[Alcuin]

Aranarth’s descendents never relinquished their claim on the throne of Gondor. Even as Chieftains of the Dúnedain of the North, they technically maintained their claim on the throne; but until Aragorn led the armies of Gondor to victory, as had Eärnil II before him, they had no means to bring home that claim.

Arvedui’s primary claim was based not upon his lineage, which was solid – he was heir to the throne of Arnor – but upon that of Fíriel, his wife, last surviving child of King Ondoher. Pelendur the Steward, Denethor’s ancestor, led the Royal Council of Gondor in rejecting the claim, no doubt in part because Arthedain was abysmally unsuccessful in fending off Angmar’s military advances. In addition, Gondor in its history had achieved tremendous heights of power under the Four Ship-kings that recalled the glory of Númenor, while Arnor had declined from the day of the disaster at Gladden Fields when Isildur was killed. Whom should they choose: the daughter of the last king and her unproven husband, heir to a kingdom with but a tenuous hold on existence, or her third cousin, a victorious captain of royal lineage who pulled the country’s bacon out of the fire when the king and both his sons, brothers of the other claimant, were killed, the younger brother (Prince Faramir, son of King Ondoher) because he impetuously went to battle when he was ordered to stay at home?

In the end, the Council of Gondor took the advice of Pelendur the Steward, rejected the claim of Arvedui (and Fíriel – don’t forget her!), after which the position of Steward, which from the days of Minardil the twenty-second king (excluding the reign of Castamir the Usurper) was chosen from the House of Húrin of Emyn Arnen, was made hereditary. Now, who do you suppose did that? Only the king would have such authority … I wonder why Eärnil would do that? Having a permanent steward, given that the dynasty was almost extinguished in the last war, was a wise and excellent move on the part of Eärnil II – but it didn’t hurt that Pelendur, the second-most powerful man in the kingdom, was Eärnil’s political ally and deeply in his debt.

Mardil and his family, Tolkien says, were related by blood to the line of Anárion, and could trace their descent to Anárion through daughters of the line; so the Ruling Stewards were exactly what they appeared to be: kings by default, but not in name. In Peoples of Middle-earth, “The Heirs of Elendil”, “The Stewards of Gondor”, there is a passage that reads,

These may be added [to the descendants of Anárion or Anárioni], for though not in direct line, the Hurinionath, the family to which Pelendur and Mardil belonged, were of Númenórean blood hardly less pure than that of the kings, and undoubtedly had some share in the actual blood of Elendil and Anárion.

The Hurinionath refers to “the House of Húrin, for they were descendants of the Steward of King Minardil…, Húrin of Emyn Arnen, a man of high Númenórean race.” (Return of the King, “Appendix A”) Minardil was the great-grandson of Eldacar.

Once the North Kingdom fell, there were basically no people to rule there: Arnor ceased to exist. This is something that people often forget about the story: the armies of Angmar killed almost all the Dúnedain of Arnor in the war of III 1974-1975. They weren’t taking them as slaves or permitting them to escape: they killed them – all of them. Only a bare remnant survived, people who must have made it to Rivendell or Lindon, who were not trapped and massacred after the siege and fall of Fornost. Aranarth, the son of Arvedui and Fíriel, ceases to call himself “king” and takes the title of “chieftain.” (This is a lot like what Elrond did after the fall of Gil-galad: Elrond is rightfully king of the Sindar as the only heir of Thingol (by Elwing – Dior Eluchíl – Lúthien – Thingol), and the rightful king of the remaining Noldor (by Eärendil – Idril Celebrindal – Turgon – Fingolfin – Finwë), but he never claims any title in Middle-earth at all.) The Rangers of the Northern Dúnedain are their military force, trying to keep the last remaining folks alive.

