Tar-Míriel by Grundy

Tar-Míriel is a tragic figure in Númenórean history, known primarily from the Akallabêth. Born in the late Second Age on Númenor, she was heir to the Sceptre of Númenor. According to the Númenórean succession laws, she should have been the fourth Ruling Queen. However, she was usurped by her cousin Ar-Pharazôn. Forced into a marriage with him to bolster his claim, she lost not only the sceptre to him but her name and eventually her life.

Tolkien conceived of the tumultuous final years of Númenor fairly early in the development of his legendarium. Much of the Akallabêth remained unchanged as Tolkien expanded the stories of Arda, with Christopher Tolkien noting that roughly three-fifths of the second version of The Drowning of Anadûnê survived unchanged into the Akallabêth.¹

Míriel seems to have been thought of after Ar-Pharazôn, who appears in the early texts as Tarkalion. Tarkalion (or Tar-kalion, Tar-Calion, and eventually Ar-Pharazôn) falling under the sway of Sauron and attempting to thwart the Valar’s ban on sailing to Aman, thus bringing about the destruction of Númenor, appears even in very early versions of the story. His queen Tarilien is first only a name, but eventually her role in the story expands. While in the second version of the Fall of Númenor given in The Lost Road, Tarilien is seduced by Sauron’s promises along with her husband,² in later texts she becomes Míriel, the rightful but doomed queen of an equally doomed island.

Míriel’s name means "jewel-daughter". It is unclear if she was named after Míriel of the Noldor. If the naming was intentional on the part of her parents, it was sadly apt, as Tar-Míriel is also better known for her death than for her life.

By the time of Míriel’s birth, the people of Númenor were divided. The rift between the King’s Men, who spoke openly against the Valar, and the Faithful Elf-friends had begun over a millennium before.³ Since the time of Ar-Adûnakhôr, whose name was held by the Faithful to be blasphemous, the Kings had taken the sceptre with titles in Adunaic, and the teaching of Elven tongues was banned.

These divisions extended into the royal house. Míriel’s grandfather Ar-Gimilzôr, a grandson of Ar-Adûnakhôr, was an opponent of the Valar and Elves; it was he who banned the use of Elven tongues and would not allow the Eldar to visit Númenor. But his wife Inzilbêth, a descendent of Tar-Calmacil⁴ and niece of Eärendur the Lord of Andunië,⁵ was one of the Faithful. Inzilbêth had not wished to marry Ar-Gimilzôr but was unable to refuse him. There was no love between them.⁶ Their sons were likewise divided, with the elder son Inziladûn taking after his mother and becoming an Elf-friend, and the younger son Gimilkhâd a King’s Man. Ar-Gimilzôr would have preferred to name Gimilkhâd his heir, but the laws of Númenor did not allow this.⁷

Míriel was born in SA 3117, during the reign of her grandfather. Her father is said to have married late⁸; his wife’s name and lineage are unknown. The Akallabêth presents Míriel as an only child, saying her father "had no son, but a daughter only, whom he named Míriel in the Elven-tongue." Nothing is recorded of her childhood or youth; she was sixty when her grandfather died and her father took up the sceptre as Tar-Palantir.⁹

Her father’s reign was marked by political strife, and Tolkien either intended or at least considered that there should be a civil war.¹⁰ Tar-Palantir wished to return to the friendship with the Eldar and Valar that had been in the earlier days of Númenor and enjoyed spending time in Andúnië.  But his brother Gimilkhâd became leader of the King’s Party and resisted Tar-Palantir both openly and in secret.

Although Gimilkhâd died before Tar-Palantir, this did not put an end to the political strife. Gimilkhâd’s son Pharazôn had become a powerful lord, and a leader in the wars the Númenóreans were fighting in Middle-earth. Upon his father’s death, he returned to Numenor, and "the hearts of the people were turned to him"; presumably he assumed his father’s position as leader of the King’s Party.¹¹

On Tar-Palantir’s death in SA 3255, Pharazôn forced Míriel into marriage against both her own will and the laws of Númenor, which did not permit marriage between first cousins.¹² He then seized the sceptre, declaring himself Ar-Pharazôn, and renaming Míriel Ar-Zimraphel.

The text does not record Míriel’s reaction to any of these events.

Much is written in the Akallabêth of Ar-Pharazôn’s doings, how he fell under the sway of Sauron, and eventually planned to land in force in Valinor. But throughout the actions of Pharazôn, Sauron, Amandil, and Elendil, there is not a single word about Míriel until the sea takes Númenor.

The most written of Míriel besides the facts of her birth, forced marriage, and usurpation is the description of her death:

And last of all the mounting wave, green and cold and plumed with foam, climbing over the land, took to its bosom Tar-Míriel the Queen, fairer than silver or ivory or pearls. Too late she strove to ascend the steep ways of the Meneltarma to the holy place; for the waters overtook her, and her cry was lost in the roaring of the wind.¹³

Works Cited

1. History of Middle-earth, Volume IX: Sauron Defeated, The Drowning of Anadûnê and History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, The History of the Akallabêth.
2. History of Middle-earth, Volume V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, The Fall of Númenor.
3. Unfinished Tales, "The Line of Elros: Kings of Númenor."
4. Ibid.
5. The Silmarillion, Akallabêth.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid. and Unfinished Tales, "The Line of Elros: Kings of Númenor."
8. Unfinished Tales, "The Line of Elros: Kings of Númenor."
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid., footnote 15, and The Return of the King, Appendix B, "The Tale of Years."
11. The Silmarillion, Akallabêth.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.