Post by Angoreth on Aug 17, 2006 3:35:56 GMT -5
The Founding of Arnor
Following the Downfall of Númenor and borne by the mighty waves of the wrath of Eru, the Elendili were cast upon the shores of Middle-Earth in S.A 3320. Elendil the Tall with four ships landed in the North, in the land of Lindon, realm of Gil-Galad, while his sons Isildur and Anàrion, with the remaining five ships, were driven along to the southern coasts, eventually landing up the Anduin and establishing the Kingdom of Gondor.
The Exiles were not new to the Northern parts of Middle-Earth. For a long time before the Downfall of the Land of the Star the Faithful had established and preserved links with the kingdom of Gil-Galad and the Noldorin Elves that lived in it and still after the darkening of Númenor they had secretly visited Lindon, some never returning back to their homes.
So Elendil was received in friendship by the last High-King of the Elves of Middle-Earth and, crossing the Ered Luin, established his domain over a vast expanse of territories, from the Blue Mountains in the West to the River Bruinen and the Misty Mountains in the East and from the bay of Forochel in the North to the River Greyflood in the South. This kingdom was called Arnor, which is “royal land”, because, as being ruled directly by Elendil, High-King of the Númenoreans in Middle-Earth, it held precedence over the Southern Kingdom, Gondor, which he entrusted to his sons.
On the shores of Lake Nenuial, in the northern part of his reign, Elendil founded the city of Annúminas (“sunset tower”) and there he posed his seat and court; other places of importance where the fortress-city of Fornost Erain (known in Westron as Norbury of the Kings) on the North Downs, the Towers on the Emyn Beraid (or “Tower Hills”) in the West, built and kept by the Elves but inlcuded in Arnor; the Weather Hills in the central part of the land and the Tyrn Gorthad (“Barrow Downs”), a line of hills crowned with many ancient barrows beyond the River Baranduin, that became one of the most important burial grounds of the kingdom.
The three Palantìri that Elendil took with him where posed one in the Tower of the West in the city of Annúminas, where the king lived, and the largest and more powerful in the Tower of Amon Sûl on Weathertop Hill, at the southern end of the Weather Hills: this was the stone mainly used in communicating with Gondor. The last Seeing Stone was held in Elostirion (“Star Watch”), the tallest of the White Towers of the Emyn Beraid: this last Palantir alway looked towards the Undying Lands; there at whiles Elendil came, longing to gaze through the Master Stone at Tol Eressëa and into the vanished West.
The Númenorean population of Arnor was never very numerous, but it seems that it preserved the purity of its ancestry, avoiding as much as possible intermarriages with the native population, contrary to what was soon to happen in Gondor.
For more than a century Arnor lived in peace and prospered, but in 3342 Sauron, returned in his ancient fortress from the ruin of Númenor, rekindled war against the Kingdoms in Exile, and Elendil was compelled to take the field and, joining forces with the Elves in the Last Alliance, mustered a great host around Amon Sûl and went south to the aid of his sons against the armies of Mordor.
Following the Downfall of Númenor and borne by the mighty waves of the wrath of Eru, the Elendili were cast upon the shores of Middle-Earth in S.A 3320. Elendil the Tall with four ships landed in the North, in the land of Lindon, realm of Gil-Galad, while his sons Isildur and Anàrion, with the remaining five ships, were driven along to the southern coasts, eventually landing up the Anduin and establishing the Kingdom of Gondor.
The Exiles were not new to the Northern parts of Middle-Earth. For a long time before the Downfall of the Land of the Star the Faithful had established and preserved links with the kingdom of Gil-Galad and the Noldorin Elves that lived in it and still after the darkening of Númenor they had secretly visited Lindon, some never returning back to their homes.
So Elendil was received in friendship by the last High-King of the Elves of Middle-Earth and, crossing the Ered Luin, established his domain over a vast expanse of territories, from the Blue Mountains in the West to the River Bruinen and the Misty Mountains in the East and from the bay of Forochel in the North to the River Greyflood in the South. This kingdom was called Arnor, which is “royal land”, because, as being ruled directly by Elendil, High-King of the Númenoreans in Middle-Earth, it held precedence over the Southern Kingdom, Gondor, which he entrusted to his sons.
On the shores of Lake Nenuial, in the northern part of his reign, Elendil founded the city of Annúminas (“sunset tower”) and there he posed his seat and court; other places of importance where the fortress-city of Fornost Erain (known in Westron as Norbury of the Kings) on the North Downs, the Towers on the Emyn Beraid (or “Tower Hills”) in the West, built and kept by the Elves but inlcuded in Arnor; the Weather Hills in the central part of the land and the Tyrn Gorthad (“Barrow Downs”), a line of hills crowned with many ancient barrows beyond the River Baranduin, that became one of the most important burial grounds of the kingdom.
The three Palantìri that Elendil took with him where posed one in the Tower of the West in the city of Annúminas, where the king lived, and the largest and more powerful in the Tower of Amon Sûl on Weathertop Hill, at the southern end of the Weather Hills: this was the stone mainly used in communicating with Gondor. The last Seeing Stone was held in Elostirion (“Star Watch”), the tallest of the White Towers of the Emyn Beraid: this last Palantir alway looked towards the Undying Lands; there at whiles Elendil came, longing to gaze through the Master Stone at Tol Eressëa and into the vanished West.
The Númenorean population of Arnor was never very numerous, but it seems that it preserved the purity of its ancestry, avoiding as much as possible intermarriages with the native population, contrary to what was soon to happen in Gondor.
For more than a century Arnor lived in peace and prospered, but in 3342 Sauron, returned in his ancient fortress from the ruin of Númenor, rekindled war against the Kingdoms in Exile, and Elendil was compelled to take the field and, joining forces with the Elves in the Last Alliance, mustered a great host around Amon Sûl and went south to the aid of his sons against the armies of Mordor.