With no kingdom, and almost no people, the Chieftains were paupers in comparison to the nobility of Gondor, many of whom had a better (nearer) claim to the throne than Arvedui, although none of them had a better claim than Fíriel and her son Aranarth. When King Eärnur went away “with a small escort of knights” to meet the Lord of the Nazgûl in single combat in III 2043 (RotK, “Appendix A”, “Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion”), the Council could not come to any decision about who was the best candidate: it certainly couldn’t be Aranarth, because they had just rejected his father’s claim; and remembering the Kin-strife, they left Mardil the Steward in charge, a reasonable decision: after all, according to Tolkien Mardil was descended from Elendil by a distaff line (as were no doubt many others of the nobility of Gondor), and his grandfather Pelendur was most directly responsible for the decision to choose Eärnur’s father as king. This is reflected in the arrogantly proud and bitter words of Denethor to Gandalf in the mausoleum of the Stewards:

I am Steward of the House of Anárion. I will not step down to be the dotard chamberlain of an upstart. Even were his claim proved to me, still he comes but of the line of Isildur. I will not bow to such a one, last of a ragged house long bereft of lordship and dignity.

The Kings of Númenor and Elendil and Isildur (and later Aragorn II) used the title “High King,” implying that there were other, lesser kings around. We know that in some instances there were, at least in Middle-earth: Isildur and Anárion were kings in Gondor under the suzerainty of their father, Elendil; Meneldil son of Anárion as king of Gondor was subject to his uncle, Isildur, High King of the Dúnedain, until the disaster at Gladden Fields; and Éomer, while technically independent of Aragorn, deferred to the latter’s leadership throughout his long reign. (Those two lines probably merged in the Fourth Age.) In addition, we know that at least during Aragorn’s reign, there were princes in Dol Amroth and Emyn Arden; and there was a Prince of Cardolan until III 1409 that might not have been of royal descent. But specifically of Meneldil, footnote 10 of “The Disaster of the Gladden Fields” in Unfinished Tales says that,

Meneldil was the nephew of Isildur, son of Isildur's younger brother Anárion, slain in the siege of Barad-dûr. Isildur had established Meneldil as King of Gondor. He was a man of courtesy, but farseeing, and he did not reveal his thoughts. He was in fact well-pleased by the departure of Isildur and his sons, and hoped that affairs in the North would keep them long occupied.

The Tomb of Elendil was raised by Isildur as Heir of Elendil, High King of the Dúnedain, and direct OverKing of Gondor (ibid., “Cirion and Eorl”, section (iii)). He took Meneldil with him when he did this: Meneldil was apparently King of Gondor at this point, but he clearly recognized the overlordship of his uncle.

We should remember that when Isildur died in III 2, his son Valandil was only 13 years old and still living in Imladris; Meneldil was 125, and a seasoned veteran of the war against Sauron. Valandil did not officially succeed to the throne of Arnor until III 10, when he reached his 21st year. Arnor never regained its strength after the death of Isildur and his escort: in Silmarillion, “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”, it is said that

Valandil took up his abode in Annúminas, but his folk were diminished, and of the Númenóreans and of the Men of Eriador there remained now too few to people the land or to maintain all the places that Elendil had built…

Valandil was a child when Meneldil effected his independence from Arnor; when adult and king, he had not the military power to press his rightful claims against his cousin Meneldil; even had he done so, he would no doubt have been acting against the wishes and advice of his closest and most important allies, Círdan and Elrond, in whose house he grew up. Meneldil obtains his independence de facto: Arnor and Valandil were too weak to press their claims, they were too far away to matter politically, and it is unlikely that either the majority of the Northern Dúnedain or their Elven allies saw any practical gain, any upside, in pursuing the matter.

To put it bluntly, Meneldil usurped Isildur’s suzerainty unto himself. The kings of Arnor and Arthedain never forgot it, and they never relinquished their claim to suzerainty over Gondor. (A similar situation apparently arose among the Arnorian daughter kingdoms of Arthedain, Cardolan, and Rhudaur, which led to the intervention of Angmar on behalf of the Hillmen of Rhudaur, who usurped the rule of that petty kingdom, eventually resulting in the ruin of Arnor.) We can still sense the opportunism and arrogance of Meneldil centuries later in the answer of the Council of Gondor to Princess Fíriel of Gondor and Arthedain and her husband Prince Arvedui (Arvedui’s father Araphant was king until III 1964, but Eärnil was made king in III 1945 after a one-year interregnum: Fíriel and Arvedui were still princess and prince; the citation is from RotK, “Appendix A”):

“The crown and royalty of Gondor belongs solely to the heirs of Meneldil, son of Anárion, to whom Isildur relinquished this realm. In Gondor this heritage is reckoned through the sons only; and we have not heard that the law is otherwise in Arnor.”

