It is the year of Our Lord 2020, the Queen of England is Elizabeth II, whose ancestry can be traced back to William the Conqueror. Let's use England as backdrop for our little thought experiment. I will not bow to such a one, last of a ragged house long bereft of lordship and dignity.'ĩ76 years might seem like a short time when you've just read about the War of Wrath at the end of First Age yesterday. 'Even were his claim proved to me, still he comes but of the line of Isildur. In short, Gondor recognized its kings as those of the line of Meneldil, rather than those of the line of Isildur.īefore his death, Denethor confirmed Aragorn's questionable claim as Gondor's king, Gondor's kingship went, instead, to a distant branch of Meneldil's line. Gondor, henceforth, was ruled by the line of Meneldil.Īnd when the last direct descendant of Meneldil died without apparent heir, Arvedui, of the direct line of Isildur, was denied the ruling of Gondor. When Isildur left Gondor for Imladris (and famously lost his life and the One Ring along the way), he left the realm to his nephew, Meneldil. We might remember Aragorn's crowning as an event without much controversy, but history shows a precedence of the heirs of Isildur being rejected of Gondor's throne. '.and the rule of Gondor, my lord, is mine and no other man's, unless the king should come again.'Īragorn did not have a strong enough claim to the throne of Gondor anyway. In Pippin's eyes, Denethor II was a 'kingly' man, a 'powerful' man.Ī man can look 'kingly' only if he believes himself to be king only if he carries the responsibilities and enjoys the privileges of a king only if others believe him to be king.ĭenethor's own words further demonstrates this, He was in charge of the military he held court in the Throne Room he was, in short, the highest power in Gondor. The meeting in the throne room indicates that in the eyes of Gondorians (commoners and nobles alike), the Steward of Gondor represented the kingdom. Recall that when Pippin and Gandalf first arrived at Gondor, they had audience with Denethor II in the Tower Hall (Gondor's throne room) - the ultimate place of power in Gondor. The Stewards of Gondor had, in all evidence, ruled with the power of a King during the years of the Royal House's absence. The Unfinished Tales states that the Stewards of Gondor are of the House of Húrin - a House with royal Númenórean blood, but not of the ruling line.īut the fact that the Stewards were of royal descent should be reason enough to claim the throne. The Stewards of Gondor had high Númenórean blood.

Steward of gondor