#mardil

This concept is rather convoluted but the basic premise is that Ruling Stewards had to cultivate a culture of projected modesty and an insistence on never elevating themselves to the role of 'King' by rejecting such self adulation as, for example, official portraiture. Hence, most if not all of the images Gondor has of Stewards passed comes from the intimate studies or sketches of them from their family and friends. In the Fourth Age a scholar of Pelargir named Amlugniben requested the House of Hurin's permission to copy, research and compile the best of these images into a book and they were (eventually) granted that allowance. And so I... am making an effort to... make that... myself... SO HERE'S PART ONE

          Mardil Voronwë was the son of Vorondil, and became the first Ruling Steward of Gondor. He served as the third and last Steward to Eärnil II and after him his son Eärnur. Upon Eärnur’s inheritance, the Witch-king of Minas Morgul, whom Eärnur had faced in the North, challenged him again to single combat. Eärnur, rash and humiliated by his failure in their first encounter, was eager to answer, but all his counselors clearly saw that it was a trap.           It took the combined persuasion of Eärnur’s mother, lover, and his Steward to convince him not to go at that time, but after his lover was slain in a skirmish, not even the wisdom of Mardil could prevent him from answering the Witch-king’s third challenge. Eärnur left his crown upon the lap of his father in the Houses of the Dead, where it would remain until Steward Faramir would pass it to King Elessar nearly a thousand years later. Eärnur rode past the gates of Minas Morgul with a small escort of loyal knights, never to be seen again.           As his fate was for a time uncertain and Eärnur had named no heir, nor were there any obvious lords of royal descent to step forth and make their claim, no new King was selected. Thus, with a heavy heart, Mardil took up the leadership of Gondor, first of the Ruling Stewards. He began his rule with the promise to lead “until the King returns,” at first with the hope that Eärnur would ride back to Minas Tirith in glory, and later as but a formality.           Mardil ruled Gondor with wisdom and patience during the time known as the Watchful Peace, earning the epithet Voronwë, “the Steadfast.” He was an even-tempered and practical man who paid close attention to even the minutiae of bureaucracy. His wife Anoriel was likewise a fastidious scholar, and it was at her suggestion that Mardil established a Stewards’ Reckoning of time, inserting two leap-days in an effort to maintain a coherent calendar.           The son of Mardil Voronwë and Anoriel was Eradan, first of the Stewards to be named in Sindarin save for those who had taken names from great heroes of the First Age. Eradan was a solitary man who preferred quietude and the company of books. His wife, Gilwen, was of a similar mind, and together they agreed to leave one another alone as soon as their only son Herion came of age.           Unlike his father, Herion was a lively and boisterous man eager to enter the social circles of Gondor. He wed the dancer Cadwareth, a beautiful woman whom he adored despite her own inconstant affections. Their son Belegorn was a hunter like his ancestor Vorondil, and though he never brought down a beast so mighty as the Kine of Araw, he carried the Horn of Gondor with a reverence matched only by his love for his wife Lossendil, a healer-woman of Ithilien he met on his travels.

          Pelendur was a lord of the House of Húrin and served as the Steward to the kings Ondoher and Eärnil II. He was a friend of Eärnil and sympathetic to his ambitions to achieve royalty for his descendants, though during Ondoher’s rules it was assumed that this would be possible only through marriage, perhaps of Eärnil’s son Eärnur to Ondoher’s daughter Fíriel.           Before any such arrangement could be made, Fíriel was wed to Prince Arvedui of Arthedain, the last remnant of the once-noble realm of Arnor. Eärnur was relieved, for his interests lay in men, but Eärnil’s frustration only grew.           When Gondor faced the double threat of attack by the Wainriders and Haradrim, Ondoher appointed Eärnil general of the southern army, for despite their political conflicts there was respect between them, and Eärnil was a great warrior. Ondoher ordered his younger son Faramir to remain in Minas Anor as regent, aided by Steward Pelendur, in case he and his other heirs should fall in battle.           While Eärnil routed the Haradrim, Ondoher’s army faced a greater threat than they had anticipated, and the King, his elder son Artamir, and his nephew Minohtar were all slain. Worst of all was the discovery of Faramir’s demise, for he had refused to stay behind and rode to war with the Éothéod in disguise. Though Eärnil avenged their deaths and routed the Wainriders from Gondor, there was now no clear heir to the throne.           Pelendur, deeply grieved by the loss of the King and his heirs, assumed his Stewardly responsibility as ruler of Gondor until a new King could be crowned. He had never expected this burden, and it wore on him; it was only through the support of his wife Meleth that he was able to endure while the Council of Gondor deliberated who would be their next leader.           Eärnil, a descendant of King Telumehtar Umbardacil through his younger son Arcíryas, presented his claim with the confidence that he would swiftly be declared King, but he was met with an unexpected challenge in the form of Ondoher’s son-in-law, Prince Arvedui. As the husband of the last King’s daughter Fíriel, who under the old laws of Númenor would have inherited as Ruling Queen, Arvedui argued that she was the rightful ruler of Gondor. Since it had been many long centuries since the Dúnedain had been led by a woman, he claimed that he should become King of Gondor in her stead. Additionally, Arvedui emphasized his position as the Heir of Isildur, once a King of Gondor himself, and thus also the Heir of High King Elendil; his children would be heirs of Arnor and Gondor, reuniting the Two Kingdoms and fulfilling the prophecy of the seer Malbeth.           But to the men of Gondor, Arthedain was a small kingdom and only a remnant of Arnor, never as glorious as their own realm. Furthermore, Pelendur had ever been a friend of Eärnil and spoke for him among the Council of Gondor. After a year of debate, they denied Arvedui’s claim and crowned Eärnil II King instead.           Pelendur served as Eärnil’s Steward for the rest of his life, and upon his death, Eärnil chose his son Vorondil as the next Steward, making the position hereditary in honor of his friend’s loyalty. Vorondil was renowned as a hunter for his pursuit of the Kine of Araw near the far-off shores of the Sea of Rhûn where he had traveled in his youth.           From one of these great, wild white oxen, he fashioned a great horn bound with silver and engraved with ancient characters. This horn passed from Vorondil to his heir, Mardil, and from him to his, and so forth from eldest son to eldest son through many generations, until it met its end with Boromir son of Denethor II. The horn was part of a matched pair, the other of which was given to his wife Anwariel as a courting gift, though this was lost long before Boromir’s time.

That said, there is no need for any examples that do not appear in the books to have existed -- Hurin Thalion would be precedent enough to hope Eärnur was dead and keep on waiting just in case -- especially if you're trying to avoid another war over succession.

Regrettably, it was the exact other way around! Mardil was clearly the Jeeves of Gondor.

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