Arnor is a fictional kingdom in
J. R. R. Tolkien's writings. 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). Arnor is the territory of Middle-earth associated with the High Kings of the line of
Elendil, the kingship of which was restored at the crowning of Elessar (
Aragorn) after the
War of the Ring at the start of the
Fourth Age.
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 included Dúnedain in western-central regions and mixed or indigenous peoples. The first capital was Annúminas near
Lake Nenuial; the capital was moved to
Fornost sometime after the division of the kingdom.
History[edit]
Arnor was founded at the end of the
Second Age (
S.A. 3320) by
Elendil, whose sons
Isildur and
Anárion 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 especially
Tar-Aldarion. Most of them lived in the harbour of Vinyalondë, later called
Lond Daer. 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 in nearby
Lindon. But in later days, the Númenóreans who fell under
Sauron's shadow settled primarily in
Umbar. Thus, Elendil arrived in an area populated by people who, unlike his contemporaries in Númenor itself, were mainly still friends with the Elves, and who retained knowledge of the
Elder Days.
Arnor's second king was Isildur, who was also the King of Gondor, where he had ruled jointly with his brother until the latter's death. Isildur was killed in
T.A. 2 by
orcs in the
Disaster of the Gladden Fields, and his three eldest sons were killed with him. Only his youngest son,
Valandil, survived: being only a child at the start of the war, Valandil had remained behind in Rivendell. In
T.A. 10, after several years being tutored by Lord
Elrond, Valandil became the third king of Arnor.
For several centuries, Arnor's rulers styled themselves High King, following the precedent of Elendil, who ruled Arnor directly while holding
suzerainty over Gondor; the rulers of Gondor, by contrast, were merely styled King. Nevertheless, Valandil and his successors never made any serious attempt to assert their overlordship; after the death of Isildur, the two realms developed as equal and independent states.
Decline[edit]
With the victory of the
War of the Last Alliance, Arnor's power was apparently at its zenith. The King of Arnor held the overlordship of all the land from the Bay of Forochel to the River Poros on the southern borders of
Ithilien, and from the
Blue Mountains to the
Mountains of Shadow. But in reality Arnor's strength had been severely depleted by the war and the
Disaster of the Gladden Fields, and the northern Dúnedain never really recovered from their losses. The first few centuries of the Third Age were relatively uneventful, but it seems that Arnor's population gradually began to dwindle even in this early period.
Successor states[edit]
After the death of its tenth king,
Eärendur, in
T.A. 861, dissension among his three sons led to the division of Arnor. The eldest son,
Amlaith, claimed Kingship over all Arnor but was reduced to ruling only 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. The capital of Arnor was relocated to the lesser city of Fornost Erain on the North Downs.
This division hastened 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. Rhudaur, by contrast, was unfriendly towards the two other successor states, and fought a bitter conflict with Cardolan and Arthedain over the tower of Amon Sûl and the possession of its palantír.
Around
T.A. 1300 during the reign of the sixth king at Fornost, the
Witch-king arose in the mountains north-east of Arnor, where he founded the evil realm of
Angmar. There were gathered many evil men, orcs, and other fell creatures, with the intent of destroying the realm of Arnor while
Gondor in the south was strong. 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.
The last Kings of Rhudaur were not of
Númenórean blood, but were descended of Men in the service of Angmar. Under their rule the land became a vassal of Angmar, and an enemy of Cardolan and Arthedain. Angmar annexed and terminated the kingdom in
T.A. 1409. By this time no Dúnedain remained in the region, and power had been claimed by an evil chieftain of the hillmen. Constant battle with Angmar began to wear down the forces of Arthedain, while Cardolan as an independent entity came to an end shortly after the invasion by Angmar in 1409.
