dailyoverview:

Check out this awesome drone shot of the Botanical Garden in Mount Lofty, Australia! The garden is situated on 240 acres on the eastern slopes of Mount Lofty in the Adelaide Hills. The garden includes plants from all around the globe, including South America, China, East Africa, New Zealand, South East Asia and North America.
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Found on: From Where I Drone
Photo by: Bo Le

vardasvapors said:                                            
                                               
                               omg a like…state of civil war under
miriel’s rule + sauron’s regime of influence sounds amazing…..and
slightly….american-ish….like if sauron has less power, but because of
that he also has even more fodder for framing ‘rebellion against the
queen’ as rebellion of ~the people against ~tyranny, if it’s against a
human ruler and not just the distant valar…                             

Exactly. He can start with spreading rumours like “Ar-Pharazon’s death was just awfully convenient for the Queen wasn’t it”, then complain about how she’s too invested in out-dated traditions to care about the people’s real needs, and also she’s against Melkorism

~religious freedom~

… he has so much ammunition here; there’s a chance for this to end better than canon but I certainly don’t envy Tar-Miriel for being the one who has to work for that, she’ll have to be really good.

And I hate to imagine how much distrust anyone who is even vaguely anti-monarchist will have to face in any Numenorean-influenced realms in the future if Sauron does frame his cause as a revolution against tyranny. Like, make a petition for more involvement of common people in the government and suddenly everyone thinks you’re a devil worshipper.

I need a Numenor AU in which Ar-Pharazon dies, whether because of an accident or an “accident”, and Tar-Miriel finally becomes Queen for real.

Which is good for the Faithful, but everything can still go horribly wrong Sauron is already there and a Respected Advisor with enough followers to start a civil war if she attempts to arrest or exile him.

I think Tar-Miriel would try to avoid a war if at all possible, but obviously getting rid of Sauron is still a necessity for her – what she needs is more supporters and a good plan that he either won’t immediately see coming or won’t be able to counteract and look I’ve found her first major problem.

It would start with a tense political situation that is really uncomfortable for both sides. Tar-Miriel has more power than ever before but not quite enough to do what she really wants, while Sauron has to adjust his plans to accommodate for losing the monarch’s support. Since the chance of convincing Miriel to cooperate with him is somewhere between minuscule and none (depends on which version of Miriel this is), he will have to turn to the nobility and possibly the common people. Hopefully, whatever he does won’t forever discredit all future reformers, democrats, socialists, communists and/or revolutionaries of Middle-Earth.

I believe a civil war will happen eventually anyway, the question is when and how it starts. Also, Sauron and the former King’s Men probably won’t manage to organize an attack on Aman, at least not unless they win the civil war without major losses. That means the Valar will have to handle the situation somehow without asking Eru to help, so there’s a good chance Numenor won’t drown (yet). Unless of course Miriel’s side starts losing and she decides to evacuate to Middle-Earth or something. Although I actually want her to win. I’m not sure what kind of effect Numenor’s continued existence might have on 3rd Age events, though.