Tar-Atanamir
S.A. 1800 - 2221, aged 421
Transcribed by Almon
Fetch me a ladder,
Boys, to steal the Seaman's Fate.
Bugger the Valar.
It is clear that the copy we now have of Tar-Atanamir's death poem has been highly edited. It is said that his scribe, Almon, extracted the poem at great pains, as the king felt unwilling to relinquish his hold on life even as his father had been to relinquish the throne. Atanamir could not countenance the tradition which would require him to behold his end. For this reason some scholars debate the authenticity of the poem. However, the majority accept the poem as canon, citing the odd sensibility therein as consistent with the court historian's record of the king's senility and bitter obsession with the unique fate of Eärendil. The thirst for immortality exhibited in Tar-Atanamir's reign filtered down to his successors, who refused their Gift and to give up their lives while still in their vigor. Tar-Palantir, excepted.