The Peoples of Middle-earth (39 page)

On the correction of Ondohir to Ondonir see p. 210, Araphant.

Earnil II (p. 201). In A it is said only that he was 'son of Kiryandil son of Siriondil son of Kalimmakil son of Narmakil II', and that he came to the throne in 1960 (thus after an interregnum of sixteen years). This was repeated without change in B, and allowed to stand, although my father had rejected the references to an interregnum, when Pelendur governed, in the entry for Ondohir. Kiryandil was later removed, and Siriondil became the father of Earnil. In all three texts Kalimmakil was the son of Narmakil II, but in Appendix A (RK

p. 330) the son of Arciryas the brother of Narmakil.

Nothing further is said of Earnil in B as originally written, but in an addition the flight of the Sorcerer-king out of the North is recorded (though without any mention of the great fleet from Gondor under Earnil's son Earnur which in large part brought about the destruction of Angmar), and the fall of Minas Ithil moves to its final place in the history:

In his time the Sorcerer-king of Angmar, chief of the Ulairi, fled from the North and came to Mordor, and built up a new power. Under his leadership the Ulairi took Minas Ithil, and made it their city and stronghold, from which they were never expelled. S. Ithilien abandoned by Gondor, but a garrison holds the bridges of Osgiliath.

Minas Ithil becomes called Minas Morgul, and Minas Anor is renamed Minas Tirith.

In C, as in Appendix A (RK p. 332), the renaming of Minas Anor took place in the time of Earnur. - A further, later addition in B notes: 'The Nazgul seize the Ithil-stone'.

Earnur (p. 201). This final note in A reads:

The last king. He went to war with Minas Ithil and Mordor and never returned; nor was his body ever recovered. Some said he was carried off alive by the evil king. He left no children. No male descendants of clear title (or nearly pure blood) of Elendil could be discovered. Mardil the Steward, grandson of Pelendur, governed nominally 'until the King's return', and this became an habitual formula. There had been a tendency (but no rule) for the Stewardship to be hereditary or at least chosen from one family. It now became hereditary like a kingship.

Here the A text of the Southern Line ends. In B this note was repeated without change of substance, but continues after the words 'hereditary like a kingship':

But the Stewards no longer took official names of Quenya form, and their names were all of Noldorin origin, that tongue still being used by the noble houses of Gondor.

After the time of Earnur the White Tree never [> seldom] again bore fruit, and ever its blossom grew less as it slowly died [> aged].

It is clear that the story of the challenge to Earnur by the Lord of the Ringwraiths had not emerged. Later, the opening of the passage in B

was rejected and the following substituted:

He accepted the challenge [added: to fight for the palantir of Ithil?]

of the Lord of the Ulairi and rode over the bridge of Osgiliath [> to the gates of Morgul] to meet him in single combat, but was betrayed and taken, and was never again seen by men.

The two challenges to Earnur, and the restraint on the king exercised by Mardil the Steward, did not appear until the text C.

Elessar (p. 202). The text in B is very close to its form in C, but lacks the reference to the continued waning of the life-span of the royal house. After the words 'and so restored the majesty and high blood of the royal house' B concludes:

Here ends the Red Book. But it was foretold that Eldarion the son of Elessar should rule a great realm, and it should endure for a hundred generations of men; and from him should come the kings of many realms in after days.

I have said (p. 190) that 'it is generally impossible to say how much of the matter that entered at each successive stage had newly arisen, and how much was present but at first ... held in abeyance.' Nonetheless, from this (inevitably complex) account of the development of the history of the kings of Gondor recorded in increasing detail through the texts, new elements can be seen emerging and becoming established, as the founding of the corsair-kingdom of Umbar, the invasions of the Wainriders, or the sending of the fleet from Gondor to assail Angmar.

The Stewards of Gondor.

The earliest text recording the names and dates of the Stewards of Gondor is constituted by two pages attached to the manuscript A of the Southern Line. These pages were obviously written on continuously from the preceding section, but the text becomes very rapid and rough in its latter part and ends in a scrawl of confused dates.

