Ban of the Valar

The Ban of the Valar was the central divine law governing the Númenórean kingdom, a prohibition that defined the limits of mortal ambition in the Second Age. It was not a punishment but a condition of the gift of Númenor itself, granted to the Edain as a reward for their suffering in the wars against Morgoth. The Valar, the Guardians of the World, removed the Edain from the dangers of Middle-earth and gave them a great Isle, Elenna, westernmost of all mortal lands. There they founded the realm of Númenor, and from its high mountain, the Meneltarma, the far-sighted could descry the white tower of the Haven of the Eldar in Eressëa. The Eldar came to the Edain and enriched them with knowledge and many gifts, but one command had been laid upon the Númenóreans: they were forbidden to sail west out of sight of their own shores or to attempt to set foot on the Undying Lands. For though a long span of life had been granted to them, in the beginning thrice that of lesser Men, they must remain mortal, since the Valar were not permitted to take from them the Gift of Men (or the Doom of Men, as it was afterwards called).

The Nature and Purpose of the Ban

The Ban was rooted in the fundamental distinction between the mortal race of Men and the immortal Eldar. The Valar had granted the Edain a land removed from the perils of Middle-earth, but they could not alter the essential nature of Men. The prohibition against sailing west was therefore not arbitrary but a necessary boundary, preserving the order of the world. The Númenóreans were permitted to explore all the seas eastward, and they became great mariners, but the waters of the West were forbidden. This restriction was accepted by the early kings, but as the centuries passed and the Númenóreans grew in power and splendour, a shadow fell upon them. They began to yearn for the West and the forbidden waters, and the more joyful their life became, the more they began to long for the immortality of the Eldar. The first sign of this shadow appeared in the days of Tar-Minastir, the eleventh king, who loved the Eldar but envied them. After Minastir, the kings became greedy of wealth and power, and the Númenóreans, who had once come to Middle-earth as teachers and friends, now established fortresses and held wide coastlands in subjection. Tar-Atanamir was the first king who spoke openly against the Ban, declaring that the life of the Eldar was his by right. Thus the shadow deepened, and the thought of death darkened the hearts of the people.

The Rebellion and the Breaking of the Ban

The division among the Númenóreans grew ever sharper. On one side were the Kings and those who followed them, estranged from the Eldar and the Valar; on the other were the few who called themselves the Faithful, who lived mostly in the west of the land. The Kings and their followers little by little abandoned the use of the Eldarin tongues, and at last the twentieth king took his royal name in Númenórean form, calling himself Ar-Adûnakhôr, 'Lord of the West'. This seemed ill-omened to the Faithful, for hitherto they had given that title only to one of the Valar, or to the Elder King himself. Ar-Adûnakhôr began to persecute the Faithful and punished those who used the Elven-tongues openly, and the Eldar came no more to Númenor. The power and wealth of the Númenóreans nonetheless continued to increase, but their years lessened as their fear of death grew, and their joy departed. Tar-Palantir attempted to amend the evil, but it was too late, and there was rebellion and strife in Númenor. When he died, his nephew, the leader of the rebellion, seized the sceptre and became King Ar-Pharazôn. Ar-Pharazôn the Golden was the proudest and most powerful of all the Kings, and no less than the kingship of the world was his desire. He resolved to challenge Sauron the Great for supremacy in Middle-earth and at length set sail with a great navy, landing at Umbar. So great was the might and splendour of the Númenóreans that Sauron's own servants deserted him, and Sauron humbled himself, doing homage and craving pardon. Then Ar-Pharazôn, in the folly of his pride, carried him back as a prisoner to Númenor. It was not long before Sauron had bewitched the King and was master of his counsel, and soon he had turned the hearts of all the Númenóreans, except the remnant of the Faithful, back towards the darkness. Sauron lied to the King, declaring that everlasting life would be his who possessed the Undying Lands, and that the Ban was imposed only to prevent the Kings of Men from surpassing the Valar. 'But great Kings take what is their right,' he said. At length Ar-Pharazôn listened to this counsel, for he felt the waning of his days and was besotted by the fear of Death. He prepared the greatest armament that the world had seen, and when all was ready he sounded his trumpets and set sail, breaking the Ban of the Valar, going up with war to wrest everlasting life from the Lords of the West.

The Consequences of the Transgression

When Ar-Pharazôn set foot upon the shores of Aman the Blessed, the Valar laid down their Guardianship and called upon the One, and the world was changed. Númenor was thrown down and swallowed in the Sea, and the Undying Lands were removed for ever from the circles of the world. So ended the glory of Númenor. The last leaders of the Faithful, Elendil and his sons, escaped from the Downfall with nine ships, bearing a seedling of Nimloth and the Seven Seeing-stones, gifts of the Eldar to their House, and they were borne on the wind of a great storm and cast upon the shores of Middle-earth. There they established in the North-west the Númenórean realms in exile, Arnor and Gondor. Sauron was caught in the wreck of Númenor, so that the bodily form in which he long had walked perished, but he fled back to Middle-earth as a spirit of hatred borne upon a dark wind, unable ever again to assume a form that seemed fair to men. The Ban of the Valar thus stands as the defining prohibition of the Second Age, whose violation brought about the ruin of the greatest kingdom of Men and the permanent alteration of the physical world, separating the Undying Lands from the circles of Middle-earth for ever.