Middle-earth Monday 47: The Isle of Meneltarma

Shortly after the breaking of Thangorodrim and the drowning of Beleriand at the end of the First Age of the Sun, the Maia Ossë, under the guidance of Ulmo, Lord of Waters, caused the land of Númenor to rise out of the sea. A massive island of around 167,961 square miles, Númenor dominated the Second Age as the center of culture and technology for Middle-earth. However, when the last king of Númenor, Ar-Pharazôn, came to be corrupted by his prisoner Sauron into attacking the Undying Lands, Ilúvatar himself forever sundered Aman from Middle-earth, and, in his wroth, caused Númenor to sink beneath the sea, drowning the entire land beneath the cold waters of Beleagaer.  From that day on, Númenor was known as Atalantë, the Downfallen.*

However, long into the Third Age, rumors persisted that the highest point of the Pillar of Heaven, that great volcanic holy mountain named Meneltarma, still existed as a small island some thousand miles to the West of Far Harad.  This was hardly surprising as Meneltarma stood some 14000 feet high and even Ilúvatar would have been hard pressed to completely sink it beneath the Sundering Seas.

Some of the more daring Dúnedain even attempted to set sail to find the island, for it was said that from its lonely peak one could still see the Undying Lands in their place beyond the realms of men.  However, none ever returned from such a quest and as the years passed, the stories of the Isle of Meneltarma faded into a mere hopeful legend.

Who knows, with the passing of the years, perhaps Meneltarma continued to smoke and belch its molten contents into the Sundering Seas.  Perhaps Ilúvatar, his wrath abated with the passing of the years, once again allowed Númenor to grow and thrive into something beyond a cold 20 mile slab of volcanic rock jutting up from the waters of Belegaer.  Perhaps, Meneltarma became a home to those bravest of Dúnedain colonists, who, against all odds, had found their way home after so many long years of exile.