For the C-text of the Stewards see pp. 202 ff. The B-text is headed:

'Appendix. The Stewards of Gondor', with a brief preamble: These may be added, for though not in the direct line, the Hurinionath, the family to which Pelendur and Mardil belonged, were of Numenorean blood hardly less pure than that of the kings, and undoubtedly had some share in the actual blood of Elendil and Anarion.

To this was added later:

During all the days of the Stewards there was unceasing war between Minas Morgul and Minas Anor. Osgiliath was often taken and retaken. In North Ithilien a hardy folk still dwelt as borderers and defenders, but slowly they dwindled and departed west over the River.

The notes in B as originally written were few, and those mostly concerned (as in A) with individual Stewards as their lives and life-spans affected the nature of the succession. References to other events were in nearly all cases subsequent additions.

Pelendur. B has here, almost exactly following A: 'Became Steward 1940; ruled the realm during the interregnum 1944-1960, when he surrendered authority to Earnil II.' On this see Earnil II, p. 216. That Pelendur did become briefly the ruler of Gondor is not stated in C (as it is in Appendix A, RK p. 319), but that there was an interregnum for a year is implied by the revised dating (Ondohir slain in 1944, Earnil's accession in 1945).

Vorondil. There is no note on Vorondil in A and B. With the addition in C cf. the chapter Minas Tirith, RK p. 27, where it is not said (though no doubt implied) that Vorondil was the actual maker of the horn last borne by Boromir: 'since Vorondil father of Mardil hunted the wild kine of Araw in the far fields of Rhun' (on this passage see VIII.281

and note 14).

Mardil Voronwe. A has a note here, which was not repeated in B,

'After his time the names are usually Noldorin not Quenya. Few are left who know Quenya.' Cf. Appendix A (RK p. 319): 'His successors ceased to use High-elven names.'

Belegorn. In A the name of the fourth Ruling Steward was Bardhan, later changed to Belgorn; Belegorn in B.

Turin I. The same note is present in all three texts.

Hador. In A the name of the seventh Ruling Steward was Cirion, and Hador that of the twelfth; this was retained in B, but the names were later reversed. A has simply 'lived to great age 150'; B is as C, but the note ends 'the life-span of the nobles is waning steadily.'

Dior. In A and B the same is said as in C, but Dior's sister (Rian in C) is not named.

Denethor I. The note in A reads: 'Great troubles arose. Enemy destroyed Osgiliath. Boromir son (third child) of the Steward defeats them, and for a time recovers Ithilien.' B repeated this, but the text was altered to read: 'Enemy overran all Ithilien and destroyed the bridges of Osgiliath.'

Boromir. A has: 'Death hastened by wounds got in the war'; B: 'His life was shortened by wounds received from the poisoned weapons of Morgul.'

Cirion. In neither A nor B was there a note following Cirion (first written Hador), but the following was added in B: 'War with Orcs and Easterlings. Battle of Celebrant' (with the date 2510 put in subsequently), and also:

Sauron stirs up mischief, and there is a great attack on Gondor. Orcs pour out of the Mountains and of Mirkwood and join with Easterlings. Hador [> Cirion] gets help from the North. Eorl the Young wins the victory of the Field of Celebrant and is given Calenardon or Rohan.

Since the mentions of the Field of Celebrant in the narrative of The Lord of the Rings were all late additions (see e.g. IX.72, note 16) it may be that the story was evolving at the time of the writing of The Heirs of Elendil.

Ecthelion I. A's note here makes Egalmoth, successor of the childless Ecthelion, the grandson of Morwen sister of Belecthor I. This introduces a generation too many, and was obviously due to the mention of Egalmoth under his predecessor Ecthelion - a testimony to the rapidity with which my father sketched out the dates and relations of the later Stewards in this earliest text. In B Morwen becomes the sister of Orodreth, Ecthelion's father.

