Gondor

The land

Gondor at its widest stretched from the Gap of Rohan and the Isen in the west to the Sea of Rhûn in the east, and from the Limlight in the north to the borders of Harad in the south, with dominion over Umbar beyond. By the end of the Third Age it had shrunk to its heartland: the lands south of the White Mountains and west of the Anduin, with Ithilien across the river held only by rangers. Its capital, Minas Tirith, stood on the hill of Mindolluin at the mountains' eastern end, looking out over the Pelennor Fields to the ruins of Osgiliath on the Anduin and the Ephel Dúath beyond. The province around the capital was Anórien; south and west lay the fiefs of Lebennin with its five rivers and the haven of Pelargir, Lossarnach in the mountain-valleys, Lamedon on the upper Ringló, Belfalas under the Princes of Dol Amroth, and the long coast of Anfalas. To the north the beacon-hills and the Mering Stream marked the border with Rohan.

The people

The rulers of Gondor were Dúnedain, descendants of the Faithful of Númenor who had followed Elendil into exile, and they kept the ancient tongues, the tall stature and long life of their forefathers, though both dwindled with the centuries. Beneath them lived the far more numerous Men of Gondor of the fiefs, partly Númenórean and partly descended from the older peoples of the coast and mountains. In the north-eastern lands the Northmen of Rhovanion were allies and sometimes subjects. Gondor was a land of stone: its cities, roads, bridges, fortresses and monuments, from the Argonath to the Rammas Echor, were the greatest works of Men in Middle-earth, and the Rohirrim's name for it, Stoningland, was apt.

Government

The kingdom was ruled from Osgiliath and then Minas Tirith by the heirs of Anárion; the northern line of Isildur kept Arnor. When the line of kings failed, the Stewards of the House of Húrin ruled in the King's name, sitting on a plain chair below the empty throne, for more than nine hundred years. The kingdom's emblem was the White Tree, grown from a seedling of Nimloth of Númenor, planted in Minas Ithil and then in Minas Anor, and the Stewards' banner was plain white. The palantíri, the Seeing-stones brought from Númenor, were kept at Osgiliath, Minas Anor, Minas Ithil and Orthanc.

Founding

When Númenor was drowned in S.A. 3319, Elendil and his sons Isildur and Anárion escaped with nine ships. Elendil landed in the north and founded Arnor; his sons landed at the mouths of Anduin and in 3320 founded Gondor, ruling it jointly under their father's high kingship. Their capital was Osgiliath on the river, with Isildur's city of Minas Ithil in the east and Anárion's Minas Anor in the west, and their realm rested on the older Númenórean haven of Pelargir. The White Tree was planted before Isildur's house, and the Stone of Erech was set up in the west.

The Last Alliance

In 3429 Sauron, newly returned to Mordor, attacked without warning, took Minas Ithil and burned the Tree. Isildur escaped down the river with a seedling, and Anárion held Osgiliath. The Last Alliance of Elves and Men marched from Imladris in 3434, won the Battle of Dagorlad, and besieged Barad-dûr for seven years; Anárion was killed by a stone from the tower in 3440, and in 3441 Elendil and Gil-galad died overthrowing Sauron. Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron's hand, planted the seedling in Minas Anor in memory of his brother, and gave the rule of Gondor to Anárion's son Meneldil before riding north to his death at the Gladden Fields in T.A. 2. Thereafter the two kingdoms went separate ways.

The early kings and the Ship-kings

Gondor's early kings fortified the borders and kept watch on Mordor from Cirith Ungol and the Towers of the Teeth. Ostoher rebuilt Minas Anor in 420. Easterlings attacked first in 490 and were beaten by Rómendacil I, who was later killed by them. From 830 the four Ship-kings, Tarannon Falastur, Eärnil I, Ciryandil and Hyarmendacil I, built great fleets and spread Gondor's power along the coasts: Eärnil took Umbar in 933, Ciryandil died defending it, and Hyarmendacil crushed the Haradrim in 1050 and made their kings do homage. This was the height of Gondor's power, from the Isen to the Sea of Rhûn and from Mirkwood to the borders of Harad.

Decline begins

Hyarmendacil's son Atanatar Alcarin lived in splendour and let the watch on Mordor lapse. Rómendacil II, regent and then king, defeated the Easterlings in 1248 with the help of the Northmen, raised the Argonath, and sent his son Valacar to live among the Northmen of Rhovanion, where he married Vidumavi, daughter of Vidugavia.

The Kin-strife

Their son Eldacar was of mixed blood, and when he became king in 1432 the proud Dúnedain of the south rebelled. In 1437 Castamir, Captain of Ships, besieged and burned Osgiliath, in which the Dome of Stars fell and its palantír was lost in the river. Eldacar fled north; his son Ornendil was executed. Castamir ruled ten years with such cruelty and such neglect of everything but his fleet that when Eldacar returned with an army of Northmen in 1447 the people of Anórien, Ithilien and Calenardhon joined him. Castamir was killed at the Battle of the Crossings of Erui, but his sons held out in Pelargir and in 1448 sailed with the greater part of the fleet to Umbar, where they founded the pirate lordship of the Corsairs that plagued Gondor for the rest of the Age.

