Quote:
Originally Posted by Belegorn
In People of M-E it is said, ""the Hurinionath were not in the direct line of descent from Elendil, they were ultimately of royal origin, and had in any case kept their blood more pure than most other families in the later ages". [ch. 7] This does not imply that they were the purest noble house in Gondor, only that they were one of the few who were nearly so. The Lords of Dol Amroth were probably cousins of Elendil or at least were married into his family as early as before the destruction of Númenor. I'm of the opinion that the Stewards married into the royal house some time before the end of Gondor's kings.
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This is from a draft and it does not make the appendix. We can speculate on the reason, but Tolkien did decide to leave it out.
The Numenoreans were never ones to have big families or even always got married at all. Then with the wars, the pestilence and others things many of the noble families would have ended. Minas Morgul had falled and Osgiliath was a ruin. Then there was the terrible kinslaying, which if anything like the War of the Roses (which it appears to be) then several lines would have been wiped out.
The Stewards seemed to have been chosen in part, because they had no claim; a neutral noble House if you will.
As I said before even at the time of Aragorn's return there were other Houses of greater nobility.
I can see the warring Princes of Gondor settling for a noble House, but one with no threat of ever being able to claim the throne.