History and Conspiracy by Himring

Chapter 1

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‘I have a Theory,’ young Barahir announced.

Ivriniel was so glad that she had decided to make the trip to Minas Tirith this spring. Almost she had decided she was too old and weary to travel. To think she would have missed this young relative and his Theories, which had already afforded her so much entertainment during her stay!

‘Another Theory?’ she asked. ‘About what?’

‘Nay,’ said Barahir, ‘you should ask: about whom!’

‘About whom, then?’

‘Tar-Vanimelde!’

‘Vanimelde?’ It had not occurred to her that this lady might lend herself to a Theory. Previous Theories had involved more obvious subjects or at any rate had seemed closer to home.

‘The Queen of Numenor! You do know the story…’

‘The third Ruling Queen of Numenor,’ said Ivriniel, humouring him. ‘She loved music and dance and left the business of ruling to her husband Herucalmo, who was a cousin…’

‘So we are meant to think,’ said Barahir, portentously.

‘Meant to?’ asked Ivriniel. She had a first inkling where Barahir might be heading but, rather than guessing, was willing to let herself be surprised.

‘How much do we know about the descendants of Tar-Atanamir’s other children?’ asked Barahir, dramatically. ‘What proof have we that Herucalmo’s branch of the family really existed?’

‘Why none,’ said Ivriniel, reasonably. ‘If there were any documents at all about them surviving by the reign of Pharazon, they are now at the bottom of the sea floor.’

‘Exactly! So Herucalmo’s descent could be pure invention.’

‘To be sure! But something tells me that you would be less excited if your Theory was just that Tar-Vanimelde ennobled a base-born lover by means of a made-up lineage so that she could marry him, I think?’

‘That may be what people believed at the time, those who were not in the know!’

‘So what else do you think Vanimelde was concealing about Herucalmo?’

Barahir leant forward toward her over the table, as if there was a chance that their conversation could be overheard by time-traveling Numenorean spies, and whispered: ‘Vanimelde herself was Herucalmo!’

Ivriniel blinked. Ah, he had indeed succeeded in surprising her!

‘She herself was Herucalmo?! I do not understand! Explain it to me, please, Barahir!’

‘But it makes perfect sense, Great-Aunt! Don’t you see? The accounts of the previous reigns all hint that, despite the change in the law of inheritance under Aldarion, the Numenoreans were making it difficult for princesses to succeed and to hang onto their power, once they had succeeded. Think of all that sour disapproval in the sources on the reign of Ancalime, who clearly was a strong queen. Telperien does garner less obvious criticism, but it seems she may not have been able to afford to marry, if she wanted to stay in power, and there is that murky business of contradictory dates with regard to the succession of her nephew Minastir… And then there are the princesses, those who so conveniently refused the sceptre and those who don’t even get mentioned!’

‘And this was, somehow, Vanimelde’s way of dealing with that?’

‘She made the discovery she could be two people. When she was being Vanimelde, she could be as feminine as was expected of her, indulge artists and dance the night through. And when she dressed up as a man, she was Herucalmo and she could rule and enforce her will on those around her and be obeyed, in a way she never would have been if she had tried fluttering her eyelashes and her fan at them. We hear that Herucalmo was younger than Vanimelde. Of course, Vanimelde, even when acting, would not have as deep a voice or sport a beard…’

‘Barahir, what an ingenious theory!’

Barahir preened like a peacock.

‘Isn’t it? It was the mention that she was fond of acting and actors that made me think of it! And then it seemed to explain so much!’

She hated to spoil his fun, but she did have to raise a few objections, for history’s sake.

‘But, Barahir, Vanimelde and Herucalmo had a son. How could they have descendants if they were one and the same person?’

Barahir coughed and raised a hand to smother a grin behind it.

‘Oh, Great-Aunt, one doesn’t have to be married to produce a child!’

‘So you believe Alcarin was illegitimate? I don’t think that would have been so easy to get past the Council! And even granted the matter of Alcarin’s birth, the records say Vanimelde died before her husband whereupon Herucalmo usurped the crown that was rightfully his son’s for twenty years! What do you make of that, then, Barahir?’

Barahir stopped smiling.

‘I guess the double role may have become too difficult to sustain? She had to become a man all the time to retain power.’

Where before he had been almost too bouncy, Ivriniel felt, considering the subject matter he was talking about, he had become unexpectedly solemn now, as if he had discovered real sympathy in himself with that ancient Queen’s plight, thousands of years ago, even if it was his own invention—well, some of the problems he had identified were real enough!

