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Black NmenreansIn J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, the Black Nmenreans were originally a part of the survivors from the mightiest human kingdom in the world, Nmenr, in the late Second Age. As their power and knowledge grew throughout the course of the Second Age, the Nmenreans became increasingly preoccupied with their mortality, But the fear of death grew ever darker upon them, and they delayed it by all means that they could; and they began to build great houses for their dead, while their wise men laboured unceasingly to discover if they might the secret of recalling life.. ('Akallabth' ~ The Silmarillion) This wish to escape death made most of them envious of the immortal Eldar, who sought ever to remind the men of Nmenr that death was a gift of Ulvatar, whose will could not be gainsaid. In S.A 2221, when Tar-Ancalimon became King of Nmenr; ..the people of Nmenr became divided. On the one hand was the greater party, and they were called the King's Men, and they grew proud and were estranged from the Valar and the Eldar. ('Akallabth' ~ The Silmarillion) The 'King's Men', ultimately became vulnerable to the corruption of Sauron, who ..naturally had the One Ring, and so very soon dominated the minds and wills of most of the Nmenreans. (Letters ~ No. 211) Eventually, in Nmenr's last years, its powerful and elderly King Ar-Pharazon, who had become "frightened of old age" (Letters ~ No.156), was seduced by Sauron ..back to the worship of the Dark, and of Melkor the Lord thereof, at first in secret, but ere long openly and in the face of his people. ('Akallabth' ~ The Silmarillion) The majority of Nmenreans - even those beyond Nmenr itself - quickly followed suit; ..for in the days of the sojourn of Sauron in that land the hearts of well nigh all its people had been turned towards darkness. Therefore many of those who sailed east in that time and made fortresses and dwellings upon the coasts were already bent to his will.. ('Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age' ~ The Silmarillion) These King's Men joined others already in Middle-earth, who had also become 'corrupted' by the time of the reign of Ar-Pharazon: The Men of Nmenr were settled far and wide on the shores and seaward regions of the Great Lands, but for the most part they fell into evils and follies. Many became enamoured of the Darkness and the black arts.. ('The Window on the West' ~ The Lord of the Rings) For many centuries after the Downfall, some descendants of the 'King's Men' held onto what became the most northerly and famous of their realms-in-exile, Umbar, although ..because of the power of Gil-galad these renegades, lords both mighty and evil, for the most part took up their abodes in the southlands far away. ('Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age' ~ The Silmarillion) Most of those few Nmenreans who had never envied the Eldar, and had always remained true to their beleif in Ulvatar, also survived the destruction of their homeland, and they established their own realms-in-exile north of Umbar, where previously had come ..only the Faithful of Nmenr, and many therefore of the folk of the coastlands in that region were in whole or in part akin to the Elf-freinds and the people of Elendil.. ('Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age' ~ The Silmarillion) After founding Gondor and Arnor these self-styled 'Faithful' Nmenreans saw their southern counterparts as renegades, calling them ..the Black Nmenreans; for they (had) established their dwellings in Middle-earth during the years of Sauron's domination, and they worshipped him, being enamoured of evil knowledge. ('The Black Gate Opens' ~ The Lord of the Rings) The Black Nmenreans held a similiarly low opinion of 'The Faithful' and their descendants, as ..they inherited without lessening their hatred of Gondor. ('Appendix A' ~ The Lord of the Rings). Two early Black Nmenrean lords are named from the time of the late Second Age: Herumor and Fuinur. Like all Black Nmenreans and 'King's Men' before them, Herumor and Fuinur desired power over men of other, lesser races, and they "rose to (great) power amongst the Haradrim", the peoples neighbouring Umbar. Their fate is unknown, but they likely shared Sauron's defeat at the hands of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. The Black Nmenrean style of governing was no doubt tyrannical, but may also have involved a tradition of duumviracy, at least in Umbar, whose lords are usually paired when mentioned; Herumor/Fuinur for example, were probably rulers of Umbar, as much later Angamaite/Sangahyando were. Whatever political system was in place, however, the Black Nmenreans did not govern effectively; ..some were given over wholly to idleness and ease, and some fought amongst themselves, until they became conquered in their weakness by the wild men. ('The Window on the West' ~ The Lord of the Rings) The triumph of the Last Alliance marked the decline of the Black Nmenrean race and the end of their racial superiority; After the fall of Sauron their race swiftly dwindled or became merged with the Men of Middle-earth.. ('Appendix A' ~ The Lord of the Rings). Nevertheless, a Black Nmenrean elite survived at least in Umbar for over a thousand years after Nmenr's fall, maintaining much influence in Haradwaith. As late as 1015 T.A., for example, even after being exiled from their homeland for nearly a century; ..the Men of Harad, led by the lords that had been driven from Umbar, came up with great power against that stronghold.. (from 'Appendix A' of 'The Lord of the Rings'). The Black Nmenreans did not use Westron, but probably retained their old tongue Adnaic, speaking a dialect of it. (In The Notion Club Papers, part of Sauron Defeated, Arundel Lowdham cited two descendants of classical Adnaic. One of these must have been Westron, the other the tongue of the Black Nmenreans (Black Adnaic?). The Black Nmenreans are absent from recorded history after their defeat by Ciryaher in T.A 1050., but a population of sorts must have survived somewhere at least until the end of the Third Age, as The Mouth of Sauron, who mocked the army of King Elessar in front of the Morannon was described both as a Black Nmenrean and "Renegade", which is presumably the term used by the Free Peoples of that time to describe all folk of similiar ancestry. In one of his letters, Tolkien wrote that Queen Berthiel, wife of Gondor's King Tarannon Falastur was a Black Nmenrean. This was a loveless union, and so was presumaby a political accommodation: that such arrangements were possible implies the existence at that time of more Gondor-friendly Black Nmenreans than the much later Mouth Of Sauron. Three of the immortal Ringwraiths were of Nmenrean race, but whether they can be considered Black Nmenreans is uncertain: they served or perhaps worshipped Sauron, but their origins predate Nmenrs fall by around 1000 years.
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