The Great Plague

In 1634 the Corsairs raided Pelargir and killed King Minardil. Two years later, in 1636, a plague out of the East swept through Gondor and Eriador, killing King Telemnar and all his children, the White Tree, and a great part of the population, above all in Osgiliath. Tarondor, who followed, moved the King's House to Minas Anor in 1640 and planted a new seedling, and Osgiliath began to fall into ruin. Calenardhon was nearly emptied, and the forts on the borders of Mordor were abandoned for want of men.

The Wainriders

A new enemy, the Wainriders, a confederation of Easterlings fighting from great wagons, attacked in 1851 and in 1856 killed King Narmacil II in the Battle of the Plains, seizing all Gondor's lands east of Anduin. Calimehtar defeated them on Dagorlad in 1899. In 1944 they allied with Harad and Khand for a double invasion; King Ondoher and both his sons died before the Morannon, but the southern army under Eärnil defeated the Haradrim in South Ithilien and then destroyed the Wainriders in the Battle of the Camp. Arvedui of Arthedain claimed the crown through his wife Fíriel, Ondoher's daughter; Gondor rejected him and chose Eärnil II in 1945. Eärnil nevertheless sent his son Eärnur with a fleet to help Arnor in 1975, too late to save Arvedui but in time to destroy the realm of Angmar at the Battle of Fornost.

The loss of Minas Ithil

The Witch-king, fleeing from Fornost, came to Mordor in 1980 and gathered the Nazgûl. In 2000 they besieged Minas Ithil and in 2002 took it with its palantír; it became Minas Morgul, and Minas Anor was renamed Minas Tirith, the Tower of Guard. Eärnur, who had ridden against the Witch-king at Fornost, became king in 2043 and was twice challenged by him to single combat. In 2050 he accepted, rode to the gate of Minas Morgul with a small escort, and never returned. He left no heir, and no claimant could be found whose title all would accept.

The Stewards

Mardil Voronwë, Eärnur's Steward, ruled in the King's name, and his descendants, the House of Húrin, followed him as Ruling Stewards for twenty-six generations, never taking the throne or the crown but keeping both against the King's return. Their rule saw the Watchful Peace of 2063 to 2460, then renewed war: Osgiliath was finally ruined and its bridge broken in 2475 by Uruks out of Mordor, though Boromir I drove them out of Ithilien. In 2510 Cirion called on the Éothéod against the Balchoth, and in reward for Eorl's charge at the Field of Celebrant gave him Calenardhon, sealing the alliance of Gondor and Rohan with the Oath of Eorl on Halifirien. Beren gave Isengard to Saruman in 2759 after the Long Winter and the Corsair raids of 2758. Under Belecthor II the White Tree died in 2852 and no seedling could be found; the dead tree was left standing. Ithilien was gradually abandoned as Mordor stirred again: Túrin II built the refuge of Henneth Annûn in 2901, and the last inhabitants fled in 2954 when Mount Doom burst into flame. Ecthelion II rebuilt the Rammas Echor and welcomed the captain Thorongil, who was Aragorn in disguise and who in 2980 destroyed the Corsair fleet in the haven of Umbar.

The War of the Ring

Denethor II, last Ruling Steward, was a proud, far-sighted lord who used the palantír of Minas Tirith and was worn down by Sauron's lies. Sauron's first blow, in June 3018, took eastern Osgiliath; Boromir and Faramir held the western bank and broke the bridge. Boromir went north to Rivendell and died at Amon Hen. In March 3019 the armies of Mordor and its allies crossed Anduin, overran the Pelennor and besieged Minas Tirith; Faramir was carried in wounded, and Denethor, believing all lost, burned himself on his pyre in Rath Dínen. The city was saved on March 15 by the Rohirrim, by Aragorn coming up Anduin from Pelargir with the fiefs of the south, and by the death of the Witch-king at the hands of Éowyn and Merry. Ten days later the Ring was destroyed while the Host of the West stood before the Black Gate.

The Reunited Kingdom

On May 1, 3019 Aragorn was crowned Elessar before the gate of Minas Tirith, the first king in nearly a thousand years, and united Gondor with the restored Arnor. He found a seedling of the White Tree on the slopes of Mindolluin and planted it in the Court of the Fountain, married Arwen at midsummer, made Faramir Prince of Ithilien and kept him as Steward, gave the Drúadan Forest to its Wild Men, and made peace with Harad and the East. He reigned a hundred and twenty years and was followed by his son Eldarion.

Gondor's heartland lay between the White Mountains and the Bay of Belfalas, drained by the Anduin on the east and by the Morthond, Ringló, Gilrain and the five rivers of Lebennin on the south. The Anduin marked the eastern frontier of the settled realm, with Ithilien between the river and the Mountains of Shadow, and the Poros dividing Ithilien from Harondor, the debated land towards Harad. Cair Andros and Osgiliath were the crossings; the Rammas Echor enclosed the Pelennor before the capital. Northward the province of Anórien ran along the mountains to the Mering Stream and Rohan; westward beyond Anfalas lay the empty coast of Enedwaith. At its height Gondor's border reached the Sea of Rhûn, the Limlight and the Gap of Rohan, and its fleets ruled the coasts as far as Umbar.