Black Númenóreans

In the published writings of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Arda, the Black Númenóreans are an ethnic subdivision of humanity that he refers to as one of many peoples and races inhabiting his Middle-earth setting.

For the most part they are described as descendants of those people of Númenor who had founded and dwelt in the province of Umbar, as well as several other, unnamed coastal locations further south and east in Middle-earth. Although for a millennium following the sinking of Númenór he posited them as the principal antagonists of another of his more well-known fictional realms Gondor, the capacity of these Black Númenóreans continually diminished, while that of their Gondorian antagonists grew. Despite this, descendants of the Black Númenóreans – who retained this animosity – lingered on in Tolkien's chronology as late as the end of his tales concerning the Third Age.

Even prior to their schism into two opposing parties, as their power and knowledge grew throughout the course of the Second Age, the Númenóreans became increasingly preoccupied with their mortality, the purpose of which they all began to question. This growing wish to escape death, "the doom of Men" (formerly called "the Gift of Men"), made most of the Númenóreans envious of the immortal Elves, or Eldar. The Eldar sought ever to remind the men of Númenor that death was a gift from Ilúvatar to all Men, and that to lose faith in Ilúvatar would be heretical.

Some of the Númenóreans accepted this, albeit with regret, but nevertheless after S.A. 2221, when Tar-Ancalimon became King of Númenor, the people became divided. The "King's Men", the larger party, "grew proud and were estranged from the Valar and the Eldar." They became increasingly predisposed to the corruption of Sauron, who, once arrived in Númenor, was able to dominate the will of most of the Númenóreans with the One Ring. In Númenor's last years, the powerful but elderly King Ar-Pharazôn, who had become "frightened of old age", was persuaded by Sauron that Ilúvatar was a lie invented by the Valar, and seduced him to the worship of Melkor, first in secret and then openly. Within Númenor, the majority followed suit, and this worship was carried across the ocean to Númenor's colonies in Middle-earth.

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