#pelendur

What I really think should have happened (in a better but still possible world) upon the deaths of King Ondoher, Prince Artamir, and Prince Faramir of Gondor:

The Council of Gondor, led by the Steward Pelendur, starts deliberations as to how the succession's going to work.

In Arthedain, someone (or some people) manages to talk Arvedui down. His father (the actual heir of Isildur) isn't prepared to attempt a long-shot claim to the crown of Gondor. And since Númenórean succession law followed strict gender-blind primogeniture*, under the old traditions Princess Fíriel would be the heir of Anárion, not her husband. She claims the throne.

the line of elros ❖ stewards of gondor ❖ headcanon disclaimer

OKAY! lets see how easy this is to explain. 

So a few important baselines, Gondor has been Steward-lead for 1000 years by lotr. Stewards are not kings, they have lesser powers than kings and there is a council that consults on decisions. So their rule is different than a King’s rule. 

A few hundred years before the last king died, Gondor was at war with the wainriders and THAT war killed not only the king (Ondoher) but also both of his sons. His daughter and last remaining child, Firiel, had married the heir of Arnor (Northern Eriador basically) Arvedui. 

Arvedui saw his chance and applied for kingship of Gondor through making Firiel Queen of Gondor, aiming to be King of Arnor and Gondor. Pelendur was the Steward of Gondor at the time and it was his job to choose who got the crown between Arvedui and Earnil (once removed cousin of Ondoher). 

Now, as I said, Gondor had just had a war, things were still dicey and Pelendur decided Earnil (an already proven Captain and considered a hero after his victories against the wainriders) would be best for Gondor, despite his mildly lesser lineage. HOWEVER... the legality of this was mildly ~ lax. I PROMISE this is important context I swear.

Arvedui’s claim was ‘I am the closest heir of Elendil whom was king of both Arnor and Gondor, and Firiel my wife is the closest heir of Anarion, first King of Gondor’

Pelendur’s answer was;  "The crown and royalty of Gondor belongs solely to the heirs of Meneldil, son of Anárion, to whom Isildur relinquished this realm. In Gondor, this heritage is reckoned through the sons only; and we have not heard that the law is otherwise in Arnor."

Basically, whilst Numenor had had ruling queens, neither Gondor nor Arnor had continued that practice. So Pelendur’s got a point BUUUUT that hadn’t been legally ratified until now, which is what Pelendur did essentially by making this case. Hence Pelendur put another nail in the coffin for Gondor ever having a ruling Queen.

Anyway Earnil got the crown! And Arvedui lost Arnor to it’s own wars bare years later. SO WITH ALL THAT IN MIND!

King-Anti’s: This was just a funny name I was using for Anti-royalists. Folk who like not having a King, have some complaints about the previous kings and would like to keep with either Steward rule or some other form of government. I don’t call them necessarily Stewardists, partly because most folk are positive towards the Stewards, and partly because some Anti-Royalists don’t want the Stewards ruling either.

Centrist Royalists: Folk who are still loyal to the idea of Kings and want them to come back. However, they’re not Steward-negative, they think the whole system worked as intended (Pelendur’s decision and Earnil’s coronation included) and appreciate that the Stewards have done a good job at keeping the country safe in waiting for the king to return. 

Fundamentalist Royalists: Folk who’re still incredibly pressed about Pelendur’s decision, believe Arvedui should have been king and that the Kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor should be reunited into one massive empire, as it was in it’s inception. Some genuinely believe Pelendur’s decision was misogyny motivated and are very angry about this. Some are using that argument as an excuse. It is impossible to tell them apart. Firiel discourse is a massive buzzkill.

My headcanon is the Stewards are descended from Elros through the younger daughter of some king who had more than one. So they wouldn't have a claim under either set of inheritance rules. (I think at one point, I pegged a likely candidate, but I forget now who it was. I don't even remember whether it was a king of Numenor or of Gondor.)

I think descent through a daughter (or multiple daughters, given the enormous length of time and limited population) is definitely the most natural explanation. Descent through one or more princesses could definitely convey the kind of Elrosian prestige the family seems to have had even before the Ruling Stewardship, without transmitting a claim to the throne with it.

It also adds an interesting dimension to Pelendur's part in barring descendants through the female line from the throne, if he himself is also a descendant in the female line. And young Boromir's frustration that their family is barred from the throne isn't that hard to understand, but it's still easier with the realization that they haven't just ruled the country for nearly 1000 years, but are also descendants of Elendil and Elros, anyway.

It’s sometimes presumed that Aragorn’s claim to the throne of Gondor is interchangeable with Arvedui’s, but this isn’t true. Arvedui pretended or believed that Númenor allowing women and their children to inherit somehow gave him a claim to the throne of Gondor as Princess Fíriel’s husband. He was wrong. Under Númenórean law, he would be a usurper had he succeeded, either of Fíriel or of their son Aranarth. But Aragorn is Aranarth’s heir, so had he chosen to claim the throne through Fíriel, the claim on that side would not be nearly so groundless.

He makes a separate claim as heir of Isildur (though his father was alive at the time...), which is its own matter. But his additional argument that, under the laws of Númenor, his marriage to Fíriel gives him some claim to the throne of Gondor is frankly either duplicitous or ignorant. The laws of Númenor, after Tar-Aldarion, allowed women to rule in their own right. The only men to rule Númenor via the birth/lineage of their wives were usurpers.

Under Númenórean law, Fíriel’s status as daughter and only living child of the King of Gondor would make her the rightful ruler, not Arvedui. If she’s dead by then, her claim would pass to her eldest child (regardless of gender), not Arvedui.

I think his attempt to bullshit his way into the kingship is somewhat obscured by the fact that, while the Council of Gondor rejects this claim, they do not reject it for being wrong (though it is). Rather, the Council’s argument is that Númenórean law has not been applied in either Gondor or Arnor/Arthedain at any point (this seems to be true) and that they do not consider women to have any place in the succession (i.e., not only can women not claim the throne, but men cannot claim the throne through women because something something war). So they don’t cover themselves in glory, either.

But I will concede that the position of the Council of Gondor, led by Pelendur, was ... also not great. They argued that women like Fíriel couldn’t inherit because of war and men couldn’t inherit through women because of Reasons.

In canon, this is resolved by Faramir/Gondor reversing the decision because Aragorn is so kingly and heroic, and also because Aragorn focuses on the male-line heir of Isildur stuff and just lets the claim through Fíriel slide. This makes pragmatic sense, but also ... justice for Fíriel!!!