Kings of Numenor

The title of twenty-two lords of the Numenoreans (there was also three Ruling Queens of Numenor), from Elros Tar-Minyatur down through the long years of the Second Age to Ar-Pharazon the Golden, who brought about the Downfall.


 * I Elros Tar-Minyatur (Ruled for 410 years to II 442) He was the son of Earendil and brother of Elrond. As one of the Half-elven, he was given a choice of fate, and he chose to live as a mortal Man, though with a lifespan far longer than normal. He took up the rule of Numenor on its foundation in the year II 32, and ruled it until his death more than four hundred years later. Elros' descendants also had exceptional longevity, though none approached his incredible span of five hundred years.
 * II Vardamir Nolimon (Officially ruled for one year to II 443) Because of Elros' long life, his son was already very old - even by Numenorean standards - at the time he inherited the Sceptre. Accordingly he passed the Kingship directly to his own son, though the Numenorean records counted Vardamir as having ruled for a single year.
 * III Tar-Amandil (Ruled for 148 years to II 590)
 * IV Tar-Elendil (Ruled for 150 years to II 740) He followed his grandfather Vardamir in his love of lore and legends, and was famous as a maker of books. He was the father of Silmarien, from whom the Lords of Andunie were descended, and so he was the last ancestor of the Kings of Arnor and Gondor to have held the Sceptre of Numenor.
 * V Tar-Meneldur (Ruled for 143 years to II 883) His true name was Irimon, but he took the King-name Meneldur ("Servant of the Heavens") because of his love of the stars. During his reign, the first stirrings of Sauron were felt in Middle-Earth, and Tar-Meneldur resigned the Sceptre to his son Aldarion, who knew more of Middle-Earth and its peoples.
 * VI Tar-Aldarion (Ruled for 192 years to II 1075) He was a great sailor and adventurer, who travelled to Middle-Earth many times and became a firm ally of Gil-galad in Lindon. He had no sons, and caused the jaw of succession to be changed so that his daughter, Ancalime, could become the first Ruling Queen of Numenor.
 * VII Tar-Ancalime (Ruled for 205 years to II 1280) The first of the three Ruling Queens, Tar-Ancalime's long reign saw her abandon the policies of her father, and send no further aid to Gil-galad in Lindon. She was succeeded by her only child, her son Anarion.
 * VIII Tar-Anarion (Ruled for 114 years to II 1394) His eldest child was a daughter, who by right could have become the second Ruling Queen. However, neither she nor her younger sister would accept the Sceptre, so Tar-Anarion was succeeded by his third child, his son Surion.
 * IX Tar-Surion (Ruled for 162 years to II 1556)
 * X Tar-Telperien (Ruled for 175 years to II 1731) She was the second Ruling Queen. Because she refused to marry, she left no heirs, and so the Sceptre passed to her nephew Minastir, the grandson of Tar-Surion.
 * XI Tar-Minastir (Ruled for 138 years to II 1869) He was an ally of Gil-galad, and sent a fleet to Middle-Earth to aid the Elves against Sauron.
 * XII Tar-Ciryatan (Ruled for 160 years to II 2029) He was rumoured to have forced his father Tar-Minastir to give up the Sceptre before he was ready to do so, an act that has been seen as the first seed of the evils that later befell Numenor.
 * XIII Tar-Atanamir (Ruled for 222 years to II 2251) Tar-Atanamir was a powerful and proud King, whose wealth and military might earned him the title "Great". He was the first King to openly question the Ban of the Valar, and the first since Elros to remain King until the end of his life (his predecessors had traditionally given up the Sceptre some time before their deaths).
 * XIV Tar-Ancalimon (Ruled for 135 years to II 2386) In Tar-Ancalimon's time, the political rift between the King's Men and the Faithful became entrenched. This was a division that would remain until the end of Numenor itself.
 * XV Tar-Telemmaite (Ruled for 140 years to II 2526) Tar-Telemmaite's father and grandfather had both defied tradition by ruling until their deaths, rather than giving up the Sceptre before their old age. In Tar-Telemmaite's time, this new principle of life-long rule became accepted as the norm, and he and all his successors ruled until their deaths.
 * XVI Tar-Vanimelde (Ruled for 111 years to II 2637) She was the third and last of the Ruling Queens, though she gave little thought to the management and maintenance of her realm. Instead, she granted such power to her husband Herucalmo that he essentially ruled Numenor in her place.
 * Tar-Anducal (Ruled for 20 years to II 2657) After Tar-Vanimelde's death, her husband Herucalmo claimed the Sceptre for himself under the name of Tar-Anducal. He had no legal right to withhold power from his son Alcarin, and so Tar-Anducal is not accounted one of the true Kings of Numenor.
 * XVII Tar-Alcarin (Ruled for 100 years to II 2737) Though he was de jure King for a century, his father's wresting of the Sceptre meant that Tar-Alcarin ruled de facto for only eighty years.
 * XVIII Tar-Calmacil (Ar-Belzagar) (Ruled for 88 years to II 2825) In his youth, he was a great warrior, and his victories in Middle-Earth were said to be a significant cause of Sauron's hatred for the Numenoreans. He was the first King to have his name rendered into the Adunaic tongue, as Ar-Belzagar.
 * XIX Tar-Ardamin (Ar-Abattarik) (Ruled for 74 years to II 2899)
 * XX Ar-Adunakhor (Tar-Herunumen) (Ruled for 63 years to II 2962) He finally broke the tradition of taking the King's name in the Elvish tongue, using instead the native Adunaic language of the Numenoreans. He went further, and banned the use of Elvish tongues on the island of Numenor, though his name was recorded in the Scrolls in its Quenya form of Tar-Herunumen ("Lord of the West").
 * XXI Ar-Zimrathon (Tar-Hostamir) (Ruled for 71 years to II 3033)
 * XXII Ar-Sakalthor (Tar-Falassion) (Ruled for 69 years to II 3102)
 * XXIII Ar-Gimilzor (Tar-Telemnar) (Ruled for 75 years to II 3177) He finally overturned the last of the old traditions, going so far as to ban the Elves from Numenor's shores. Unknown to him, his wife Inzilbeth belonged to the party of the Faithful, and secretly schooled Ar-Gimilzor's Heir in the old ways.
 * XXIV Tar-Palantir (Ar-Inziladun) (Ruled for 78 years to II 3255) Being raised by his mother in the ways of the Faithful, Tar-Palantir did what he could to return to the ancient traditions of Numenor, including taking a name in Quenya (in which language Palantir means "Far-Sighted"). Tar-Palantir's Heir was his daughter, who should have become Queen Tar-Miriel, but she was forced into marriage by the grandson of Ar-Gimilzor who thus usurped the throne.
 * XXV Ar-Pharazon (Tar-Calion) (Ruled for 64 years to II 3319) He brought Numenor to the height of its military might. His armies were so powerful that they were able to invade Middle-Earth and take Sauron as hostage. In Numenor, Sauron slowly corrupted Ar-Pharazon, convincing him that his power was great enough to attack the Valar themselves. The result was a Great Armament, a vast navy whose landing in Aman triggered nothing less than the Downfall and destruction of Numenor itself.