Tar-Míriel
- (See also Míriel Serindë)
"And last of all the mounting wave, green and cold and plumed with foam, climbing over the land, took to its bosom Tar-Míriel the Queen..." — from the Akallabêth
Tar-Míriel was the only daughter of Tar-Palantir the twenty-fourth King of Númenor, whom the laws of Númenórean succession would have made her father's Heir, and therefore the fourth Ruling Queen of Númenor. On Tar-Palantir's death, however, her cousin Pharazôn forced her into marriage, and took the Sceptre of Númenor for himself, becoming known as Ar-Pharazôn the Golden.
If Tar-Míriel had become Queen, Númenor may have emerged from under its dark years under the King's Men. With Ar-Pharazôn as King, however, the land descended farther into corruption. At Sauron's persuasion, the King went so far as to lead a fleet against Valinor itself, and as a punishment the realm of Númenor was destroyed. Legend says that Tar-Míriel sought to reach the peak of the Meneltarma before the complete submergence of the island under the sea, but the waters took her as she climbed the slopes of the Holy Mountain.
Andûnaic Name
Tar Miriel was a Sindarin translation of the Andûnaic form Ar-Zimraphel. It means "jewel-daughter". Zimra means, disputably, jewel, while phel is possibly daughter.
