Character Bios
Eärnur
Race/Species: Man
Type/Kind: Dunadan of Gondor
Title(s):
33rd King of Gondor
Dates:
III 2050 disappeared, presumed dead
Parents:
father: Eärnil II, 32nd King of Gondor
Description:
Eärnur, son of Eärnil II, 32nd King of Gondor, was the 33rd King of Gondor. He was the last king for nearly one thousand years, as the Ruling Stewards reigned over Gondor:
Eärnur rides to Minas Morgul and is lost. Mardil becomes the first Ruling Steward.
The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, The Tale of Years: The Third Age
But when Eärnur came to the Grey Havens there was joy and great wonder among both Elves and Men. So great in draught and so many were his ships that they could scarcely find harbourage, though both the Harlond and the Forlond also were filled....
The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion
Eärnur... 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.
The Peoples of Middle-Earth, HoME Vol 12, Part 1, Ch 7, The Heirs of Elendil: The Ruling Stewards of Gondor
Eärnur had held the crown only seven years when the Lord of Morgul repeated his challenge, taunting the king that to the faint heart of his youth he had now added the weakness of age. Then Mardil could no longer restrain him, and he rode with a small escort of knights to the gate of Minas Morgul. None of that riding were ever heard of again. It was believed in Gondor that the faithless enemy had trapped the king, and that he had died in torment in Minas Morgul; but since there were no witnesses of his death, Mardil the Good Steward ruled Gondor in his name for many years.
Now the descendants of the kings had become few. Their numbers had been greatly diminished in the Kin-strife.... So it was that no claimant to the crown could be found who was of pure blood, or whose claim all would allow; and all feared the memory of the Kin-strife, knowing that if any such dissension arose again, then Gondor would perish. Therefore, though the years lengthened, the Steward continued to rule Gondor, and the crown of Elendil lay in the lap of King Eärnil in the Houses of the Dead, where Eärnur had left it.
The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: The Realms in Exile: The Southern Line: Heirs of Anárion
Since his death was not certain Mardil the Good Steward ruled Gondor in his name for many years. In any case no male descendants of the royal line, among those whose blood was little mixed, could be found.
The Peoples of Middle-Earth, HoME Vol 12, Part 1, Ch 7, The Heirs of Elendil: The Southern Line of Gondor: The Anárioni
[The] line of the Kings came to an end, until it was restored by Elessar Telcontar in 3019. The realm was then ruled by the Stewards.
The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: The Realms in Exile
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 6Dec09
