The Peoples of Middle-earth (37 page)

Aragorn of the North serves as a soldier in his forces. He suengthens Pelargir again, and refortifies Cair Andros.

26. Denethor II.

born 2930 lived 89 years +slew himself 3019.

He was first son and third child of Ecthelion and more learned in lore than any Steward for many generations. He was very tall and in appearance looked like an ancient Numenorean. He wedded late (for his time) in 2976 Finduilas daughter of Prince Adrahil of Dol Amroth, a noble house of southern Gondor of Numenorean blood, reputed also to have Elven-blood from ancient days: the Elven-folk of Amroth of Lorien dwelt in the region of Dol Amroth before they sailed over sea. His elder son Boromir (2978) was slain by orcs near Rauros in 3019. His younger son Faramir (2983) became the last Ruling Steward.

His wife Finduilas died untimely in 2987.

In his time the peril of Gondor steadily grew, and he awaited always the great assault of Sauron that he knew was preparing.

It is said that he dared to use the palantir of the White Tower, which none since the kings had looked in, and so saw much of the mind of Sauron (who had the Stone of Ithil), but was aged prematurely by this combat, and fell into despair.

The attack began in the summer of 3018. The Ringwraiths issued once more from Minas Morgul in visible form. The sons of Denethor resisted them but were defeated by the Black Captain, and retreated over Anduin; but they still held West Osgiliath.

Boromir departed to Imladris soon after on a mission to seek the counsel of Elrond. He was slain as he returned. Minas Tirith was besieged in March 3019, and Denethor burned himself on a pyre in the Tomb of the Stewards.

27. Faramir. born 2983 lived 120 years died 3103.

= Fourth Age 82.

He succeeded by right on the death of his father, but in the same year surrendered rod and rule to the King Elessar, and so was the last Ruling Steward. He retained the title of Steward, and became Prince of the restored land of Ithilien, dwelling in the Hills of Emyn Arnen beside Anduin. He wedded in 3020 Eowyn sister of King Eomer of Rohan.

So ends the tale of

the Ruling

Stewards of Gondor.

The manuscript C of The Heirs of Elendil ends here, but clipped to it is a genealogy of the line of Dol Amroth: for this see p. 220.

Commentary.

As I have explained (p. 188), the manuscript B is for the Northern Line the earliest text, and the commentary to this part is largely a record of significant differences from the text printed (C). Corrections to B are not as a rule noticed if they merely bring it to the form in C (in substance: usually not in the precise expression), nor are additions to B as first written necessarily noticed as such.

References to the historical accounts following the names and dates of the kings and rulers are made simply by the name, with the page-reference to the C text. A notable feature of The Heirs of Elendil is the record of the birthdates of the rulers, which were excluded from Appendix A; other dates are in all cases the same as those in Appendix A unless the contrary is noted.

The preamble concerning dates in C (p. 191) is absent from B, which begins with the genealogy. This differs from that in C in showing Anarion as the elder son of Elendil, and in naming 'Valandil of Arthedain': thus B belongs with the early texts of the Tale of Years, as already noted (pp. 188 - 9).

Only Isildur's youngest son, Valandil, is named in The Lord of the Rings. In the very late work The Disaster of the Gladden Fields the three elder are named Elendur, Aratan, and Ciryon (Unfinished Tales p. 271 and note 11); on one of the copies of the typescript D (p. 190) my father pencilled a note remarking on this, and saying that the names found in 'Gladdenfields' were to be accepted.

In the chronological outline that follows in B as in C, the birth-date of Anarion is 3209 and of Isildur 3219; Meneldil was born in 3299, and it was Kiryandil son of Isildur who was the last man to be born in Numenor (3318). Arthedain appears for Arnor in 3320; the birthdates of Earnur and Veandur are 3349 and 3389; and Valandil was born in Annuminas, not Imladris.

In both texts Isildur died in 3441 (which in the list of the Northern kings that follows is made equivalent to Third Age 1), the same year as the overthrow of Sauron (see pp. 170, 177).

Following the words 'The Second Age ends and the Third Begins' B

continues at once with the naming of the kings of the Northern Line (without the name Isildurioni). The list of these kings up to the disintegration of the North Kingdom was the same in B as in C with the sole difference (apart from the different date of Isildur's birth, 3219) that the tenth king Earendur is named Earendil in B: on this see p. 189.

