Arnor

The kingdom

Arnor was the elder of the two Realms in Exile and the personal kingdom of Elendil, High King of the Dúnedain. At its greatest extent it covered nearly all of Eriador: from the Lune and the borders of Lindon in the west to the Misty Mountains in the east, and from the northern moors and the ice of Forochel to the Greyflood, with the port of Tharbad shared between Arnor and Gondor. Its capital was Annúminas on the shore of Lake Evendim, where Elendil kept the Sceptre and the chief palantír of the kingdom. Other palantíri stood in the tower of Amon Sûl on Weathertop and in Elostirion on the Tower Hills, and the king's second city was Fornost on the North Downs.

The Dúnedain of the North

The people of Arnor were Númenóreans who had sailed with Elendil, together with Men of Eriador who had long been friendly to the Elves and to the settlers from Númenor. They were fewer than the people of Gondor from the start, and Eriador, wide as it was, offered less wealth and worse neighbours than the south. Through the Third Age the Dúnedain of the North dwindled steadily, first in the civil divisions after 861, then in the wars against Angmar, and finally in the Plague, until at the end of the kingdom they were a small folk scattered among the ruins of a realm they had lost.

What they kept was the line of the kings. From Isildur to Aragorn the succession from father to son was unbroken for over three thousand years, so that when the heir of Isildur at last claimed the crown of Gondor the claim of Arvedui, refused in 1944, was made good.

Foundation and the Last Alliance

Elendil landed in the north in S.A. 3320 with four ships, while his sons Isildur and Anárion founded Gondor in the south. He built Annúminas, raised Amon Sûl, set up the palantíri and was High King over both realms. In 3430 he joined with Gil-galad to form the Last Alliance, mustered his people at Rivendell, and marched to the war in which he and Gil-galad died on the slopes of Mount Doom.

The line of Isildur

Isildur was High King for two years and was slain at the Gladden Fields in T.A. 2 with his three eldest sons. His fourth son Valandil, a child at Rivendell, became King of Arnor in T.A. 10, and from him the kings of the North descended: Eldacar, Arantar, Tarcil, Tarondor, Valandur, Elendur and Eärendur. In this period Arnor was at peace, but its numbers did not grow, and the capital was gradually removed from Annúminas to Fornost.

Division

Eärendur died in 861 and his three sons quarrelled. The realm was divided into Arthedain, the north-west with Fornost and the Tower Hills; Cardolan, the south between the Brandywine, the Greyflood and the Road; and Rhudaur, the east between the Weather Hills and the Misty Mountains. The line of Isildur survived only in Arthedain, and in 1349 its king Argeleb I claimed lordship over all Arnor. Rhudaur refused, and behind Rhudaur stood a new power in the north.

The wars with Angmar

The realm of Angmar had been founded about 1300 by the Witch-king for the express purpose of destroying the Dúnedain. Argeleb I was killed in 1356, Amon Sûl was burned and Arveleg I killed in 1409, and Cardolan was ruined. Arthedain held on with help from Lindon and Rivendell, and its kings Argeleb II and Arveleg II and Araval and Araphant reigned through a long twilight in which the Plague of 1636 emptied the south and the wights took the barrows. In 1601 Argeleb II granted the Shire to the hobbits, who became loyal subjects of a king they would never see.

In 1944 Arvedui, son of Araphant and husband of the daughter of King Ondoher of Gondor, claimed the southern crown when Ondoher and his sons were killed; Gondor chose Eärnil II instead. Thirty years later, in 1974, the Witch-king took Fornost. Arvedui fled to Forochel and drowned in the spring of 1975; the army that Eärnil's son Eärnur had at last sent north arrived too late to save the kingdom, but with Círdan's Elves it destroyed Angmar at the Battle of Fornost.

The Chieftains and the Rangers

Arvedui's son Aranarth did not take the title of king over a people too few to fill a city. He became the first Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North, and his heirs were raised at Rivendell, where the Sceptre of Annúminas, the Ring of Barahir, the shards of Narsil and the star of Elendil were kept. The Dúnedain became the Rangers: wandering guardians of Eriador who kept the roads and borders safe for peoples who had forgotten them. Fifteen Chieftains followed Aranarth, among them Arassuil, in whose day the orcs raided as far as the Shire, and Arador and Arathorn II, who were killed by trolls and orcs within a few years of each other.

Restoration

Arathorn's son Aragorn, sixteenth Chieftain, was crowned King Elessar of Gondor on May 1, 3019, and took up the Sceptre of Annúminas as King of Arnor as well. He rebuilt Annúminas, made the Shire a Free Land under the northern sceptre, and reigned over the Reunited Kingdom for 120 years. The Fourth Age began with the North-kingdom whole for the first time since 861.

At its height Arnor covered Eriador from the Lune to the Misty Mountains and from Forochel to the Greyflood. After 861 it was divided into Arthedain (north-west), Cardolan (south) and Rhudaur (east). Chief cities: Annúminas on Lake Evendim and Fornost Erain on the North Downs.