The Kings of Arthedain reclaimed the name of Arnor when the line of Elendil became extinct in Cardolan and Rhudaur and retook the prefix
Ar(a) in token of this, but this kingdom was only a small rump of the large and powerful realm of Arnor before its division. For the next several centuries after the destruction of Amon Sûl, Arnor continued to hold back the assaults of Angmar with dwindling strength and resolve. At this time no help could be sent from
Gondor as it was under attack by the
Wainriders, even after a re-establishment of relations with the wedding of Arnor's King
Arvedui to
Gondor's
King Ondoher's daughter. An attempt by Arvedui to reclaim the kingship of both Arnor and Gondor was revoked, and Arnor continued to stand alone against Angmar.
Arthedain was finally destroyed in
T.A. 1974, when the Witch-king captured Fornost. The next year, in the
Battle of Fornost, a coalition of Elves, forces of Gondor and the remainder of Arnor's armies routed the Witch-king's forces and destroyed Angmar. Eriador was vastly depopulated by the war, and very few people remained. The population of Arnor was mostly wiped out, but the
Hobbits survived relatively unscathed in
the Shire, men survived in
Bree and other villages, and the Dúnedain of Arnor created new homes in the Angle south of
Rivendell, where they became known as the
Rangers of the North. They became an isolated, wandering people, who defended the borders of
Bree and
the Shire from the perils in the wild.
Reunited Kingdom[edit]
Aragorn as King Elessar refounded the Kingdom of Arnor as part of the
Reunited Kingdom, and again made Annúminas his capital city.
Successor kingdoms[edit]
Arthedain[edit]
Arthedain was bounded upon the north by Forochel and the west by the Lune; upon the east by the Weather Hills and the south by the Baranduin.
Cardolan and
Rhudaur lay to the south and east.
The kingdom's capital was at
Fornost, and
Bree was one of its important towns. Annúminas lay in the territory of Arthedain, but was mostly ruinous and abandoned.
Around T.A. 1300 the kingdom of
Angmar appeared at Arthedain's north-eastern border. Its king, the
Witch-king of Angmar, was the chief of the
Ringwraiths, although this was not known to the
Dúnedain at the time. Rhudaur, aided by Angmar, attacked in T.A. 1356.
Argeleb I died in this conflict along the Weather Hills. When this new threat came, Cardolan placed itself under the suzerainty of Arthedain, which then began to call itself
Arnor again. Cardolan repeatedly sent aid to Arthedain when needed but in T.A. 1409 Cardolan and Rhudaur were conquered by Angmar and Arthedain survived only with the help of Elvish reinforcements from
Lórien and the Havens.
After 1409 Angmar's power was temporarily broken and the North Kingdom enjoyed relative peace, although its population continued to decline. Indeed, the decline was so severe that in 1601 Argeleb II (r. 1589–1670) granted a large portion of Arthedain's best farmland to Hobbit migrants, as these lands had become deserted. Arthedain was not badly affected by the Great Plague, but hostilies with Angmar resumed. King Araval (r. 1813–1891) defeated Angmar in 1851, but Arthedain spent its last decades in desperate conflict with Angmar. In T.A. 1940, Arthedain under Araval's son Araphant (r. 1891–1964) formed an alliance with Gondor, but in the end neither Kingdom was able to provide military assistance to the other. The Witch-king pressed the attack on Arthedain even more vigorously, while Gondor barely survived a massive invasion of the
Wainriders (T.A. 1944), leaving it temporarily unable to send substantial armies abroad. Araphant and his successor
Arvedui held out against Angmar as long as they could. In T.A. 1973 Arvedui again appealed to Gondor for help, and the King of Gondor,
Eärnil II (r. 1945–2043), sent a fleet north under his son
Eärnur. But it was sent too late: toward the end of T.A. 1974, the Witch-king captured Fornost and overran Arthedain, and the King's sons and most of the other Dúnedain fled across the Lune. Arvedui himself fled northwards and perished in a shipwreck early in T.A. 1975, taking with him the
palantíri of Annúminas and Amon Sûl. Eärnur's fleet reached Lindon after Arvedui's death. The combined might of Gondor, Lindon and Rivendell, together with soldiers from the former North-kingdom, routed Angmar's army at the
Battle of Fornost.
