[davem]

(Doing me best....)

Gondor seems, even more than Arnor, to have continued the Numenorean ‘tradition’ of expansion & domination. Their motivation is pride, bordering on hubris. Their kings take on ‘nicknames’ like ‘’East Victor, commemorating their victories. We have to remember that these are dececendants of the ‘Faithful’, the ‘good guys’! Still, the impression we get is that no one is as good them - ‘good’ meaning powerful, awesome, ‘wise’. What we actually see is that Denethor & Boromir were not unique in any way. Faramir stands out strongly against his ancestors. We could set Aragorn & Faramir against Denethor & Bormir - the formerpersonify the Numenorean ideal, the latter the reality.

'For the high men of Gondor already looked askance at the Northmen among them; and it was a thing unheard of before that the heir to the crown, or any son of the King, should wed one of lesser and alien race.

This is interesting. It seems to reflect Faramir’s words about ‘High’, ‘Middle’ & lesser Men. The fact that wedding one ‘of lesser race’ is ‘unheard of’ reflects not only an attitude bordering on racism, but also an obsession with the past, with what had always been done. They clearly suffer from the Elvish fault of ‘moral superiority’ & lack of belief in the future - if it is impossible to go back to the way things were, then at least one must prevent change as much as one can - even if this incites civil war.

They even take pride in the achievements of Ar-Pharazon, who isaster upon them.

Though great evil had come after, even the followers of Elendil remembered with pride the coming of the great host of Ar-Pharazon out of the deeps of the Sea; and on the highest hill of the headland above the Haven they had set a great white pillar as a monument.

The fact that the return of Eldacar & the resulting ‘mingling’ of Numenorean blood with that of ‘lesser’ men is presented as a negative thing by the writer of these annals (obviously written in the early Fourth Age) should perhaps make us wonder about the ‘ideal’ realm ruled over by Elessar. This ’mingling’ continues the ‘decline’ of the Dunedain
:’no doubt it was due above all to Middle-earth itself, and to the slow withdrawing of the gifts of the Numenoreans after the downfall of the Land of the Star.’ The ‘gifts of the Numenoreans’ are being ‘withdrawn’ - but by whom? Middle-earth itself, apparently.

The Kin-strife reflects Gondor’s increasing, self-imposed, isolation, but one can’t help sympathising with them after seeing the mess the Arnorians made of their own realm. The whole history of the Numenoreans in Middle-earth seems to be one of infighting & fragmentation.

The most significant events related in this section both forshadow events in LotR proper - the coming of the Rohirrim & the battle with the Witch King. The former shows that Gondor is not completely isolationist in its thinking, the latter demonstrates the pride that repeatedly brings about disaster.

I have to say I found reading these histories to be quite depressing in a way. Why is Gondor held up throughout LotR as some kind of ideal realm, which must be saved at all costs. Its far from perfect. Is it merely the ‘lesser of two evils’? Of course, we can’t judge it fairly, I suppose, because throughout its history its been at constant war, but, like Boromir, who seems to symbolise it, it has always seemed to revel in the ‘glory’ it brings. Still, if Boromir is the ‘face’ of Gondor, Faramir is its heart, & that heart never stopped beating.