Ecthelion II

Lineage and accession

Ecthelion was the son of Turgon, twenty-fourth Ruling Steward, of the House of Húrin, and the grandson of Túrin II. He was born in 2886 and grew up in the years when Gondor's borders were shrinking: Ithilien had been abandoned as a place of habitation, the Haradrim were pressing on the Poros, and in 2951, during his father's rule, Sauron declared himself openly in Mordor and Mount Doom burst into flame again. Turgon died in 2953 and Ecthelion took up the white rod at sixty-seven.

The Steward's rule

Ecthelion was a man of wisdom who understood that Gondor could not stand alone. He repaired the defences of Minas Tirith, strengthened the fortress island of Cair Andros and the forts on the Anduin, and made a point of drawing capable men of every kind into his service, from Gondor's own fiefs and from beyond them, rewarding them by merit rather than by birth. He welcomed Gandalf to the city and listened to his counsel, in contrast to his son, who resented the wizard's influence. He was on good terms with Thengel of Rohan, who had lived in Gondor and married a woman of Lossarnach, and the alliance of the two realms was close in his time.

Thorongil

Around 2957 a stranger came into Ecthelion's service from Rohan, where he had served Thengel. He called himself Thorongil, the Eagle of the Star, for the silver star he wore on his cloak, and he was tall, grey-eyed and grave, of the Númenórean look but with the manners of the North. Ecthelion made him a captain, and Thorongil proved himself the best commander in Gondor, on land and sea, loved by the soldiers and trusted by the Steward above all his other servants. He counselled Ecthelion against trusting Saruman and urged him to heed Gandalf, which did not endear him to the Steward's son Denethor, who saw in the stranger a rival for his father's regard and perhaps something more. Thorongil's greatest deed was the raid of 2980: with a small fleet he sailed by night into the harbour of Umbar, burned the greater part of the Corsair fleet, and killed the Captain of the Haven on the quays before escaping with trifling loss. Then, at the height of his fame, he sent a farewell message to Ecthelion and left, crossing the Anduin into the east and never returning in that name. Thorongil was Aragorn, and it was as King Elessar that he came back to the city forty years later.

Death and legacy

Ecthelion died in 2984 at ninety-eight and Denethor succeeded him. He left Gondor stronger and better defended than he had found it and its alliances in good repair, and he is remembered in the annals chiefly as the Steward who valued Thorongil. The Tower of Ecthelion, the White Tower of the Citadel, was named not for him but for his ancestor Ecthelion I, who rebuilt it in 2698.

Died in 2984 after thirty-one years of rule; succeeded by his son Denethor II.