Ancient Realm. But not yet all the third Realm in Exile. The dethroned Black Númenórean aristocracy (many of which must have been kinsmen of Berúthiel) escaped into the kingdoms of Near Harad that probably had been not only allies but tributary subjects.
From there, they ‘contested the designs of Gondor to occupy the coast-lands beyond R[iver] Harnen’ (HE). With much patience, to be honest: They spent a full 82 years configuring their forces, until in the year 1015, ‘the Men of the Harad, led by the lords that had been driven from Umbar, came up with great power against that stronghold, and Ciryandil fell in battle in Haradwaith’ (KR, IV) or, as other sources say, ‘in the siege of Umbar’ (TY).
However, Gondor was in full control of the sea-routes and could, hence, easily replenish the defensive forces. They held Umbar till 1050 TA. ‘For many years Umbar was invested, but could not be taken because of the sea-power of Gondor.’ In the end, ‘Ciryaher … utterly defeated the Men of the Harad, and their kings were compelled to acknowledge the overlordship of Gondor (1050).’
This was the final collapse of the Ancient Realm of Umbar.
[1] See Codex Regius: ‘Words of Westernesse’, 2014.
[2] Another Black Númenórean known only by a name in Elvish..
[3] Interview, quoted in: Castell, D.: The Realms of Tolkien, 1966 http://www.festivalintheshire.com/journal1bdx/inttolkien.html
Umbar became a great fortress and haven of fleets
In the early 2nd millenium, Gondor ‘occupied all the land south of the Mouths of Anduin up to the River Harnen and the borders of Near Harad; and also all the coast-lands as far as Umbar. / Umbar became a great fortress and haven of fleets.’ (HE) The Ship-kings left no doubt that they had come to Umbar with the intention to stay. To acknowledge the patriotic feelings for Ar-Pharazôn’s great landing among their own people, ‘on the highest hill of the headland above the Haven they … set a great white pillar as a monument. It was crowned with a globe of crystal that took the rays of the Sun and of the Moon and shone like a bright star that could be seen in clear weather even on the coasts of Gondor or far out upon the western sea.’ (KR) This marvel should outline and illuminate the southern border of the vast Southern Kingdom for 400 years.
What had happened to the Black Númenóreans? Shall we assume that the Gondorians committed war atrocities, killing off the Kings’ Men down to the last woman or new-born and then repopulating an ethnically cleansed fortress? Or was there a local population left that indeed ‘acknowledged our sway’ and mingled with the conquerors so that plenty of ‘pure-bred’ Gondorians were in fact of partly Sauronian origin? At any rate, the Black Númenóreans vanish from the annals, safe for one very late and very peculiar incident to reveal that as a nation, they had survived.
1050 - 1448 TA: GONDORIAN PERIOD
Umbar’s star began to rise again as that of Gondor began to wane. In the 15th century, ‘there was already rebellion in the southern provinces’. (KR, IV) During the Kin-strife of 1432-1448, for which Umbar was not respons
ible, the pro-Dúnedainic nationalist Castamir ‘was supported by the people of the coasts and the great havens of Pelargir and Umbar.’ (KR, IV) It is remarkable that the nationalist faction had such a powerful base in Umbar since the locals had ‘become much mixed in blood through admission of Men of Harad’. (HE) Is their support for Castamir not a sign that the Black Númenóreans considered themselves truer-blooded Dúnedain than the Elendili?
The end of the Gondorian Period came after Eldacar had regained the throne of Osgiliath and Castamir ‘was slain … in battle in Lebennin, at Ethraid Erui’. (HE) For ‘Castamir’s sons escaped, and with others of their kin and many people of the fleets they held out long at Pelargir. When they had gathered all the force that they could (for Eldacar had no ships to beset them at sea) they sailed away, and established themselves at Umbar. There they made a refuge for all the enemies of the king, and a lordship independent of his crown.’ (KR, IV)
Castamir’s sons escaped, and held out long at Pelargir
By one strike, Gondor had lost most of its naval power. After Umbar had officially seceded from the Southern Kingdom, the Castamirioni, or successors of Castamir, used the captured fleets so effectively that they became known as the Corsairs of Umbar, ‘similar to the Mediterranean corsairs: sea-robbers with fortified bases’. (GN) And not only Umbar had seceded. Also ‘the region of South Gondor became a debatable land between the Corsairs and the Kings.’ (KR, IV)