6 Degrees of Separation

[Urwen]

Here is a tough cookie

Zimraphel - > Eldacar

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Here is a tough cookie

Zimraphel - > Eldacar

So... which Eldacar? Because Eldacar of Arnor was the grandson of Isildur, which gives us:

Zimraphel > Elendil > Isildur > Valandil > Eldacar.

But there's also an Eldacar of Gondor, who I admit would be a mite trickier.

hS

[Urwen]

The one of Gondor.

[Huinesoron]

I've been trying to reach an immortal by hopping down the family tree to the Princes of Dol Amroth, but I wind up with Amroth as #9, so it's way too long.

hS

[Urwen]

In that case, I'll accept your first answer.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

In that case, I'll accept your first answer.

But my first answer was not correct (except technically, which is the best kind of correct).

I wouldn't be able to put up another one tonight anyway, so there's no harm letting people think for longer than 12 hours.

hS

[Huinesoron]

So then, where can we go from Eldacar?

-Down towards Mithrellas. This takes far too many steps.

-Across to Castamir the Usurper. So far as I can tell, Castamir and his descendents never had direct contact with Sauron, so this looks like a dead end.

-Up to his Northman ancestry. But where then? They're entirely self-contained, and their battles contain no named enemies (for instance, Nazgul).

-Up the family tree? Eldacar directly overlaps as far up as Calmacil, who overlaps up to Hyarmendacil I, who overlaps up to Falastar and Beruthiel. That's nine Kings of Gondor; surely at least one of them must have met Gil-Galad or someone?

... no. Apparently not. Not according to their own Gateway pages, at any rate.

So who might have run into the Kings of Gondor? Saruman is an option, but he was in the East for most of this time period. Galadriel and Celeborn maybe; apparently they were hanging out in Edhellond, but there's no recorded contact with Minas Anor. Amroth and Elrond seem to have kept to themselves.

How about this?

-Eldacar overlaps by 110 years with his grandfather
-Romendacil II, who built the
-Pillars of the Arganoth, which were later passed by
-Aragorn, who was fostered by
-Elrond, who fought alongside
-Elendil, who knew
-Zimraphel.

Only that's seven. But there is this:

-Eldacar fought in the Kin-Strife, during which the
-Osgiliath-stone was lost, having been originally placed by
-Elendil, who obviously knew
-Zimraphel?

Only, y'know... inanimate objects. So how about this?

-Eldacar overlapped by 36 years with his great-grandson
-Minardil, who overlapped by about fifty years with his grandson
-Tarondor, who planted the
-Third White Tree of Gondor, which was a sapling of the
-Second White Tree of Gondor, which was planted by
-Isildur, who knew
-Zimraphel.

Only living things, but it still hits seven.

Any pointers on where to start out?

hS