Arnor- Designed For Failure?

[Snowdog]

Not sure where I was in May 2014 ... wait, I was taking a zig-zagging RV drive across the USA from Chicago to Seattle. Wasn't around much that year.

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Arnor - Designed For Failure?

I don't think it was designed for failure; I think it was a series of events through the years that ultimately led to its failure. I'm not sure I agree that Arnor was of greater importance than Gondor either. One factor would be the fact it was a mere 111 years from the time of the downfall of Númenor to the assault by Sauron on Minas Ithil, starting the War of the Last Alliance. The population depletion of Arnor and Gondor, with losses of men being equal, would drain Arnor more than it would Gondor, which had a larger population of Númenóreans with the extra ship. There are a lot of variables that could be accounted for, but it was clear to me it was not by design that Arnor fell and Gondor did not.

Originally Posted by Belegorn

... it is said, "among them were not a few of the high race of Númenor." [Of the Rings of Power and the Thrid Age, p. 363] This is because there were Dúnedain who settled in the East who gladly turned to Sauron.

The Númenóreans had sailed far and wide to the north, east, and south of Numenor and had established a fair number of settlements along all the shores they came to.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I think also Gondor was more fertile, and had seaports, which would mean that not only did Gondor start off with more Dunedain and far more non-Dunedain, but the population differential would have continued to increase. Even in 3019 after a long period of decline, Gondor's provinces could muster some 30,000 fighting men*, which implies a population of at least 90,000.

*Based on the Out-companies totaling about 3000, and MT complaints that "they have spared only a tithe"