[Finwe]

The Easterlings had attacked Gondor before. <P>The Wainriders were a confederation of Easterlings that descended upon Gondor and its allies, about 200 years after the time of the Great Plague, and remained a threat to Gondor for nearly a hundred years. The Wainriders, who took their name from the wagons and chariots in which they rode to war, quickly overran Rhovanion and soon came to battle with Gondor itself. <P>Narmacil II was lost in battle, and for a time all of Gondor's possessions east of Anduin were lost. Narmacil's son Calimehtar won temporary relief for his kingdom when he defeated the Wainriders on the plain of Dagorlad.<P>After that defeat, the Wainriders planned revenge. After allying themselves with the Haradrim and Variags from Khand, they engineered a simultaneous assault on Gondor from the north and the south, which nearly destroyed Gondor completely. King Ondoher and his sons Artamir and Faramir were lost in the northern battles, but his general Eärnil defeated the southern invaders. The victorious Wainrider army in the north, celebrating their victory over Ondoher, suddenly found themselves set upon by Eärnil, in an encounter remarkably similar to the Crossing of the Delaware by General George Washington. As the Wainriders were sitting around getting drunk, watching dancing girls, etc. (you get the picture) Earnil's men snuck up on the camp, presumably got rid of all the sentries, and attacked while setting the camp on fire. This encounter was later known as The Battle of the Camp (I wonder why... ). The Wainriders were put to rout and those that survived the disastrous battle fled East.<P>Later, it was realized that the Wainrider invasion, like many of Gondor's troubles, had been engineered by messengers/emissaries of Sauron. While Gondor lost control of all the lands east of the Anduin, the borders of Mordor opened, and the Nazgul were finally able to sneak back in. <P>Since the King and both his sons were slain, a Council convened in Gondor to decide who would take the throne. King Arvedui of Arnor put forth his claim, saying that he had the right to the throne because he was descended from Isildur and because he married Firiel, the daughter of King Ondoher. Gondor's Council refused his claim, and gave the crown to Earnil. To try and make up for the "loss," Earnil promised Arvedui that if Arnor was ever in danger, Gondor's army would come with aid. Of course, Arnor did fall during Arvedui's (and Earnil's) lifetime, so that says something about the latter's timing.<P>Earnil did manage to send an army north, under the leadership of his son, Earnur, and they managed to oust the King of Angmar and his troops from Fornost, where they had been celebrating their victory. The Witch-king's forces were caught between the cavalry of Gondor, led by Earnur, and a force of Elves from Rivendell, led by Glorfindel. The Witch-king challenged Earnur, but the latter's horse shied away, and bore Earnur away from the field (leading to much embarrassment, I'm sure). That was when Glorfindel spoke that famous prophecy that the Witch-king would not be slain by the hands of any man. We know the rest of that story.<P>Earnur came back to Gondor, feeling very bitter, and later, after he was King, the Witch-king took advantage of that bitterness, and re-challenged him. Earnur rode to Minas Morgul, and was lost (Hmm... it is never a good idea to ride to the domain of a Witch-king, I wonder why). Conveniently, Earnur wasn't married, and didn't have any kids, so the line of Kings ended in Gondor. After Earnur was lost, his steward, Mardil, ruled in his stead, and began the line of Ruling Stewards (we also know the rest of that story).<P><BR>In short, the invasion of the Wainriders indirectly resulted in the failure of the line of the Kings in Gondor.