Aragorn's Reunited Empire: Just a paper dream?

[Lord Melkor]

While glossing over the maps in the Atlas of Middle-Earth for the umpteenth time I started wondering how Aragorn's so-called 'Reunited Kingdom' would be able to extend it's influence over all it's former lands. It is a known fact that Gondor at the time of Aragorn's ascenscion was at the lowpoint of it's existence. Osgiliath was in ruins, Minas Tirith was woefully underpopulated and while things were better in the western fiefs it was obvious that Gondor had experienced a steady decline in population numbers for the last hundreds of years. Things were even worse in the lands of the former Kingdom of Arnor, with the only center of civilization being the Shire and Breeland.

Realizing this I wondered how in Eru's name Aragorn is ever going to exert his control over all the lands that used to belong to Gondor? He simply does not have the manpower, both militarily or civilian to be able to exert his influence over all of Eriador, much less disputed territories such as Umbar and Dorwinion. While he'll probably be able to exert his influence over the Shire by using his proxies (aka Sam, Merry and Pippin) I wonder how the Breelanders will respond to his rule when he starts sending his tax collectors north. I doubt they'll like some distant king meddling in their affairs, despite all his claims about being fond of their beer.

The same will go for the Dunlendings. Even in Gondor's heydays Dunland was only nominally a part of the Kingdom, with the Dunlendings not paying much attention to the King and the King not paying much attention to them. Still, as long as they don't rebel I suppose Aragorn could claim to 'rule' over them, though I think any purebred Dunlending will snort loudly at such a suggestion.

Things will not be as cozy in Umbar and Dorwinion though. Despite the loss of their fleet the Corsairs still hold the city of Umbar and I doubt they will be willing to part with it. This means a military expedition to take the city will be required. After all, Aragorn's 'Reunited Kingdom' claims all the lands of Gondor and Arnor at their peak. Though Gondor's severely weakened army maybe be able to overcome the equally weakened Corsairs and retake the city I sincerely doubt their chances of keeping it. It is only a matter of time before the Haradrim recover from their defeat on the Fields of Pelennor and decide to start their assaults on Gondor again. Remember, Gondor's population still is but a shadow of it's former self. I sincerely doubt Aragorn will be able to wage a succesful protracted war against the more numerous Haradrim AND be able to extend his influence all over his Reunited Kingdom.

The same goes for Dorwinion, which is basically exposed to constant assaults from Rhun. Even in Gondor's days of military might they had trouble holding on to their lands in the East, I sincerely doubt they will be able to hold it now, despite Aragorn's abilities as a general.

Finally I will comment on the ludicrously long and overexposed borders of Aragorn's Kingdom. It basically looks like a set of blobs connected by narrow isthmuses of land. How he will be able to defend all of it from Orcs/Easterlings/Haradrim/secessionist Hobbits/whatever is simply beyond me. The fact that most of these lands are partically uninhabited with no infrastructure to speak of makes Aragorn's claims to rule all of it even more laughable. Any fool of a king can claim that some barren piece of wasteland belongs to his kingdom. Not only that, his Northern lands will be hundreds of miles removed from Minas Tirith and Aragorn's seat of power. This will mean that the freespirited peoples of Eriador will be even less likely to listen to the edicts of a distant king. Once again it seems that Aragorn's claims to rule this lands will exist on paper only.

In conclusion: Aragorn's so-called ' Reunited Kingdom' exists only on paper. Gondor simply does not have the required population and military manpower to even remotely exert it's influence over all the lands claimed by Aragorn. It's supposed borders are long and overstretched and it's highly doubtful that Aragorn will be able to ptoperly defend his lands from an assault by any strong military power. Though he will be able to keep up the illusion of his Kingdom in times of peace, there is no doubt in my mind that it will be only matter of time before it collapses from it's inherent weaknesses.

[Lord Melkor]

Gah, I realized I posted this in the movie forum. Perhaps a kind mod could move this to the Books forums?

*grabs the Silmarils from his crown and presses them against his cheeks, burning him*

Bad Melkor! Bad! Bad!

[Boromir88]

Interesting thoughts, but I think if we look at what Aragorn does, it's not all up to Gondor. What I mean is, maybe Gondor alone doesn't have the manpower to run such a vast kingdom, but look at what Aragorn does to sort of counter this.

He creates a great relationship with the new King of Rohan, Eomer, as well as making peace with the Haradrim and Men from the East, sparing them and having them come to peace in Gondor.

Also, the dwarves come in and make Minas Tirith all shiny and beautiful again, Legolas and the Elves tidy up Ithilien. So, I agree that Gondor alone doesn't have the strength to run the entire Kingdom, but what he does is create close ties, and makes peace with others, to sort of counter this.

[Kuruharan]

While I agree that Elessar's empire is more polite fiction than reality, in its defense I have seen people offer the theory that there would have been something of a baby boom in Gondor in the years after the War of the Ring. This would provide more warm bodies to fill the army, have a civilization, and perhaps create enough people to have some sort of migrations to the north.

