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appendix a 1357
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 then the greatest armament that the world had seen,
and when all was ready he sounded his trumpets and set sail;
and he broke the Ban of the Valar, going up with war to wrest
everlasting life from the Lords of the West. But 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); 1 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. 2 Elendil was the High King and dwelt in the North at
Annúminas; and the rule in the South was committed to his
sons, Isildur and Anárion. They founded there Osgiliath,
between Minas Ithil and Minas Anor, 3 not far from the confines
of Mordor. For this good at least they believed had come out of
ruin, that Sauron also had perished.
But it was not so. Sauron was indeed 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, a spirit of hatred
borne upon a dark wind. He was unable ever again to assume a
form that seemed fair to men, but became black and hideous,
and his power thereafter was through terror alone. He re-entered
Mordor, and hid there for a time in silence. But his anger was
great when he learned that Elendil, whom he most hated, had
escaped him, and was now ordering a realm upon his borders.
Therefore, after a time he made war upon the Exiles, before
they should take root. Orodruin burst once more into flame, and
1 p. 779; p.1273.
2 p. 316.
3 p. 318.