Though the military threat of Angmar had been destroyed, the North-kingdom was ended. The long wars and a series of natural disasters had taken their toll on the population of Eriador, and the Dúnedain especially were few in number and unable to maintain a kingdom. In T.A. 1976,
Aranarth, Arvedui's oldest son, took the title of Chieftain of the Dúnedain. He and his descendants led the Rangers of the North;
Aragorn II was the sixteenth Chieftain until he restored the Kingdom of Arnor in T.A. 3019. The Kingdom of Arthedain had included
the Shire (founded in T.A. 1601); in T.A. 1979, the Hobbits there chose a
Thain to represent the royal authority.
The name Arthedain appears to be dialect
Sindarin for "Realm of the Edain".
Cardolan[edit]
The borders of Cardolan extended from the river
Baranduin (Brandywine) on the west, the river
Mitheithel (Hoarwell) on the east and the river
Gwathló (Greyflood) on the east and south. Its northern border was parallel to the
Great East Road.
After it became a kingdom, Cardolan also claimed the Weather Hills controlled by
Arthedain, where the fortress of
Amon Sûl (Weathertop) and its valuable
palantír were located. For this reason the Weather Hills were claimed by all three kingdoms — Arthedain, Cardolan and
Rhudaur. This territorial dispute continued until Rhudaur became a vassal of
Angmar after the line of the
Dúnedain kings failed there.
When the kingdom of Angmar arose in northern
Eriador, Cardolan became an ally of Arthedain against the combined might of Angmar and Rhudaur. In 1356
Argeleb I of Arthedain was slain in battle with Rhudaur, now allied with Angmar. For a while Cardolan resisted Angmar, but in 1409 a large Army from Angmar broke into Cardolan and devastated the country. Arthedain could provide little aid, as it was itself under attack, and the remnants of the Dunedain fled, taking refuge in the Barrow Downs. The last prince of Cardolan died in this conflict, and Cardolan was shattered. While Arthedain recovered something of its power, Cardolan did not, and the region of the Barrow-downs entered hobbit legend as a place of mystery and danger.
In 1636 the Great Plague claimed the life of the King of
Gondor, and withered its
White Tree. The plague spread north along the Great Road that joined the two kingdoms, and the population of
Minhiriath was decimated. About this time the plague also wiped out the Dúnedain hiding in the
Barrow-downs and evil spirits came to dwell there. When King Araval attempted to resettle Cardolan two centuries later, the settlers were killed and driven off by the
wights. What few folk survived could offer little aid to Arthedain in 1974, when Angmar overwhelmed the last of the kingdoms of Arnor. Until the end of the Third Age, the Dúnedain of Cardolan were only a memory, their tombs and barrows haunted by the evil wights sent from Angmar; for the Rangers that wandered over the lands were descended from the people of Arthedain.
Tharbad survived until it was destroyed by floods in 2912.
The name Cardolan appears to be dialect
Sindarin for "Red Hill Country".
Rhudaur[edit]
The name Rhudaur appears to be dialect
Sindarin for "Eastern Forests", and indeed Rhudaur was the most easterly of the three regions in which Arnor was divided. In reality, however, its name means "Evil Wood", although Tolkien did not leave any explanation for its origin.
[2]
Rhudaur stretched from the Weather Hills with
Weathertop (Amon Sûl) to the river
Bruinen (Loudwater). It shared a long border with Cardolan near the
Great East Road, and with Arthedain along the line of the Weather Hills.
Rhudaur also included land south of the Road between the Bruinen and
Mitheithel (Hoarwell) rivers. It was called
the Angle, and it is here that the first
Stoor Hobbits came into
Eriador around T.A. 1150.
Rhudaur's
Dúnedain population was always small, and was always only a small proportion of its people. From its beginning, Rhudaur was unfriendly towards the two other successor states, and waged a long war with Cardolan over the tower of Amon Sûl and the
palantír associated with the tower.
