The Stewards were now ruling in Gondor. There would be 26 total with Denethor II being the last. "At first they had quiet, for those were the days of the Watchful Peace, during which Sauron withdrew before the power of the White Council and the Ringwraiths remained hidden in the Morgul Vale" (p. 333, The Return of the King). But when the Stewardship of Denethor I came Gondor would never again have peace, even when not at open war.
"In the last years of Denethor I the race of uruks, black orcs of great strength, first appeared out of Mordor, and in 2475 they swept across Ithilien and took Osgiliath. Boromir son of Denethor (after whom Boromir of the Nine Walkers was later named) defeated them an regained Ithilien; but Osgiliath was finally ruined, and its great stone bridge was ruined" (p. 333, The Return of the King). The Nine Walkers, in case you aren't sure, is the Fellowship of the Ring. Interestingly there is a scene in the extended edition of the movies where Boromir II retakes Osgiliath from the enemy; I cannot rightly remember if that actually happened or perhaps Peter Jackson took this story and weaved into the movie.
Boromir II was a great captain as well as very noble. Even the Witch-king feared him. But during the fighting he received a Morgul-wound which never fully left him. The wound sapped him of his strength and days and he died only 12 years after his father Denethor I.
Middle-earth timeline: Third Age, 2475
Today's reading comes from: The Return of the King, page 333
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