Timeline Event
Aragorn (as Thorongil) leaves Gondor after the raid on Umbar
Event Type: General
Age: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Year: 2980
Description:
An event in the aftermath of Aragorn (as Thorongil) raids Umbar and burns the Corsair fleet; see that entry for more information:
2957-80
Aragorn undertakes his great journeys and errantries. As Thorongil he serves in disguise both Thengel of Rohan and Ecthelion II of Gondor.
2984
Death of Ecthelion II. Denethor II becomes Steward of Gondor.
The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix B, The Tale of Years: The Third Age
Thorongil [...] was a great leader of men, by land or by sea, but he departed into the shadows whence he came, before the days of Ecthelion were ended.
Thorongil [...] got leave of the Steward and gathered a small fleet, and he came to Umbar unlooked-for by night, and there burned a great part of the ships of the Corsairs. [...] But when they came back to Pelargir, to men's grief and wonder, he would not return to Minas Tirith, where great honour awaited him.
He sent a message of farewell to Ecthelion, saying: "Other tasks now call me, lord, and much time and many perils must pass, ere I come again to Gondor, if that be my fate." Though none could guess what those tasks might be, nor what summons he had received, it was known whither he went. For he took boat and crossed over Anduin, and there he said farewell to his companions and went on alone; and when he was last seen his face was towards the Mountains of Shadow.
There was dismay in the City at the departure of Thorongil, and to all men it seemed a great loss, unless it were to Denethor, the son of Ecthelion, a man now ripe for the Stewardship....
[...] At the time many thought that Thorongil had departed before his rival became his master....
The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion: The Stewards
Contributors:
Tanaqui 5Nov05