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Founded by
Elendil
in the last years of the Second Age, Arnor was the great kingdom
of Men in the north of Middle-earth. It lay between the
Misty Mountains in the east, and the
Blue
Mountains on the borders of
Lindon
in the west, and encompassed the area where the
Shire
would be founded many years later. Its capital, and the seat of
its Kings, was at
Annúminas on Lake
Nenuial.
Elendil fell in the
Siege of Barad-dûr in
II 3441, and his eldest son
Isildur,
who would have taken the rulership, was lost two years later as
he journeyed back from the southlands with his three eldest sons,
who were slain with their father at the
Disaster of the Gladden Fields. Isildur's youngest son
Valandil,
however, had not gone to the war, and was kept safe in
Rivendell; he was accounted the third
King
of Arnor, though Isildur had never taken the throne.
The tenth and last King of Arnor was
Eärendur.
After his death in
III 861, his three sons each made claims of succession. This
led to the break-up of Arnor into three separate but related
kingdoms;
Arthedain,
Cardolan
and
Rhudaur. Eärendur's eldest son,
Amlaith of
Fornost, became
King of Arthedain, and is considered the true heir to the
line of Isildur.
Information From
Encyclopedia of Arda
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