Did Valandil have Rival Claimants to the Throne of Arnor?

[Valandil]

Lately I have wondered about this. Were there any rival claimants to the Throne of Arnor, eventually claimed by Valandil?

Another question might be: Did he have an older nephew - and would this man have been clearly after or before him in the line of succession - or would it not be clear?

Before the War of the Last Alliance, Elendil was King of Arnor, and his sons - Isildur and Anarion - co-ruled in Gondor. Then of course, Sauron marched his forces out of Mordor and the War began (3429 Second Age). Isildur already had three sons at this time: Elendur (age 130), Aratan (90) and Ciryon (50). Those names are as given in Unfinished Tales - "The Disaster of the Gladden Fields", while the ages come from The Peoples of Middle Earth, Volume 12.

The birth of Valandil one year after the war began (3430 Second Age) is mentioned as a curiosity - because the Dunedain imitated the Elves in not having children during time of war (we can imagine that this was not the case for their ancestors in First Age Beleriand - or those Men would have died off). A few years later, Elendil, Isildur (who had gone north to meet with his father while Anarion "held the fort" in Gondor), and those three older sons marched off to war, while Isildur's wife and his youngest son, Valandil, remained in Rivendell.

Of course, Elendil died at the end of the War - Isildur decided to take up the rule of Arnor and leave Gondor to his nephew, Meneldil - son of Anarion. But Isildur and his sons were all slain by Orcs on their way north to Rivendell (where they intended to pick up Isildur's wife and youngest son on their way to Annuminas). When news of this reached Rivendell, Valandil would have been about 14.

It was not until 7 years later that Valandil was made King of Arnor. There was no King of the North Kingdom in those intervening years.

Does the delay imply that there were no rival claimants? Or - is it possible that other claimants existed, and that a Council of Arnor was initially deliberating what action to take - and maybe later stalling to allow Valandil to reach full adulthood?

I would think the likeliest rivals would be sons of Elendur, Aratan and Ciryon. It's interesting that Isildur, his father Elendil, and Elendil's father Amandur - all had their eldest son at age 90. Quite old to us, but these men had very long lifespans. Elendil died in battle at something like 322! The spacing worked with their lifespans - and also allowed an heir sufficient time to rule. Things might have gotten confusing if each generation was only 25 years apart and there were 12-15 generations around at one time - each King ruling only 25 years, all in their very old age.

Ciryon, being only 50 when the war began, was unlikely to have had a son yet. Aratan - possibly, at 90 - but it's hard to say whether second/third sons would marry and start their families earlier (less concern about succession), or later (perhaps intentionally kept busy with official duties, and marriage possibilities delayed, so that their offspring would be significantly younger than an elder brother's).

Elendur, however, seems very likely to have followed the 90-year pattern. And I would guess, when the war began - likely had a son of about 40 years old. He would have been 55 when news of the Gladden reached Rivendell - and 62 when Valandil came to the throne. That is - IF he survived the war, and if he wasn't part of Isildur's guard on the march north.

Surviving the war is a tough question. That could have gone either way. If he was NOT in Isildur's group traveling to Rivendell, where WAS he? His grandfather was going north to become King of another land, his father was perhaps the new king's most trusted advisor. Would he be in Gondor? If so, why and where?

I suggest that he could well be there in Gondor - tending to things at Minas Ithil - the royal palace of Isildur from his days co-ruling Gondor before the war began - and when it was taken by Sauron's forces. This man would have grown up there, his mother was likely from Gondor (did she stay behind in Gondor - or travel up to Arnor in 3429 at the war's beginning?) In any case, there would have been a lot of cleanup to do at Minas Ithil, after occupation by Sauron's forces for some years. And I doubt that Isildur would want to entirely give up his personal holdings in Gondor - even if he left rulership in the hands of his nephew. After all, he would still be "High King" over both lands, and might want the estate for purposes of maintaining his connection and reinforcing his position in the South Kingdom.

It's also possible that this man, Elendur's son, was left nominally in charge at Annuminas when the Army marched south to war. It might have appealed to some that a great-grandson of King Elendil would be watching over them as a regent of some kind.