Also, the Reunited Kingdom was fairly secure from outside attack. At that point in time there were not any people in a position to challenge it. The elves were leaving and didn't care any more. The dwarves were dwindling, withdrawing into their mountains, and didn't care anymore. The orcs no longer existed as rational creatures. The Easterlings and Haradrim had had their fighting strength pretty severely mauled by the War. There was always the possibility of a new vigorous people coming out of the East, but we know that did not happen in Elessar's lifetime (at least not to a significant extent).

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that exercising authority in all the widely scattered areas would be the biggest short-term (and from what we know I think we can define "short-term" as Elessar's lifetime) problem, particularly in places like Umbar where there would have been greater capacity to resist.

On the whole, I agree that the Reunited Kingdom was not all it was cracked up to be. I expect that Eldarion had some pretty severe problems to cope with during his reign. It is a pity we are given the barest glimpse of them.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I my self are a firm beliver in the "baby boom" theory. If the elves led by Legolas settled in Ithilien, the dwarves in Aglarond and a close alliance with Rohan. Gondor would not be threatent by any power.

With his new power from the Baby boom he could easely take the north kingdom, but it would ofcourse not be a "real" kingdom. Even with a significant imigration Arnor would still be low populatet. I do not se the people from bree as a problem, they would quickly submit to the king. (debate maybe, but no fighting) The Dunlendings would be overthrown with the help of Rohan.

The real problems would be the ones frome south and east, but I belive they could at least be passified.

(I hope I have formulatet me good enough)

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I suspect that the majority of the Haradrim were destroyed because Sauron chose to utilize as many of them as possible in the War of the Ring. After all, he didn't care about protecting the realm of Harad in the aftermath; all he wanted to do was crush Gondor as swiftly as possible.

Middle-earth would have been an empty place in the 4th Age.

[Kuruharan]

I think Tolkien's view was of a consenting federation.

I think there is a slight misconception of what the Reunited Kingdom was. Aragorn was the (titular) head of a confederation of the Free Peoples. Not all of these were part of the Reunited Kingdom. The confederation and the kingdom were not the same thing. Places like Dale and Erebor, while they acknowledged Elessar as their overlord, were not part of his kingdom in the same way that Bree was.

Inside the kingdom, there weren't really that many different people to be confederated. There were the people of Gondor, the Breelanders, the Shire-folk, the Dunlanders, the inhabitants of Umbar, the Wildmen...and that is about it. The Wildmen and Shire-folk were also explicitly excluded from any federating because they were deliberately isolated from the rest by royal decree.

[Lalwendë]

Just thinking about the baby boom theory (which I broadly agree would have happened; those poor Gondorian women... ), there is a slight problem with it. Presumably Gondor and its allies will have lost a significant number of men during the War, particularly young men who had not yet started families. This would mean that even if there was a baby boom in terms of a rising birth rate, then as regards increasing the population they might be 'running just to catch up' for some years. It might take until the second generation for any significant population boom to happen (maybe a gap of some 20-40 years).

There are other changed circumstances associated with the loss of so many men. Firstly, the women might find themselves doing more work outside the home (presuming they did not do this already); certainly they would find they would be working more, which is what happened during and after WWI. This itself would have an impact if an increase in childbearing was sought after.

Work would still need doing, and the most immediate task would not be to rebuild walls and cities but to rebuild and restock farms, though both would need doing. There would be heavy demands on the people's hours. This itself would result in a change in society as in-demand workers could demand higher payment/different conditions, as they would be a limited resource. This has been borne out in history; after the Black Death decimated Europe the feudal system began to collapse, and one of the after effects of the Napoleonic wars was a rise in labour activism.

People would seek, and possibly even expect, things like better wages and more opportunites, as they would see Aragorn's return as a promise of better times. I wonder how far Aragorn would go to seek to meet the demands of the people?

[Bergil]

People seem to have forgotten the liberated slaves of Mordor. I imagine that them as war-prisoners from Gondor ane honest Easterling and Haradrim who could have destablised Saurons cannon-fodder human nations. they would probably give aid to Gondor easily. Also, the Easterling and Southron nations (for the most part) would, judjing by book 6 chapter 4, would tell Gondor "let's forget the whole invasion thing" and walk small for a while, except Umbar. The Dunlendings could have acted simillar whith Rohan. In other words, Aragorn havd the rescorses and time to do it if he was smart enough. I think he may have been smart enough.

[Kuruharan]

People seem to have forgotten the liberated slaves of Mordor. I imagine that them as war-prisoners from Gondor ane honest Easterling and Haradrim who could have destablised Saurons cannon-fodder human nations. they would probably give aid to Gondor easily.

Actually, I have to admit, I had forgotten about them. I think the vast majority of them would have been Easterlings and Haradrim. How "honest" they were is probably up to some question. I expect they were mostly gathered by Sauron's human minions on slave gathering expeditions from their neighbors (who were possibly also Sauron's minions).

I'm not sure of how capable of giving aid they would have been. They would have a lot on their plate developing their own society and getting themselves on their feet...and quite frankly, I'm not sure how well they'd fight.

[Bergil]

his Northern lands will be hundreds of miles removed from Minas Tirith and Aragorn's seat of power.

no, it says in he plans to restore Fornost as chief city of the north.

The reason I think that the slaves of Mordor are respectable is because ot the choice of words. "Slaves" implies that they were forced into it, and will probably be thankfull for their freedom.