Over time, the more numerous Hillmen came to dominate the population, and one of their leaders, allied with Angmar, seized power from the Dúnedain during the 14th century when the local line of Isildur failed. In T.A. 1356, forces of Rhudaur and Angmar slew the High King Argeleb I in battle; the
Stoors who had dwelt in the Angle fled south into
Dunland, or returned east over the mountains to the Vale of
Anduin. In T.A. 1409, Rhudaur was occupied by "evil Men subject to Angmar",
[3] and the last Dúnedain there were killed or fled the region. Afterward Rhudaur is no longer mentioned as a political entity.
The Great Plague of T.A. 1636 devastated Eriador, including Rhudaur. In T.A. 1975 Angmar and its control over the region were destroyed by a combined army of Gondor and Lindon. The Witch-king fled, and the Hillmen vanished from the histories of Middle-earth. As far south as the Great East Road, Rhudaur became a troll-country; travellers along the Road generally hurried along their way and avoided the Trollshaws.
There is evidence that after the fall of Angmar at the
Battle of Fornost the Angle became home to the remainder of the Dúnedain, and the
Rangers of the North established several villages there, where their people lived until the resurrection of the northern Kingdom under
King Elessar at the end of the Third Age. But northern Rhudaur remained wild and dangerous for the rest of that Age:
Arador was slain there by hill-trolls in T.A. 2930, and his son
Arathorn II fell in battle with orcs in T.A. 2933. In T.A. 2941,
trolls captured the company of
Thorin at the start of
The Hobbit.
Geography[edit]
Regions[edit]
Weather Hills[edit]
The Weather Hills were a barren and rocky region of hills that lay several dozen miles north-eastward of Bree. These hills served as line of defense against
Angmar early in the Third Age.
[4] The Weather Hills were also the location of the watchtower atop Amon Sûl (Weathertop), which was destroyed in TA 1409.
[5]
Barrow Downs[edit]
The Barrow Downs, called Tyrn Gorthad in Sindarin, were a hilly region east of the Old Forest. The hills derived their name from the large number of barrows and catacombs they held. These hills were overrun by fell spirits sent from
Angmar after the Great Plague in TA 1636.
[5]
North Downs[edit]
The North Downs were a range of hills in the northern part of Eriador, east of the Hills of Evendim and north of the Weather Hills. From their northernmost point the hills ran southwest to Fornost Erain, the ancient city of the Dúnedain of the North, and the northern terminus of the North-South Road. In T.A. 1974 after the fall of Fornost, King Arvedui escaped the destruction of the city and held out upon the North Downs for a little while before being forced to flee.
[4]
Evendim[edit]
Arnor's original capital of Annúminas was located on the southern shore of Lake Evendim (Nenuial in Sindarin, meaning "Lake of Twilight"). The Hills of Evendim (Emyn Uial in Sindarin, "Hills of Twilight") were a series of hills that stretched along the western shore of Lake Evendim. The Baranduin or Brandywine River rose from the lake, and a tributary of the river Lhûn arose in the hills.
[6]
Old Forest[edit]
The Old Forest was an ancient wild woodland in central Arnor. It was nominally part of Arnor's territory (and later Cardolan's), but
Men rarely entered this forest.
The Shire[edit]
The Shire was a region of gentle low-lying hills in northern Eriador inhabited by
Hobbits. It was a fertile and well-tilled part of Arnor, but was deserted during the waning days of Arthedain; it had served as hunting grounds for the King of Arnor. The Hobbits (who had migrated from Dunland and parts of Cardolan and Rhudaur) received permission from King Argeleb II to settle the lands. The Shire survived the wars and devastation that brought the North Kingdom to an end.
[7]
South Downs[edit]
A range of hills in the central south of
Eriador. The range was an eastern extension of the
Barrow-downs, from which it was separated by the
Andrath, the long narrow pass which bore part of the
North-South Road(also known as the Greenway).
The South Downs lay in the territory of
Cardolan in the kingdom of Arnor.
Trollshaws[edit]
The Trollshaws were a heavily wooded region north of the Great East Road. In ancient days the Trollshaws had been inhabited by the men of Arnor and subsequently Rhudaur, who built many castles and forts among the hills.
