Arvedui

[Inderjit Sanghera]

Just a what if question. What if the Gondorian lords had accepted Arvedui’s claim for kingship over Gondor after the slaying of Ondohir and his sons? Arvedui was a mighty lord, and who how the history of the Third age would have transpired if he had become king. No Earnur riding to Minas Morgul and all of Arvedui’s descendants would’ve descended from both Isildur (through Arvediu) and Anarion (through Firiel, his wife, the last descendant of Ondohir who was still alive ). Malbeth, the seer, was reported to say that if they took him as king then there kingdoms would return to their former glories, if they didn’t then they would wain.

Here are Malbeth’s comments when Arvedui was born.

“ Arvedui you shall call him, for he will be the last in Arthedain. Though a choice will come to the Dunedain, and if they take the one that seems less hopeful,, then your son will change his name and become king of a great realm. If not, then much sorrow and much lives of men shall pass, until the Dunedain arise and are united again.”

LOTR; Appendix A;

So what do you suppose would happen if Arvedui became king? Or would he suffer the same fate as Earnur, or would the power of the Dunedain be simply too strong for Sauron whose armies could be vanquished? But, you would have to destroy the ring for Sauron to go away forever.