Denethor vs. Aragorn

[cellurdur]

Originally Posted by Belegorn

They made no reply because they already told him that Isildur's heirs had relinquished the realm of Gondor. Whether he invoked Elendil or not, Isildur's heirs had relinquished the realm of Gondor according to them. I'm not saying that they were right, but this was their stance, which they held to. That was their argument. Again, I will tell you, his claim was not valid according to the South Kingdom because they believed "the crown and royalty of Gondor belongs soley to the heirs of Meneldil, son of Anárion, to whom Isildur RELINQUISHED this realm".

No they had made a false claim, which they could not back up. Arvedui had made his initial claim on two points.
1. Being Isildur's heir.
2. Being the husband of Firiel.

'On the death of Ondoher and his sons, Arvedui of the North Kingdom claimed the crown of Gondor as the direct descendant of Isildur and the husband of Firiel the only surviving child of Ondoher.'

The council then reject his claim and give their reasons.

1. They claim that Firiel's claim is not accepted, because in Gondor like Arnor they practice Salic succession.
2. The crown of Gondor belongs to the sons of Meneldil, to whom Isildur relinquished the kingdom.

So falsely they rejected the claim of Isildur's heir based on him having apparently relinquished the kingship of Gondor.

Arvedui, however then goes over the top of this and claim the throne not as Isildur's heir, but Elendil's.

'We have heard that the name Elendil stands to this day at the Head of the Line of Kings of Gondor'

Arvedui here has caught them out on the political manoeuvrings they were trying to carry out. The Throne of Gondor cannot belong solely to the heirs of Anarion, because Gondor to that day still claimed Elendil as their first king. As long as Elendil was their first king then other descendants of Elendil and not just through Meneldil could claim the throne.

His second point about Firiel is also valid. Whilst they had at the time through tradition chosen only male heirs to be king, the Law of Gondor was still theoretically the same as the Law of Numenor. Consequently women did have the right to the throne and nothing had been altered.