[8]
Tower Hills[edit]
Minhiriath[edit]
Minhiriath was a large region in south-western Eriador that encompassed all of the lands between the Brandywine and the Greyflood rivers. The region was mostly a wide-open landscape, and the only forest large enough to be mapped was Eryn Vorn along the coast of the sea. Minhiriath belonged to Cardolan after the division of Arnor, although by the end of the Third Age it was largely unpopulated.
Cities and Fortresses[edit]
Annúminas[edit]
Annúminas (Sindarin, "Tower of the West) was the first capital city of the kingdom of Arnor, founded late in the Second Age by Elendil the Tall. The city was situated beside Lake Nenuial and housed one of the three seeing stones of the North Kingdom. The city was abandoned and fell into ruin following the division of the kingdom, and its palantír was removed to Fornost, which became the new capital. The city was rebuilt in the Fourth Age, serving as the northern capital of the Reunited Kingdom.
Fornost[edit]
Fornost Erain (Sindarin "Northern-fortress of the Kings" from
for(n) (north) +
ost (fortress); "Norbury of the Kings" in
Westron) was a city of
Eriador in the north of
Middle-earth. It was located at the south end of the North Downs, about 100
Númenórean miles north of
Bree. After Fornost was abandoned, the site became known as
Deadmen's Dike, visited only by Rangers. At the time when
The Lord of the Rings is set, Fornost had been abandoned for "nearly a thousand years, and even the ruins of Kings' Norbury were covered with grass".
It is not known when Fornost was founded or exactly when the kings of Arnor moved there from Annúminas, but it is known that the kings moved to Fornost sometime after the death of King
Eärendur in T.A. 861, when Arnor was divided into three kingdoms. Fornost became the capital of Arthedain, the westernmost of the three.
Fornost was first attacked by the forces of the Witch-king in 1409, when the border defence system collapsed with the storming of the Forts of the Weather Hills. However, the City was successfully defended by the young King
Araphor and disaster was averted.
In T.A. 1974, Arthedain was overrun by the forces of
Angmar. They captured Fornost, and King
Arvedui fled into the northern wastes and was lost in the Ice Bay of
Forochel in March 1975. The following summer, a fleet from
Gondor led by
Eärnur landed at
Mithlond, fought the
Witch-king of Angmar in the plains west of Fornost, and defeated his armies, although the Witch-king himself escaped.
Fornost fell into ruin following the end of Arthedain and came to be known as Deadmen's Dike.
Gandalf indicated to
Barliman Butterbur that Fornost would probably be rebuilt by King
Elessar.
Tower of Amon Sûl[edit]
The watchtower at Amon Sûl (Weathertop) was built sometime in the Second Age. Elendil and the Army of Arnor waited there for the forces of Gil-galad before marching to
Mordor in the War of the Last Alliance. After the division of Arnor, Amon Sûl stood on the borders of all three kingdoms and was contested by each, falling under the control of Arthedain. The tower held the chief palantír of the North Kingdom, and with the rise of Angmar the neighbouring Weather Hills were fortified. In T.A. 1409 a great army came out of Angmar and the Tower was taken and burned. The tower's garrison took the palantír and retreated to Fornost.
Lond Daer[edit]
Lond Daer Enedh (Sindarin, "Great Middle Haven") was a great harbour founded at sometime during the Second Age by
Númenórean explorers along the coast of Minhiriath. The harbour was the first permanent settlement of Númenórean men in
Middle-earth, and it was a large foresting hub. Following the downfall of Númenor the port was already in ruins, and was abandoned in favour of Tharbad.
[10]
Elostirion[edit]
Elostirion was the tallest and the westernmost of the three towers that formed the Emyn Beraid. The tower had been built by
Gil-galad for
Elendil at the end of the Second Age, and it contained one of the three
palantíri of Arnor.
