Middle-earth What-ifs

[Belegorn]

Originally Posted by Corsair_Caruso

The only thing I can think of is that whatever grace the Valar bestowed upon the House of Elendil seems to have dwindled more quickly in the north, evidenced not only by shorter lifespans, but also their more ruinous infighting, etc... than in the south. It's not really an answer, and even I don't know if I buy it, but it's all that I can think of at the moment. I'm going to spend some time with the lists of Kings and come back with a more thought out response.

The only things I can associate with the dwindling lifespan of the Dúnedain were the fear of death, "their years lessened as their fears of death grew" [Akallabêth], the loss of Númenor, and Middle-earth itself. This did not effect the Faithful so much as it had the King's Men, but they too were not free of the shadow. It continued in Gondor as Faramir explained to the Hobbits:

Originally Posted by The Two Towers; ch. 5; The Window on the West

Death was ever present, because the Númenóreans still, as they had in their old kingdom, and so lost it, hungered after endless life unchanging. Kings made tombs more splendid than houses of the living, and counted old names in the rolls of their descent dearer than the names of their sons. Childless lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry; in secret chambers withered men compounded strong elixers, or in high cold towers asked questions of the stars. And the last king of the line of Anárion had no heir.

Here Faramir mentions another factor in the diminishment of the Dúnedain and that is their paltry effort at producing heirs. They had few if any children, "the high men of the South married late, and their children were few" [Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion]. They had 3 childless kings, Falastur, Narmacil l, and Eärnur.