Welcome to the Lord of the Rings lore cast, the show that explores the background of

Tolkien's amazing world from the very beginning. So last week we ended the story with Aldarion leaving again to go off, sailing on his ships.

And six years goes by.

And I have to wonder, every time this happens,

I understand what six years feels like to Arendus,

because she has a normal lifespan,

like any regular person.

Aldarion comes from the line of Elros,

and his lifespan is much longer. But to him, six years,

I mean, even if he had three times the lifespan of a regular person, maybe feels like two years.

But that is still a considerable amount of time. And on this adventure, he didn't plan to be away for so long.

Things happened that he didn't expect. He found that the haven of Vinalande was ruined, as if it had been attacked while he was away, by men near the coast

who were growing afraid of the Numenorians. They were becoming openly hostile and attacking

Numenorian settlements on the mainland. Now, this was a different kind of thing than we've heard so far in this story.

Men in the mainland were becoming hostile, attacking Numenorians.

And Aldarian heard rumors of some lord in Middle Earth who hated the men of the ships.

I have to wonder who that is.

Tolkien doesn't tell us explicitly here, but that sure does sound like Sauron, spreading lies among the men in Middle Earth.

Then he would turn from home and a great wind came out of the south.

So not only was he delayed by the state in which he discovered the settlements, but when he decided to come home, the wind and the sea seemed to work against him.

And he was born far to the northward.

He tarried a while at Mithland.

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