Timeline Event
Great Armament sets sail for the Assault on Valinor (estimated date)
Event Type: Military/Strategic
Age: Akallabêth/Last Alliance
Date: April 1, 3319
Description:
An event in the prelude to the Assault on Valinor; see that entry for an overview:
[Ar-Pharazôn] prepared then the greatest armament that the world had seen, and when all was ready he sounded his trumpets and set sail; and he broke the Ban of the Valar, going up with war to wrest everlasting life from the Lords of the West.
The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: Númenor
Then Ar-Pharazôn ... went aboard his mighty ship, Alcarondas.... Many-oared it was and many-masted, golden and sable; and upon it the throne of Ar-Pharazôn was set. Then he did on his panoply and his crown, and let raise his standard, and he gave the signal for the raising of the anchors; and in that hour the trumpets of Númenor outrang the thunder.
Thus the fleets of the Númenóreans moved against the menace of the West; and there was little wind, but they had many oars and many strong slaves to row beneath the lash. The sun went down, and there came a great silence. Darkness fell upon the land, and the sea was still, while the world waited for what should betide. Slowly the fleets passed out of the sight of the watchers in the havens, and their lights faded, and night took them; and in the morning they were gone. For a wind arose in the east and it wafted them away; and they broke the Ban of the Valar, and sailed into forbidden seas, going up with war against the Deathless, to wrest from them everlasting life within the Circles of the World.
The Silmarillion, Akallabêth
[Note: the year is canon, but the date is estimated to approximate spring of the year.]
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 26Nov05