‘The Mariner’s Wife’

The timeline for this entry refers to the period when the events in the story took place. The story itself must necessarily have come into existence after this time; the exact date of its creation is not known, but it was well known by the end of the Second Age.

The tale of the Mariner's Wife was one of the few pieces of Númenórean literature to be saved from the Downfall, so we can at least say that it was written in Númenor before II 3319. Given the detail it contains about the lives of its characters, it most likely originated relatively soon after their time. The earliest possible date would be II 985 (the death of Erendis), but given that it is rather candid about the King and his flaws, it probably appeared after Tar-Aldarion's death in II 1098.

One slight complication is a reference in the text to the 'country of Amroth where the Nandor Elves still dwell' (Unfinished Tales Part Two II, Aldarion and Erendis). This region (said to have been on the Bay of Belfalas) wasn't associated with Amroth until long after the Downfall, so this reference cannot have been in the original tale. The implication is that elements of the story had been adapted in later years, presumably by scribes in Gondor seeking to make its geography more comprehensible to their own audience.