‘It would explain why we do not hear of any resistance on the part of her son Alcarin against the usurper,’ Barahir added.

‘It might,’ she conceded.

‘You don’t believe me, do you?’ Barahir said with a certain chagrin.

‘Well, you have explained away some of my objections rather neatly,’ said Ivriniel, ‘and it’s true that we know so little about this period of Numenor’s history that things could have happened there is no hint about in the records. But, still, you know—Elves.’

‘Elves,’ repeated Barahir, confused. ‘What have they got to do with it?’

‘There was still some contact between Numenor and the Elves at this time,’ said Ivriniel. ‘Granted, that even then Elves were quite prone to minding their own affairs rather than those of Men, but they did take an interest in Elros’s descendants. The very Queen of Numenor herself? I think, if Vanimelde and Herucalmo were the same person, they would have noticed. And I think if they had noticed, we would have learned of it.’

‘Oh,’ said Barahir, crestfallen. ‘Unless Vanimelde persuaded them to keep it quiet?’ he added, stubbornly, but not very hopefully.

‘What would she have had to offer them, to sustain the conspiracy even after her death?’ Ivriniel asked. ‘It really was a very clever theory, Barahir,’ she said comfortingly. ‘I just don’t think it’s all that likely…’

She felt a little guilty at his evident disappointment, but not too much. Barahir was young. He would have a new Theory by next week at the least, if not already tomorrow.

She felt sadder and soberer than she expected to, however, after he had left. Entertaining and invigorating as she found it to argue history with Finduilas’s great-grandson, today’s choice of subject seemed to have resonated with her in a way she had not expected. It reminded her of the time when she herself had begun doing research on Numenorean inheritance laws and the Queens of Numenor, when she was young.

What had driven her at the time was the realization that although it was she who was the firstborn child of Adrahil, there had never been any doubt that Imrahil would inherit Dol Amroth. Her research on Numenorean law and practice could change nothing about that, though, and she knew it even then. Dor-en-Ernil had always descended strictly in the male line, as far back as the beginnings of that line could be traced, and invoking Aldarion’s law of succession would move neither her father nor the Steward in Minas Tirith, and indeed nobody else. Studying the past, reading about Ancalime and Telperien, did little, at first, but accentuate her sense of unfairness, both of the present and the past.

Nevertheless, her research had led her to her true passion, her life’s work as Keeper of Records and Archivist of Dol Amroth. She had not envied Imrahil some of his battles as Prince of Dol Amroth at all. And when King Elessar had ascended the throne, it was his eldest sister that Imrahil asked to search the records of Dol Amroth and Minas Tirith for any written documents that could be used to support the new king’s succession, to match those that Lord Elrond had brought from Imladris, while their nephew Faramir was engaged with all the damage done to Minas Tirith during the Siege.

Such documents were not needed for the people of the City, of course, who already adored Elessar, Hero and Healer, but some of the nobles of Gondor had been less easy to convince and Elessar could use what support he could get. Beside her knowledge of the history of the Numenorean succession, she had also been able to produce Gondorian copies of the correspondence between Pelendur and Arvedui to their satisfaction. Her small moment—when she had not only studied history but contributed to it. Elessar had thanked her for it.

A long, long time since, as a young girl, she had found herself facing an insurmountable wall of male privilege. She had made a good life for herself in the cracks. But maybe she should talk to young Barahir some more, the next time he came, tease him less, perhaps, and try to nurture his budding sympathy for the struggles of women…

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Chapter End Notes

 

Some of the observations about the problems of Numenorean queens and princesses are strongly influenced by discussions seen on Tumblr, in particular the suggestion that pressure may have been exerted on princesses not to accept the sceptre.
As far as I know nobody has come up with such a conspiracy theory about Tar-Vanimelde as Barahir's (and my own theory about her and her motivations is in fact a different one). Apart from the prompt, it's inspired by the plot of a play by Brecht, The Good Person of Szechwan. Also, the connection with Mary Beard made me think of Hatshepsut.
Apart from that, the canonical confusion about Minastir's regnal dates is a real one, but probably unconnected.

Readers' mileage on this may vary, but I'm taking it that the history of Aragorn and Arwen that Barahir later wrote was sympathetic to Arwen, perhaps even more so in the original full version than the condensed version we find in Appendix A of Lord of the Rings.