23 Facts About Gondor

Gondor is a fictional kingdom in JR R Tolkien's writings, described as the greatest realm of Men in the west of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age.

Gondor was founded by the brothers Isildur and Anarion, exiles from the downfallen island kingdom of Numenor.

Tolkien denied that the name Gondor had been inspired by the ancient Ethiopian citadel of Gondar, stating that the root Ond went back to an account he had read as a child mentioning ond as one of only two words known of the pre-Celtic languages of Britain.

Gondor is called the South-kingdom or Southern Realm, and together with Arnor as the Numenorean Realms in Exile.

Gondor's geography is illustrated in the maps for The Lord of the Rings made by Christopher Tolkien on the basis of his father's sketches, and geographical accounts in The Rivers and Beacon-Hills of Gondor, Cirion and Eorl, and The Lord of the Rings.

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The hot and dry region of South Gondor was by the time of the War of the Rings "a debatable and desert land", contested by the men of Harad.

The Warden of the Keys was in charge of the city's security, especially its gates, and the safe-keeping of its treasury, notably the Crown of Gondor; he had full command of the city when it was besieged by the forces of Mordor.

The Warning beacons of Gondor were atop a line of foothills running back west from Minas Tirith towards Rohan.

Gondor was brother of Lady Finduilas and uncle to her sons Boromir and Faramir; a kinsman of Theoden; and the father of Eomer's wife Lothiriel.

Shorelands of Gondor were widely colonized by the Numenoreans from the middle of the Second Age, especially by Elf-friends loyal to Elendil.

Gondor captured Minas Ithil, but Isildur escaped by ship to Arnor; meanwhile, Anarion was able to defend Osgiliath.

Gondor established a powerful navy and captured the southern port of Umbar from the Black Numenoreans, becoming very rich.

Later the forces of Gondor, led by Aragorn under the alias Thorongil, attacked Umbar and destroyed the Corsair fleet, allowing Denethor II to devote his attention to Mordor.

The final development of the history and geography of Gondor took place around 1970, in the last years of Tolkien's life, when he invented justifications for the place-names and wrote full narratives for the stories of Isildur's death and of the battles with the Wainriders and the Balchoth.

Gondor waited for her at Edhellond, for their final voyage together into the West.

Shippey notes that while Eomer is "compulsively truculent", Faramir is courteous, urbane, civilised: the people of Gondor are self-assured, and their culture is higher than that of Rohan.

Rohan is, Shippey suggests, the "bit that Tolkien knew best", Anglo-Saxon, full of vigour; Gondor is "a kind of Rome", over-subtle, selfish, calculating.

Gondor writes that both men receive the allegiance of a hobbit, but very differently: Denethor, Steward of Gondor, undervalues Pippin because he is small, and binds him with a formal oath, whereas Theoden, King of Rohan, treats Merry with love, which the hobbit responds to.

Gondor writes that like the Normans, their founders the Numenoreans arrived "from across the sea", and that Prince Imrahil's armour with a "burnished vambrace" recalls late-medieval plate armour.

Gondor identifies several parallels: Aeneas, from Troy, and Elendil, from Numenor, both survive the destruction of their home countries; the brothers Romulus and Remus found Rome, while the brothers Isildur and Anarion found the Numenorean kingdoms in Middle-earth; and both Gondor and Rome experienced centuries of "decadence and decline".

The Byzantine Empire and Gondor were both, in Libran-Moreno's view, only echoes of older states, yet each proved to be stronger than their sister-kingdoms.

Gondor praised the filmmakers' ability to blend digital and real sets.

Several locations in Gondor were featured in the 1982 role-playing game Middle-earth Role Playing game and its expansions.