If he WAS at Annuminas - would that strengthen his position in relation to the "boy king" Valandil?

OR - had he alienated the nobles of Arnor while there? And/or, perhaps they thought they could shape a very young king to their liking, if they made Valandil king?

Perhaps their laws of succession were quite clear, and it didn't matter if there was such a nephew, as far as things with Valandil were concerned.

Alcuin - you know your Rules of Succession pretty well. Who would have precedence: A younger son of the previous king, or a grandson of the king - whose father was next in line, but who had never been acknowledged as king?

Thanks for reading!

[Alcuin]

Tuor, Eärendil, and Elros were accounted the chieftains of the Third House of the Edain. In Númenor, Elros, who was also the only surviving claimant to the chieftainships of the First and Second Houses (besides his brother Elrond), became king.

Succession in the Second House resembled that of the Anglo-Saxons: there were no fixed rules, and the elders and people chose and could depose a chieftain; even in war, they might choose a woman as chieftain: their sobriquet, “House of Haleth,” was for such a woman. The First House primarily followed patrilineal primogeniture, but with exceptions: Barahir succeeded instead of his nephews after his older brother died, but that was probably in deference to his greater knowledge and skill at a time the tribe faced extinction.

Succession in the Third House, however, was straightforward primogeniture, and until Aldarion altered the law to favor his daughter Ancalimë in Númenor, also patrilineal. In Exile in Middle-earth, the Dúnedain returned to patrilineal succession because they were often at war with their neighbors.

Even at the end of the Third Age, the Stewards of Gondor did not presume to call themselves kings, though Denethor II presumed to the authority of the king. At the beginning of the Third Age, no older nephew of the rightful Heir of Isildur would even consider challenging him for the throne, certainly not in peacetime.

Valandil’s regency would have been conducted by his mother, whatever senior nobles remained in Arnor (probably old men and quite likely women, wives of noblemen gone off to war), and advisors from among the Eldar remaining in Rivendell. It is unlikely the Council of Arnor, for so they would be, or the people would countenance any untoward claims to the throne.

But any survivors of the elder children of Isildur, be they sons or daughters, would be princes and princesses of the realm. Perhaps that is the origin of the subkingdoms of Cardolan and Rhudaur.

[Earniel]

Curious though, that Valandil took the throne when he was 21, given the livespans of the last Númenoreans and the fact he was staying at Rivendell during that that, I would have thought they'd follow the Elven age of maturity which was 50 IIRC.

[Alcuin]

The day Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli met Gandalf the White in Fangorn Forest was Aragorn’s 88th birthday. When Gandalf answers Aragorn’s query of the wizard’s musing over Aragorn’s rapid account of all that happened since they parted in Moria with a jestingly dismissive, “the explanations needed by the young are wearying,” Aragorn replies, “I am no longer young even in the reckoning of the Men of the Ancient Houses,” by which I presume he means Númenor in its glory before the rebellion of the Kings.

Valandil’s “coming of majority” at age 21 might be a hold-over from the First Age; or perhaps Tolkien simply used that as the age of majority because in the real world, it is.

I still think our Valandil is onto something: if there were children from Elendur or Aratan, they would receive princedoms and titles. We know the territory that became the Shire was originally the king’s demesne, just south of his palace at Annúminas and bordering Lindon. Cardolan would be rich, perhaps the wealthiest region originally, with a long stretch of the Brandywine that might offer access to the sea; and Rhudaur would be closest to Rivendell, an honorable location to the first several generations of Dúnedain (and critical to the survival of the last generations of Dúnedain, who lived in the Angle of Rhudaur near Rivendell). I’ll bet Valandil son of Isildur had at least two nieces and/or nephews, and our Valandil is correct: they were probably older than their uncle, the king.

[Valandil]

I don't think any descendants of Valandil's brothers would have been key players in the division of Arnor into three kingdoms. This was over eight hundred years later, 9 generations after Valandil - plus, JRRT tells us that it was divided owing to dissensions between Earendur's sons. No need for any other lines who are only related from several generations back. :)