Arnor

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Arnor
Part of the Lord of the Rings series
Sundering of the North
Arthedain  · Cardolan  · Rhudaur
Places
Annuminas  · Fornost  · Tharbad
Weathertop  · Bree  · The Shire
Minhiriath  · Tower of Amon Sûl
Important Kings
Elendil the Faithful  · Isildur
Eärendur  · Amlaith of Fornost
Argeleb I  · Arvedui
People
Dúnedain  · Middle Men  · Hobbits
Dunlendings
Miscellaneous
Malbeth the Seer  · Reunited Kingdom
Rangers of the North
Related topics
Gondor  · Rohan  · The Shire
Mordor  · Angmar  · Númenor
Other areas of the Lord of the Rings
House of Isildur  · House of Anárion
Gondor and [[]]
[[]]  · [[]]

In the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien, Arnor, or the Northern Kingdom, was a kingdom of the Dúnedain in the land of Eriador in Middle-earth. The name probably means "Land of the King", from Sindarin Ara- (high, kingly) + (n)dor (land).

At its greatest, Arnor encompassed almost the whole region of Eriador between Bruinen, Gwathló and Lhûn, and the region which would later be known as the Shire. Arnor's population was composed by Dúnedain in western-central regions and mixed or indigenous (and reluctant as citizens) peoples. Its capital was Annúminas near the lake Nenuial.

[edit] History

Arnor was founded at the end of the Second Age (S.A. 3320) by Elendil, whose sons founded Gondor at the same time. The history of the two kingdoms is intertwined; both kingdoms are known as the Realms of the Dúnedain in Exile.

Before the foundation of Arnor there was already a sizable Númenórean population living there, a result of the slow emigration of Númenóreans which had started under Tar-Meneldur and Tar-Aldarion. Before the arrival of the Dúnedain Arnor was home to Middle Men of Edain stock, and the early colonists soon interbred with the indigenous population. Arnor was originally favoured over the more southern regions (Gondor) because the Elves under Gil-galad lived near it across the river Lhûn. However, in later days after the Númenóreans fell under Sauron's shadow they settled more to the south. This led to a situation where Elendil arrived in an area populated by people who, unlike his own Númenóreans, were mainly still friends with the Elves, and unlike Gondor to the south in Arnor much knowledge of the Elder Days was preserved.

Arnor's second king Isildur (also King of Gondor) was killed in T.A. 2 by Orcs in the disastrous Battle of the Gladden Fields. His three eldest sons were killed with him, but the fourth and youngest, Valandil, survived and became king of Arnor (T.A. 2 or 10?).

Because Valandil and his heirs did not claim the throne of Gondor the realms were split, but Arnor's ruler kept the title High King, whereas in the south the ruler was 'just' King.

[edit] Decline

With the victory of the War of the Last Alliance, Arnor's power reached its zenith. The King of Arnor held the overlordship of all the land between the Ered Luin and the River Poros on the southern borders of Ithilien, east to the eastern borders of Mordor. After the Disaster of the Gladden Fields, Arnor began its slow decline. In many ways, Arnor never truly recovered from this disastrous blow to its manpower: While the dawn of the Third Age heralded a new era of opportunity and expansion for Gondor, Arnor began it in a futile attempt to simply recover lost strength.

The division of Arnor and wars with Angmar, which led to the destruction of Arnor. Deep Blue represents Arnor's original and greatest extent. Thee successor states are represented by Blue for Arthedain, Green for Cardolan, and Brown for Rhudaur. Red represents Angmar, which allied with and later annexed/subsumed Rhudaur. Orange represents the scattered communities that survived the fall of Arnor, The Shire and Bree-land.

[edit] Civil war and successor states

After the death of its tenth king, Eärendur, in T.A. 861, Arnor was shaken by civil war between the three sons of Eärendur. The eldest son, Amlaith, claimed Kingship over all Arnor but was reduced to only ruling the region of Arthedain as his kingdom, while the other sons founded the kingdoms of Cardolan and Rhudaur. The former capital, Annúminas, became depopulated and fell into ruin.

This marked the start of the decline of the Northern Dúnedain. The three kingdoms had frequent border skirmishes over boundary disputes, but the relationship of Arthedain and Cardolan remained relatively peaceful. However, Rhudaur was unfriendly towards the two other successor states, and took part in a bitter conflict with Cardolan over the tower of Amon Sûl and the palantír associated with the tower.

Then, in around T.A. 1300, an evil power, the Witch-king, arose in the mountains of the North East, where he founded Angmar. It was later revealed he was the leader of the Nazgûl, who were dispersed after the first overthrow of Sauron in S.A. 3434 at the hands of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, but survived nonetheless.

[edit] Fall

The last Kings of Rhudaur were not of Númenórean blood, but were descended of Men in service of Angmar. Under their rule the land became a vassal of Angmar, and thus enemies of Cardolan and Arthedain. Angmar annexed and terminated the kingdom in T.A. 1409. By this time the Dúnedain were gone from the region, as well as most of the other inhabitants

Armies swept out of Angmar, and were met on the Barrow Downs by the Cardolani army. In the fateful battle that followed, the Cardolani army was utterly destroyed, the majority of the Cardolani Royal Family were killed and many of the nobles of the leading Cardolani houses were slaughtered along with their knights. Many tens of thousands lay dead, the Arthedain capital, Fornost, had barely held out against the invaders, and Cardolan had been shattered. While Arthedain recovered something of her power, Cardolan did not.

In theory Arthedain became Arnor with the end of Cardolan and Rhudaur, but the Kingdom was a poor reflection of the large and powerful realm of Arnor before 861. The Great Plague destroyed the remainder of the People of Cardolan in 1636 and Arthedain was destroyed in 1974, culminating in the phyrric victory of the Battle of Fornost. The population of Arnor were mostly wiped out by the wars, but the Hobbits survived in the Shire, men survived in Bree and probably other villages, and the Dúnedain of Arnor created new homes in the Angle south of Rivendell, where some of them became known as the Rangers of the North.

[edit] Reunited Kingdom

Aragorn II as King Elessar refounded the Kingdom of Arnor as part of the Reunited Kingdom, and again made Annúminas his capital city. After the fall of Sauron, Arnor was safe again for human population, and although it remained less populated than Gondor to the south in time Arnor became a more densely populated area again, even if it had dwindled in size due to the independence of the Shire.

[edit] See also

• Kings of Arnor

[edit] External links

• Complete Chronology of Arnor and Gondor

Arnor was also the name of a software house which developed and published a range of business and utility software in the 1990s. Their Protext word processor sold over 100,000 copies on a range of platforms including the Amstrad PCW and MS-DOS.