This was untrue: Meneldil had ignored his obligations to Valandil and used his greater power to enforce his independence. The response of Arvedui, Aranarth, and the Council of Arthedain was the correct response (ibid.):

“Elendil had two sons, of whom Isildur was the elder and the heir of his father. We have heard that the name of Elendil stands to this day at the head of the line of the Kings of Gondor, since he was accounted the high king of all the lands of the Dúnedain. While Elendil still lived, the conjoint rule in the South was committed to his sons; but when Elendil fell, Isildur departed to take up the high kingship of his father, and committed the rule in the South in like manner to the son of his brother. He did not relinquish his royalty in Gondor, nor intend that the realm of Elendil should be divided for ever.

“Moreover, in Númenor of old the scepter descended to the eldest child of the king, whether man or woman. It is true that the law has not been observed in the lands of exile ever troubled by war; but such was the law of our people, to which we now refer, seeing that the sons of Ondoher died childless.”

what is particularly telling is what follows immediately in the text of the Appendix of RotK (all emphasis mine):

To this Gondor made no answer. The crown was claimed by Eärnil, the victorious captain; and it was granted to him with the approval of all the Dúnedain in Gondor, since he was of the royal house. … Arvedui did not press his claim; for he had neither the power nor the will to oppose the choice of the Dúnedain of Gondor; yet the claim was never forgotten by his descendants even when their kingship had passed away.

There are three very important points in this last passage:

1. The Dúnedain could themselves choose a king as long as he was of the cynn (Anglo-Saxon, “family, kin” – it is precisely our modern word, kin, and the root of the word king, A-S cyning, “of the kindred (royal family)”, traditionally placed at the end of the name: “‘Théoden King ... is dead. But Éomer King now rides in the battle: he with the white crest in the wind,’” from “Battle of the Pelennor Fields”); indeed the House of Elendil based its kingship upon such an acceptance, for surely there remained representatives of the House of Elros among the Black Númenóreans (King’s Men) of Middle-earth immediately after the ruin of Númenor;
2. the Chieftains of the Dúnedain never relinquished their claim; and
3. the Council of Gondor never answered the final claim of Arvedui and Fíriel.

By tradition, the Chieftains of the Dúnedain were apparently on very solid ground, and the Dúnedain were a people socially bound by tradition. Note also that this is the second rebuttal of the Heirs of Isildur by the rulers of Gondor; ignoring Valandil’s rights as High King was the first; Aragorn’s claim was the third made upon the crown of Gondor by the Heirs of Isildur, and the only one not refuted.

Before finally addressing the question of the thread, which is, if I may rephrase it, Upon what was the royal claim of Aragorn based?, let me will speculate for a moment on how the situation arose that Arnor had a king, but no people; while Gondor had people, but no king . Morgul practices in Arnor, particularly in Rhudaur (see Faramir’s comments that, “‘It is not said that evil arts were ever practiced in Gondor,’” which always struck me as a polite way of saying, but it is said they were in Arnor. “Window on the West”, Two Towers), led to the fragmentation of Arnor and a bloody civil war among the Dúnedain of the North, so that before Angmar was recognized as a threat to the Dúnedain states, they wantonly killed one another off for control of territory, assets, and resources. The destruction of the people of Arnor might be seen in this light as divine retribution for their impiety.

On Gondor’s side of this grand equation, the elevation of Eärnil II to the throne was not a sound decision. Malbeth the Seer prophesied before Araphant when his son was born (RotK, “Appendix A” “Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion”),

Arvedui you shall call him, for he will be the last in Arthedain. Though a choice will come to the Dúnedain, and if they take the one that seems less hopeful, then your son will change his name and become king of a great realm.