Egalmoth. In B a note was added (repeated in C): Orc-wars break out'. This is referred to in the Tale of Years in Appendix B: '2740

Orcs renew their invasions of Eriador.' A later pencilled note in B says

'Dwarf and Orc war in Misty Mountains' (see under Beregond below).

Beren. There was no note in B, but these were added: 'Long winter 2758', and 'In his reign there is an attack on Gondor by [Pirates >]

Corsairs of Umbar [2758 >] 2757'.

Beregond. In A and B his name was Baragond, with the note that he was the third child of Beren. A pencilled note in B repeats the notice of the War of the Dwarves and the Orcs from the entry under Egalmoth, with the date '2766-'.

The Stewards from Belecthor II to Ecthelion II. By this point A has become no more than a working-out of dates; and the brief notes in B

can be collected together. That to Belecthor II is the same as in C but without mention of the death of the White Tree; that to Turin II is

'Bilbo was born in the Shire during his rule'; and that to Turgon is

'Aragorn born in Eriador during his rule'. Very rough and hasty additions were made later in preparation for the much fuller notes in C.

The statement in C under Ecthelion II that 'Aragorn of the North serves as a soldier in his forces' is the first mention of Aragorn's years of service in disguise in Rohan and Gondor.

Denethor II. B has only a statement of dates and relationships, including that of Denethor's marriage to Finduilas daughter of Adrahil of Dol Amroth: this is seen in A (where the father of Finduilas is named Agrahil) at the moment of its emergence.

Faramir. The note in B is the same in substance as that in C, but adds that as the Prince of Ithilien he 'dwelt in a fair new house in the Hills of Emyn Arnen, whose gardens devised by the Elf Legolas were renowned.'

The Line of Dol Amroth.

Arising from the reference to Denethor's marriage to Finduilas, at the foot of the last page of the B manuscript my father began working out the genealogy of the descendants of Adrahil of Dol Amroth; and a carefully made table beginning with Angelimir the twentieth prince was attached by my father to the manuscript C of The Heirs of Elendil. This I have redrawn on p. 221 (the Princes are marked with crosses as in the original). Beneath the table is a note on the origins of the house of Dol Amroth, telling that Galador the first lord was the son of Imrazor the Numenorean, who dwelt in Belfalas, and Mithrellas one of the companions of Nimrodel. This note is printed in Unfinished Tales, p. 248, with the unaccountable error of Angelimar for Angelimir (an editorial mistake, since it occurs twice in the text and again in the index).

The page obviously belongs with the writing of C to which it is attached, since on the reverse are the first entries for the Southern Line in exactly the same form as they appear in the text, but abandoned, as it appears, simply because of an error in the writing out of the dates in what was designed to be a fine manuscript.

Another briefer account of the origin of the Line of Dol Amroth is found on a page attached by my father to the (as I believe, contemporary) manuscript T 4 of the Tale of Years, followed by a list of the dates of the Princes, those from the second to the eighteenth without names. This, however, is much later; for there is another form of the same list written on the back of a college document from the earlier part of 1954, and this is plainly the earlier of the two (see p. 223).

The House of Dol Amroth.

Amroth brother of Celeborn flies from northern Lorien when the Balrog drives out the Dwarves about 1980 T.A.

Mithrellas, one of the companions of Nimrodel, is lost in the woods of Belfalas, and is harboured by Imrazor the Numenorean

[added in margin: Imrazor 1950-2076], who takes her to wife (according to the legends and traditions of Dol Amroth); though after a few years she vanishes, whether to wander in the woods or seek the havens. The son of the union of Mithrellas and Imrazor received the elven-name of Galador; from him the lords of Dol Amroth traced their descent. After the ending of the kings they became virtually independent princes, ruling over Belfalas, but they were at all times loyal to the Steward as representing the ancient crown.

1.Galador 2004-2129 (125)

2 ... 2060-2203 (143)