Turgon
September 8th,2002, 09:38 PM
From 'Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion'
In 1250 Romendacil sent his son Valacar as an ambassador to dwell for a while with Vidugavia and make himself aquainted with the language, manners, and policies of the Northmen. But Valacar far exceeded his father's designs. He grew to love the Northern lands and people, and he married Vidumavi, daughter of Vidugavia. It was some years before he returned. From this Marriage came later the war of the Kin-strife.
'For the high men of Gondor already looked askance at the Northmen among them; and it was a thing unheard of before that the heir of the crown, or any son of the King, should wed one of lesser and alien race. There was already rebellion in the southern provinces when King Valacar grew old. His queen had been a fair and noble lady, but short lived according to the fate of lesser men, and the Dunedain feared that her descendents would prove the same and fall from the majesty of the kings of men. Also they were unwilling to except as lord her son, who though he was now called Eldacar, had been born in an alien country and was named in his youth Vinitharya, a name of his mother's people.'
This, it seems, is the chief cause of the Kinstrife: Fear among the Nobilty of Northman blood in the Royal House. But does the cause go any deeper than that? The center of the rebellion, it is said, was the southern, seaward parts of Gondor. A region which would have enjoyed much prosperity during the glory years of the Ship-Kings, an era in which Gondor had once again achieved some measure of the greatness which their Numenorean ancestors had possessed. So could the disaffection of the Southern Dunedain stem from the fact that the Ruling House of Gondor had turned it's eyes northward and felt that what power the southern lords held in royal court (I'm thinking of Castamir here) was falling away from them? Castamir was an ambitious man - was he using the Marriage of Valacar as a pretext for a power grab? Were the fears of the Rebels later justified by history or was the dilution of Numenorean blood inevitable in a wide land surrounded by many different races; or indeed necessary to insure the future of the Nation as a whole?
Any thoughts?
In 1250 Romendacil sent his son Valacar as an ambassador to dwell for a while with Vidugavia and make himself aquainted with the language, manners, and policies of the Northmen. But Valacar far exceeded his father's designs. He grew to love the Northern lands and people, and he married Vidumavi, daughter of Vidugavia. It was some years before he returned. From this Marriage came later the war of the Kin-strife.
'For the high men of Gondor already looked askance at the Northmen among them; and it was a thing unheard of before that the heir of the crown, or any son of the King, should wed one of lesser and alien race. There was already rebellion in the southern provinces when King Valacar grew old. His queen had been a fair and noble lady, but short lived according to the fate of lesser men, and the Dunedain feared that her descendents would prove the same and fall from the majesty of the kings of men. Also they were unwilling to except as lord her son, who though he was now called Eldacar, had been born in an alien country and was named in his youth Vinitharya, a name of his mother's people.'
This, it seems, is the chief cause of the Kinstrife: Fear among the Nobilty of Northman blood in the Royal House. But does the cause go any deeper than that? The center of the rebellion, it is said, was the southern, seaward parts of Gondor. A region which would have enjoyed much prosperity during the glory years of the Ship-Kings, an era in which Gondor had once again achieved some measure of the greatness which their Numenorean ancestors had possessed. So could the disaffection of the Southern Dunedain stem from the fact that the Ruling House of Gondor had turned it's eyes northward and felt that what power the southern lords held in royal court (I'm thinking of Castamir here) was falling away from them? Castamir was an ambitious man - was he using the Marriage of Valacar as a pretext for a power grab? Were the fears of the Rebels later justified by history or was the dilution of Numenorean blood inevitable in a wide land surrounded by many different races; or indeed necessary to insure the future of the Nation as a whole?
Any thoughts?