Please Help me Understand Gondor Stewardship and Kingship

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

My understanding was that Anarion's line was dead, there were no descendants of Elendil left in Gondor. Thus, the closest people to the throne by male lineage were the "northern cousins", Isildur's line. However, perhaps my understanding is overly simplistic, and further analysis of family trees and laws of inheritance would prove me wrong.

In truth though, the most immediate reason for why Aragorn got his kingship when he did and why his ancestors failed is because Aragorn earned it. He was not raised to the throne because of Elendil's blood - though that seems to be a necessary prerequisite - but because by the strength of his will, by his deeds, by his extraordinary skill he proved himself to be above other men, he earned the people's love and he proved himself worthy of their ultimate loyalty. Blood alone would only have gotten him as far as the other Chieftans and late Kings of Arnor who were sneered at by the southern kingdom. Meeting the bloodline "prerequisites" made Aragorn eligible to be King, but he was named King because he earned it with his own life and not just with the lives of his ancestors.

My understanding has always been that Aragorn didn't claim the throne of Gondor per se, but the throne of the entire Dunedain kingdom. That included being king of Gondor, but wasn't the same as claiming to be the rightful heir to Anárion (which would have been a tricky proposition, since Gondor had already rejected that claim once).

As for the rest of your post - I agree. Aragorn earned the goodwill to restore the High King position by his actions, not by his ancestors. As Thingol said to Beren waaaay back in the day, 'a father's deeds, even had his service been rendered to me, avail not to win the [throne of Gondor]'.

Originally Posted by Zigûr

EDIT: I might also be partially wrong about my "the Steward lacked the spiritual authority" thing, because Cirion called upon Eru at the swearing of the Oath of Eorl as the King's representative. Nonetheless Letter 156 suggests that the Steward did not hold the same "priestly" position as the King.

It is entirely possible that Cirion was continuing the Stewards' habit of claiming more authority than he rightfully had. Pelendur started this by rejecting Arvedui's claim to the throne for the far weaker one of General Earnil (and by making his own post hereditary, which seems likely to have been a condition of accepting Earnil's claim); Mardil 'the Faithful' continued it by seizing the throne in all but name when Earnur vanished, and ultimately Denethor II capped the whole thing by attempting to prevent the accession of High King Elessar to the throne. It would not be surprising if Cirion - who was already in the middle of selling off a chunk of Gondor to buy an alliance, and relocating the most sacred site in the nation - didn't quite have the divine authority he asserted he did.

hS