Tolkien and the Numenoreans = Martin and COTF and the First Men

[LOTRTheoryOfLakerThrones]

I was reading the Unfinished Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien and edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien, when I stumbled across a very interesting story. (For those of you who don't know, the Unfinished Tales are a bunch of unfinished tales like the name suggests or, vague, important and interesting stories from the Silmarillion, the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. This book tries to go more in depth into all those unfinished stories.) This excerpt is from pages 340-341 and is about Numenoreans and their new explorations and landings on the coasts of Middle-Earth. This is directly from the pages of the book: 

 

"But in the earlier days, at the time of the explorations of the Numenoreans, the situation was quite different. Minhiriath and Endewaith were occupied by vast and almost continuous forests except, in the central region of the Great Fens. The changes that followed were largely due to the operations of Tar-Aldarion, the Mariner-King, who formed a friendship and alliance with Gil-galad. Aldarion had a great hunger for timber, desiring to make Numenor into a great naval power; his felling of trees in Numenor had caused  great dissensions. In voyages down the coasts he saw with wonder the great forests, and he chose the estuary of the Gwathlo for the site of a new haven entirely under Numenorean control (Gondor of course did not yet exist). There he began great works, that continue to be extended after his days. This entry into Eriador later proved of great importance in the war against Sauron (Second age 1693-1701); but it was in origin a timber port and ship building harbour. The native people were fairly numerous and warlike, but they were forest dwellers, scattered communities without central leadership.  There were in awe of the Numenoreans,   But they did not become hostile until the tree-felling became devestating. Then they attacked and ambushed the Numenoreans when they could, and the Numenoreans treated them as enemies, and became ruthless in their fellings, giving no thought to husbandry or replanting. The fellings had at first been along both banks of the Gwathlo, and timber had been floated down to the haven (Lond Daer); but now the Numenoreans drove great attacks and articles into the forests northwards and southwards from the Gwathlo, and the native folk that survived fled from Minhiriath into the dark woods of the great Cape of Eryn Vorn, south of the mouth of the Baranduin, which they dared not cross, even if they could, for fear of the Elvenfolk. From Endewaith they took refuge in the eastern mountains where afterwords was Dunland; they did not cross the Isen nor take refuge take refuge in the great promontory between Isen and Lefnui that fromed the north arm of the bay of Belfalas. 

 

"The devastation wrought by the Numenoreans was incalculable. For long years these lands were the chief source of timber. not only for their shipyards at Lond Daer and elsewhere, but also for Numenor itself. Shiploads innumerable passed west over the sea. The denuding  of the lands was increased during the war in Eriador; for the exiled natives welcomed Sauron and hoped for his victory over the Men of the Sea. Sauron knew the importance to his enemies of the Great Haven and it's ship-yards, and he used these haters of Numenor as spies and guides for his raiders. He had not enough force to spare for any assault upon the forts at the Haven or along the banks of the Gwathlo, but his raiders made much havoc on the fringe of the forests, setting fire in the woods and burning many of the great wood-source of the Numenoreans."

 

Martin has had so much inspiration from Tolkien (like a lot of Fantasy authors) that saying this might be the inspiration for the Children of the Forest is not that far fetched. We know that the First Men landed on Westeros and started burning their Weirwoods. The king of Numenor, Tar-Aldarion came over and started felling trees too. Both cases lead to war between the two. Tolkien also described the natives,  "The native people were fairly numerous and warlike, but they were forest dwellers, scattered communities without central leadership." The children in Westeros were not very warlike at all and are also "forest dwellers". The central leadership for the Children though, would be the Weirwoods and Greenseers. Another very interesting point is how the Natives in Middle-Earth ended up supporting Sauron against the Numenoreans. There is a popular theory in ASOIAF about how the Children actually evil and do support or at least are against humanity. After all, Orcs, are magic and move better in the dark and not in the sun, just like the Army of the Undead. They are to a certain extant magical and this quote right from the wiki sates, "They hide from the light of the sun and emerge at night; although once again some stories claim that their coming brings the night." Also, just like the Others and their giant spiders, Orcs are also known to ride giant spiders too. It is said that the Natives took refuge into the dark forests of the Cape of Eryn Vorn which can be the forests North of the Wall although, that is much more Northern in Westeros than in Middle-Earth. They also took refuge south of the mouth of the Baraduin which is a river in Middle-Earth. If you look up images of Baraduin on a map it looks strikingly similar to the river that makes the Neck, which we are told was cause by the Children of the Forest. The raiders that Sauron sends to wreak havoc also sound like Wights, Others or even Wildlings.

 

If you are a huge Martin and Tolkien fan, while reading ASOIAF you can really see the influence Tolkien has had on him. We see it in other ways like how there is Jon and his "sidekick" Sam, just like Frodo and his "sidekick" (even though Sam is quite a hero) who help our hero along the way; GRRM has even spoken about this and said it was intentional. I hope you guys enjoy and I would like to see what you guys think! 

 

Thanks!