Palantíri[edit]
When
Elendil and his sons
Isildur and
Anárion fled the downfall of
Númenor at the end of the
Second Age, they carried with them seven of the many
seeing-stones, or palantíri, that had been given to them by the Elves. Of these seven, three were kept by
Elendil and brought with him to the North-kingdom. These stones were placed in Annúminas, Elostirion, and Amon Sûl, and were used to communicate in the realm, with the exception of the Elostirion stone.
Annúminas Stone[edit]
The
palantír of Annúminas was the stone that was placed in the first capital of Arnor on the shores of Lake Evendim. Although it was one of the lesser stones, this was the one that was most used by the Kings of Arnor when it was a unified kingdom. When Annúminas fell into ruin and the capital was removed to Fornost, the
palantír was relocated as well. The stone remained in Fornost for centuries, until when the city fell in TA 1974, it was carried to safety by the fleeing King
Arvedui. The
palantír was lost alongside the Amon Sûl stone the next year when the ship that was sent to rescue Arvedui was lost in ice, and it remained lost at the bottom of the ice bay in
Forochel.
Amon Sûl Stone[edit]
The
palantír of Amon Sûl was the greatest of the three stones that resided in Arnor, and could not be lifted by a single man. The stone was placed in the great watchtower of Amon Sûl on the Weather Hills, and it was a source of great contention between the three successor realms after Arnor's division. In TA 1409,
Angmar broke through Arnor's defences and razed the watchtower upon Amon Sûl, but the
palantír was carried back to safety at Fornost. The stone shared the same fate as the one of Annúminas when it was drowned in the ice-bay of
Forochel with King Arvedui in TA 1975.
Elostirion Stone[edit]
The
palantír of Elostirion was unique among the stones of
Middle-earth in that it only looked out upon the sea. The stone was placed in the tower by
Elendil after his flight out of
Númenor, and it remained safe after the fall of Arnor in the keeping of
Círdan, and Elves would make pilgrimages to view the Straight Road back to the Undying Lands. The stone was carried back to the Uttermost West in TA 3022 aboard the White Ship.
Literary Significance[edit]
Some stylistic analyses consider the ultimate importance of Arnor is to stand as a literary device contrasting the southern kingdom of Gondor. Arguing that Arnor and Gondor are representative of the classical dichotomy of light and dark, blessed and forsaken, good and evil - these analyses reference the abandonment by the heirs of
Valandil and the absence of a
White Tree as points of stylistic comparison to Gondor, with its fortresses and heavily populated capital city, its possession of a White Tree, and its well-equipped military and armaments.
[11]
The division of the Númenórean realms in exile also mirrors somewhat the
Western and
Eastern subdivisions of the
Roman Empire.
[12] One empire, Byzantium, long outlasted the other and enjoyed periods of great glory, as did
Gondor in
Middle-earth, and just as Arnor split into smaller kingdoms, the Western Empire soon disintegrated, and whole provinces were lost to invaders such as the Gauls and the Visigoths. In both Byzantium and the Western Empire, however, not one but a succession of families ruled, and whereas the Kin-strife in
Gondor was an isolated episode, in both the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, internecine fighting was a common occurrence.
Adaptations[edit]
In the
Lord of the Rings Online, the majority of the original regions (
Bree-Land, the Trollshaws, the Lonelands, the Ettenmoors, the North Downs, and
the Shire) all occupy what was once part of the kingdom of Arnor. A seventh region, Evendim, was also added to the game after its release which depicts the area surrounding Arnor's abandoned capital of Annúminas. In all seven of these regions, players may explore ruins of what were once fortresses and cities of Arnor including the ruins of Fornost, Annúminas, and Amon Sûl, as well as interact with many
Non-Player Characters that make reference to the fallen kingdom.
In its 2007 supplement The Ruin of Arnor to
The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game,
Games Workshop also released a line of miniatures that depict the forces of Arnor at different points in time, including the armies of the kingdom before its destruction, as well as the Dúnedain rangers that composed the remnants of Arnor's people.
See also[edit]
- Kings of Arnor - A complete listing of all the kings of both Arnor and its successor kingdom of Arthedain.
