Egalmoth was the grandson of Morwen, daughter of Steward Belecthor I, and thus a cousin to Steward Ecthelion I. When Ecthelion died with no other heirs, Egalmoth ascended to the Stewardship. His wife was the weaver Hareth, who outfitted him and all their children in the finest clothes in all Minas Tirith. During Ecthelionâs rule, King DĂ©or of Rohan struggled to drive off the Dunlendings from the occupied Rings of Isengard, but as the orcs renewed their war with Gondor, Egalmoth was unable to send aid to his allies.
     The son of Egalmoth and Hareth was Beren, named for the famed hero of the First Age. Upon succeeding his father, Beren spent much of his rule fighting the Corsairs of Umbar who assailed Gondorâs coasts. He struggled to defend his people and support them amid the harsh Long Winter, but before spring his son Beregond overcame the invaders, at last enabling Gondor to send aid to Rohanâs struggle against the Dunlendings. When the wars were over, the wizard CurunĂr suddenly appeared and requested leave to dwell in Isengard. Beren gladly gave him the key of Orthanc, relieved to have such a powerful ally at his border.
     Berenâs son Beregond was the greatest captain since the time of Steward Boromir, and ruled Gondor in a time of recovery from the fierce wars of his fatherâs days. As his strengths lay in battle, Beregond relied on his mother Gildis to help him put the realm back in order. His wife Bregil was also eager to join in this work, and through the collaboration of the two sharp-minded women, Beregond saw his realm through new prosperity. When a new threat arose in the form of orcs invading the White Mountains after their defeat in the distant War of the Dwarves and Orcs, Beregond called upon his captains to eradicate them. Asdihil, Prince of Dol Amroth, perished in this effort, but the campaign was successful and Beregond once again proved his military might in making his lands safe.
     Belecthor II, the only child of Beregond and Bregil, inherited a great legacy from his father but lived in a time of relative peace. Gondor enjoyed a period of growth, allowing for Belecthor to engage in a dramatic romance with his flighty wife ThĂșliel, who was drawn often to the sea and would leave him and their children for years at a time. Nonetheless, the two loved one another, and ThĂșliel always returned. Belecthor was the last of his line to pass the age of 100, living to be 120; his son Thorondir would proclaim that he may have lived longer had not ThĂșlielâs own death sapped him of his will to live.
     Thorondir himself lived only to the age of 100, ruling a scant 10 years in total. Upon his fatherâs death, the White Tree of Gondor also perished, and Thorondir could find no seedling. At the advice of his wife Helheth, who despite her harsh name was a kind and giving woman, Thorondir decided to leave the dead Tree standing âuntil the King comes.â Such a time would, he believed, never come, and in this declaration Thorondir implied that the reign of the Stewards would never end, not even with the withering of the White Tree.
     The son of Thorondir and Helheth was TĂșrin II, named for his ancestor of the same name. Unlike TĂșrin I, this TĂșrin was a man of great wisdom and a gentle heart; he loved his spouse Eregil deeply, and supported them even when he struggled to understand their discomfort with the role of Lady they had to play in public. In TĂșrinâs time, trouble once again stirred in Gondor, and when Sauron sent the Haradrim to cross the river Poros and attack the land thereabout, he rode to battle with King Folcwine of Rohan. Though the battle was won, Folcwineâs twin sons Folcred and Fastred were slain, and the heir of Prince Angharas of Dol Amroth was grievously wounded. Orcs also stirred themselves to violence, infesting Ithilien to the point where the last of its inhabitants deserted their homes. TĂșrin fortified the isle of Cair Andros to defend AnĂłrien, and oversaw the building of secret refuges in Ithilien, occupied by a force of soldiers he named the Rangers of the South, led first by his son Turgon and Prince Angelimir of Dol Amroth.
     After the chaos of his fatherâs time, Turgon was blessed with a peacefully uneventful rule of 39 years. Near the end of his life, Sauron declared himself openly in Mordor, but Turgon, wearied by the death of his wife MĂrdholen whom he had adored and lavished with great jewels, left his son Ecthelion II to deal with this rising threat.
