Arvedui put in a claim for himself on the grounds that the Heirs of Isildur were by right overlords of Gondor, (which went over like a lead balloon in Minas Tirith) but also put forward his wife's claim as the only surviving child of Ondoher. By all logic she, or at least her sons, should have been next in line. But the Council of Gondor chose to go chasing after a third cousin of the late King instead.
BTW, a few generations later the Gondorim passed a law allowing the Stewardship to pass through the female line, can you say hypocrites? I mean that alone makes it very clear the denial of Firiel's rights had little to do with law and *nothing* to do with principle!
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