May 20, 2013

Of the Dúnedain


After the Battle of Dagorlad, the siege of Mordor, and the disaster of Gladden Fields too few Dúnedain remained. The shards of Narsil came to Imladris and Valandil who was Isildur's only remaining son. Elrond foretold that the sword would not be reforged until the Ruling Ring was found and Sauron returned. Both Men and Elves hoped that this would never come to be.

By the seventh King after Valandil the Dúnedain became divided and their foes destroyed them one by one leaving only green mounds in their wake. "At length naught was left of them but a strange people wandering secretly in the wild, and other men knew not their homes nor the purposes of their journeys, and save in Imladris, in the house of Elrond, their ancestry was forgotten" (p. 296, The Silmarillion). And yet the line of Kings remained unbroken and they cherished the shards of Narsil. Gondor, meanwhile, thrived. Growing in people and prestige for a season. There the White Tree grew at the house of the King.

Middle-earth timeline: Third Age, early
Today's reading comes from: The Silmarillion, pages 295-298

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