The results of that bad decision, made in III 1945, came quickly upon both kingdoms: Arthedain fell and its people were slaughtered 30 years later; and after 27 more years, in III 2002 (from Silmarillion, “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”),

…in the days of Eärnil [the Nazgûl] made their first stroke, and they came by night out of Mordor over the passes of the Mountains of Shadow, and took Minas Ithil for their abode… Minas Morgul was ever at war with Minas Anor in the west.

Eärnil lacked the insight and experience to deal with the Nazgûl, something the commanders of Arthedain possessed in spades; Arthedain lacked the means to defend itself from the assault of Angmar, and Gondor was slow to come to its aid, when timely assistance might have saved the struggling kingdom. Moreover, Eärnur was a great captain, but a poor king (ibid.):

Eärnur was a man like his father in valor, but not in wisdom. He was a man of strong body and hot mood; but he would take no wife, for his only pleasure was in fighting, or in the exercise of arms. ...he seem[ed] rather a champion than a captain or king...

When Eärnur received the crown in 2043 the King of Minas Morgul challenged him to single combat... For that time Mardil the Steward restrained the wrath of the king. ...

Eärnur had held the crown only seven years when the Lord of Morgul repeated his challenge... Then Mardil could no longer restrain him, and he rode with a small escort of knights to the gate of Minas Morgul. None of that riding were ever heard of again. ... Mardil the Good Steward ruled Gondor in his name for many years.

So Arnor’s people died, and Gondor’s kings died.

Finally, Aragorn’s the claims to the throne were set forth by Faramir, last Ruling Steward of Gondor, who recognized Aragorn as king when he awoke in the Houses of Healing. Look again as Faramir proclaimed Aragorn to the people of Minas Tirith in Return of the King, “The Steward and the King”.

Men of Gondor hear now the Steward of this Realm! Behold! one has come to claim the kingship again at last. Here is Aragorn son of Arathorn, chieftain of the Dúnedain of Arnor, Captain of the Host of the West, bearer of the Star of the North, wielder of the Sword Reforged, victorious in battle, whose hands bring healing, the Elfstone, Elessar of the line of Valandil, Isildur’s son, Elendil’s son of Númenor. Shall he be king and enter into the City and dwell there?

Aragorn’s claim was based upon these things: He was:

1. the successful military chief of the Rangers of the North,
2. commander of the combined forces of Gondor and Rohan,
3. rightful king of the Lost Realm of Arnor (edit: an implicit acceptance of the ancient Arnorian claim of High Kingship),
4. the bearer of Narsil, the Sword of Elendil, reforged,
5. victor of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the Gates of Morannon (essentially the same claim as Eärnil II),
6. the man who healed the victims of the Black Breath (“The hands of the king are the hands of a healer”, RotK, “Houses of Healing”), and
7. the Heir of Elendil, founder and High King of both kingdoms of the exiled Dúnedain in Middle-earth.

When Aragorn took the crown, he spoke in Quenya the same words his forefather Elendil had spoken when he arrived from Númenor:

Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come. In this place will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.

The foundation of the claim was that Aragorn was the Heir of Elendil (which overcame the objections of being the Heir of Isildur); he was the one foretold by prophecy who bore Narsil reforged; he healed those struck down by the Black Breath (“‘And so the rightful king could ever be known.’” RotK, “Houses of Healing”); and he was the victorious commander who saved Minas Tirith and the Rohirrim from ruin before and then the bold and daring commander who led them to victory before the Black Gates. Both Faramir the Ruling Steward and Imrahil Prince of Dol Amroth, the two greatest lords of the realm, openly and publicly recognized Aragorn’s claim. Last but not least, he was accepted by the exultant acclimation of the People of Minas Tirith.

That’s a pretty solid claim to the throne. In addition, Aragorn might add the old claim of Arvedui, that he was as Heir of Isildur by right High King of both Arnor and Gondor, which title he took upon his coronation; and the old claim of Fíriel, that his foremother was the rightful Ruling Queen as the only surviving child of Ondoher, twenty-eighth King of Gondor. Their descendants never relinquished those claims, nor were they ever refuted by the Council of Gondor.