Valandil (p. 192). In B there was a note here: 'Removed to Fornost and Annuminas was deserted'; this was struck out, and 'Annuminas became deserted' added to the note following King Earendil.

Earendur (p. 193). The note in B begins 'After Earendil the Northern Kingdom of Arthedain disintegrated', and the north-western kingdom ruled by Amlaith is referred to by the name of the city of its kings:

'Fornost still claimed the overlordship, but this was disputed.' The other realms are thus described in B: 'Cardolan (where later were Bree and the Barrowdowns) and Rhudaur north of the R. Bruinen (where later were the Trollshaws).'

Mallor (p. 193). In B the corresponding note follows Beleg the twelfth king: 'In his reign Sauron took shape again in Mirkwood and evil things began again to multiply.'

Celebrindor (p. 193). The name of the fifteenth king in B as first written was Celem...gil, perhaps Celemenegil; this was struck out and replaced by Celebrindol, as in C before correction to Celebrindor.

Malvegil (p. 193). The note in B is, as generally, briefer but has all the essentials of that in C; here it is said that 'Fornost is at war with the lesser kingdoms, the chief dispute being about the palantir of Amon Sul'. The conclusion of the note in C, concerning this, was rejected when the disputed claim to Amon Sul was introduced much earlier, at the disintegration of Arnor after the death of Earendur. - On the name Ulairi see p. 153.

The kings from Argeleb I to Arvedui (pp. 194 - 5). An earlier form of the page in B that begins with the last sentence of the note following Malvegil, the taking of the prefix aran, ar(a) by the kings at Fornost, is extant, and here the names of these kings are seen evolving. The original names were as follows (it is curious that despite the words at the head of the page the first three kings do not have the prefix Ar): 17. Celebrindol (> Argeleb I)

18. Beleg H (> Arveleg I)

19. Malvegil II (> Araphor)

20. Arveleg (> Argeleb II)

21. Arvegil

22. Argeleb (> Arveleg II)

23. Arvallen (> Araval)

24. Araphant

25. Arvedui

But the dates of these kings underwent no change. The original name of the seventeenth king, Celebrindol, was given to the fifteenth, originally Celemenegil (?), as noted above.

Argeleb I (p. 194). On the rejected page of B the note following this king states only: 'slain in battle 1356. Angmar is repulsed but turns upon the lesser kingdoms.' The replacement page has: 'Slain in battle with subkingdoms of Cardolan and Rhudaur'. Neither text refers to the palantir of Amon Sul. On the mention in the altered text in C of Argeleb's fortifying of the Weather Hills see p. 189.

Arveleg I (p. 194). The rejected page of B has no note here; in the replacement page it reads:

Angmar taking advantage of war among the Numenoreans comes down and overruns Cardolan and Rhudaur. These realms become subject to the Sorcerer-king and full of evil things, especially Cardolan. But Fornost in spite of death of King Arveleg holds out with aid from Lindon and Imladrist.

An addition concerning the palantir of Amon Sul was made to this: The tower of the palantir on Amon Sul is destroyed, but na one knows what became of the Stone. Maybe it was taken by the Witch-king.

This addition was probably made in revision of the original statement in C that the palantir was broken.

Argeleb II (p. 194). In B there was no note here and so no mention of the plague, but the following was added in: 'He gave "the Shire" to the Hobbits.' This is stated in an addition to an early text of the Prologue (p. 9): 'In the Year 1 ... the brothers Marco and Cavallo, having obtained formal permission from the king Argeleb II in the waning city of Fornost, crossed the wide brown river Baranduin.'

Araval (p. 195). The statement in B reads: 'With help of Lindon and Imladrist Araval wins great victory over Angmar, and drives the evil wights north. He reoccupies Cardolan.' In the rejected page of B this victory is ascribed to the next king, Araphant, who 'drives back the Sorcerer-king and in 1900 destroys Cardolan.' There is no reference to the victory of Araval in the history of the North Kingdom in Appendix A.

