Ar-Pharazôn's Monkey's Paw

[Rivvy Elf]

While on a mini, 2-minute break, from tutoring, I came to a realization on a particular character: the Last King of Numenor. He had the potential to be a great, heroic king, and fell down to depths few mortals would delve through human sacrifice, burning the White Tree, and waging a war against the Valar itself. All for the sake of escaping death and staying in the marred world known as Arda.

It would've been all too simple to have Ar-Pharazôn be slain, either dying in battle or dying of old age in Valinor (accelerated aging) because that's what happens to mortals there.

And yet in the end, after the eucatastrophe, Ar-Pharazôn got what he wanted: escape from death. If the tales are true, then he and his army shall be in Arda until its destruction. He got his extended life, and most likely he will learn why the elves consider leaving Arda to be a gift.

His tale further reinforces that Eru has ways to teach Eru's children on why their stay on Arda is brief. To make sure Ar-Pharazôn truly understood this lesson, Eru gave the king his nigh-immortality but will show him the inevitability of Arda Marred.

This is why I'm hopeful that if a Dagor Dagorath happens, Ar-Pharazôn shall play a vital role in redeeming himself and the cursed Numenoreans. After that, he shall leave the circles of the world to wherever humans go.

This is also reminiscent of Isildur's curse to the Paths of the Dead humans as well.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

And yet in the end, after the eucatastrophe, Ar-Pharazôn got what he wanted: escape from death. If the tales are true, then he and his army shall be in Arda until its destruction. He got his extended life, and most likely he will learn why the elves consider leaving Arda to be a gift.

Nice. His fate is like a Ringwraith (only with the Ring enduring).
But why do you call the drowning of Númenor a eucatastrophe? It seems to me a mythical image of catastrophe.

[Rivvy Elf]

@Chrysophylax Dives eh, more of a bittersweet eucatastrophe in the short run. Some good came out of it. The threat of Ar-Pharazon and his army that could've posed a serious problem to Valinor was gone. Also thinking in terms of long-run from Arda's perspective. Sauron could no longer turn into Annatar or theoretically his cat form, which in his pride he did not use to his fullest extent.

Long-run, Ar-Pharazon probably will be anti-Melkor when Melkor returns, which allows him to be redeemed.

In other words Sauron could no longer be as charismatic and could only rely on his Fear Form. This lowered the amount of potential followers he could get.

Humans no longer could be tempted to go to the Undying Lands, giving them more of a chance to understand that they're only guests in Arda.

Much of Middle-Earth's humans were slaves to the Numenoreans, so the colonial empire that Numenor was building got a critical blow.

Oh and in the Silmarillion mythos, Eru asserts that for every evil Melkor (and by extension any other evil caused by anyone else) it will only further the glory and ultimately goodness of Eru's plans in the long-run.

So it's a eucatastrophe in the long-run according to lore.

[Rivvy Elf]

@Chrysophylax Dives very apt that you mention the ringwraiths. Ar-Pharazôn bound himself to Morgoth’s Ring, which is Arda itself, and shall only be freed once Arda is destroyed through Dagor Dagorath.