Of the Azores, Atlantis, and Numenor

[Ryna de Liane]

So I'm of direct Azorean maternal mitochondrial descent--my mother's mother is full blood Azorean from Sao Miguel. I grew up with her telling me that the Azores was all that remains of Atlantis. 

A few nights ago my soulmate and I were looking up some images from the Silmarillion, as we're both Elves and learning a lot about the ancient hidden history of our world (Arda) prior to the present, late-Fourth Age. I looked at a map of Numenor...

...and it occurred to me I'd seen that shape before. But where?

I thought back to a few days before when I was reading up on the pyramid found at the bottom of the sea, between Sao Miguel (where my grandmother was born!) and Terceira, so off I went to examine the pictures once more...

If you look carefully you will see the exact same, five-pointed-star shape. 

What is intriguing is that Meneltarma--the Holy Mountain of the Valar--was at the centre of Numenor, exactly analogous to where this crystal 'pyramid' was located off the coast of the Azores. Only the mighty birds of Manwe, like eagles or falcons, flew near the pinnacle of Meneltarma. The meaning of the name of the island chain even means "falcon".

Sao Miguel is equivalent to Hyarrostar, the forested region that supplied Numenorean shipbuilders with wood. And in reality, Sao Miguel was at one point heavily forested by Laurisilva forests--evergreen, broadleaf, temperate rainforests of laurel. Some laurel forests still exist there, though not many. It is a tragedy...