Araphant (p. 195). More briefly, B has here:

Angmar recovers, and makes war again. Araphant seeks alliance with Gondor and weds his son Arvedui to daughter of King Ondohir of Gondor; so that his descendants come also from the southern line of Anarion. But Gondor is waning and fallen on evil days, and sends little help.

The original note to Araphant has been given under Araval, but an addition to this mentions the marriage of Araphant's son Arvedui to Ondohir's daughter, and here she is named: Ilmare (see further pp.

215-16, Ondohir). The change of Ondohir to Ondonir in C was made also at all occurrences of the name in the Southern Line, and also that of the seventh king of Gondor, Ostohir, was altered to Ostonir. These changed names appear in the late typescript D, where my father let them stand; but Ostohir, Ondohir reappear in Appendix A. In the Second Edition he changed them to Ostoher, Ondoher( and also the original name of Hyarmendacil I, Ciryahir (Kiryahir), which was altered to Ciryaher). In an isolated note on these changes he said that Ondohir was a hybrid name: in pure Quenya it should be Ondoher (Q. heru, her- 'lord'), and -hir seems to be due to the influence of Sindarin hir 'lord', and also that of other names ending in -ir, especially -mir, -vir.

Arvedui (p. 195). The statement in B here lacks very little that is told in C, although as my father first wrote it there was no mention of Arvedui's fate: his death is given as 'slain 1974'. In a subsequent addition the same is said of his flight by ship and drowning as in C, and the loss of the palantiri in the shipwreck is mentioned, but they are not identified: they are called simply 'the two that remain'. In this text that of Amon Sul was lost when the tower was destroyed ('Maybe it was taken by the Witch-king', p. 209, Arveleg I). So also in C the palantiri taken by Arvedui are those of Annuminas and Emyn Beraid, for in that text the Stone of Amon Sul was said to have been broken (p. 194, Arveleg I). C was emended to say that it was saved and removed to Fornost (ibid.): this was the final version of the history, with the Stones lost in the sea becoming those of Annuminas and Amon Sul, while that of Emyn Beraid, which had a special character, remained in the North (see RK p. 322, footnote, and Unfinished Tales p. 413, note 16). But the C text was not emended in the present passage.

Of the tale told in Appendix A of Arvedui's sojourn among the Lossoth, the Snowmen of Forochel, there is here no trace.

The Chieftains of the Dunedain (p. 195). The rejected page of B

carries the names of the Chieftains, and some of these as first written were corrected on the manuscript, thus:

27. Araha[n]til (sixth letter illegible) ) Arahail

28. Aranuil > Aranuir

31. Arallas > Araglas

33. Arandost > Aragost

35. Arangar > Arahad II

36. Arasuil > Arassuil

39. Arv[or]eg (fifth and sixth letters uncertain) > Arador.

The dates were also different from the final chronology, save for those of Aranarth and Aragorn II, in both versions of B; they were corrected on the replacement page of B to those of C. The original dates were: Arahail 2011-2176 Aravorn 2490-2647

Aranuir 2083-2246 Arahad II 2555-2711

Aravir 2154-2316 Arassuil 2619-2775

Aragorn I 2224-2324 Arathorn I 2683-2838

Araglas 2292-2451 Argonui 2746-2901

Arahad I 2359-2517 Arador 2808-2912

Aragost 2425-2583 Arathorn II 2870-2933

These changes of date were carefully made, in several cases in more than one stage; in the result the length of the lives of the Chieftains remained the same, except in the cases of Aravir, Aragost, Arador, and Arathorn II.

Aragorn I (p. 196). In the rejected page of B he was 'lost in wilderness while hunting'; in the replacement page he was 'lost in the wilderness; probably slain by orcs [> wolves].'

Arassuil (p. 196). The victory of the Hobbits in 2747 was the Battle of Greenfields.

Arador (p. 196). Arador's death is referred to at the beginning of the tale of Aragorn and Arwen in Appendix A, as also is that of Arathorn II (RK pp. 337-8).

Aragorn II (p. 196). B has here: 'Became King Elessar of Gondor and Arthedain, aided in the overthrow of Sauron with which Third Age ended in 3019. He wedded Arwen Undomiel, daughter of Elrond. His descendants became thus heirs of the Numenorean realms, and of Luthien and the Elf-kingdoms of the West.' The statement in C that