The kingdom of Gondor was the greatest kingdom of Men in the Third Age of Middle-earth, but it had a long history and had seen more glorious days. The capital city as it appears in The Lord of the Rings movies is an impressive interpretation of an ancient citadel, recreated from Tolkien's descriptions and various illustrations, and is one of the last surviving examples of Gondor's glory days.
The fate of the Kingdom of Gondor is important to how the story of The Lord of the Rings unfolds. The final arc involves the restoration of the line of kings to the throne. Aragorn follows a prophecy that was passed down for generations in his family, and there's a lot of history and lore about Gondor that only book readers know.
6 Founded By Isildur and Anárion
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Isildur is known throughout history as the arrogant human who failed to destroy the One Ring when he had the chance. His life up until that point was considerably more admirable. He and his brother Anárion had spent their lives in pursuit of glory, adventure, and legend, and had time to build the kingdom of Gondor despite their busy schedule being Romantic heroes.
After they had escaped from the ruin of Númenor, the royal family landed in Middle-earth, where colonists from the lost island and indigenous humans were already building a civilization. It was easy for Elendil and his sons to claim kingship over people who already recognized him as royalty, so they started with what the locals had already built and set out to improve it.
5 The Sister Kingdom Of Arnor
There were two kingdoms, which made sense because there were two princes. Arnor was the second kingdom created by Elendil for his sons to rule, and each of them had its periods of poverty as well as prosperity, but by the time of the War of the Ring the Kingdom of Arnor had all but disappeared.
The Reunited Kingdom that came into being under King Elessar included a restored Arnor, and because of his ancestry, he was able to lay claim to the throne of both Gondor and Arnor. The Stewart of Gondor had kept the throne and country intact in the years the King had been absent.
4 The Kin-Strife
The worst kind of war always starts from within. Bickering and finally open war broke out over the rightful heir to the throne, and in the widespread fighting the capital, Osgiliath, was sacked and heavily damaged. The Dome of the Stars, built in ancient times by Anarion and Isildur to house their thrones and a Palantir, was destroyed and the magical orb lost in the river.
Castamir, a member of the House of Anarion, had ordered the attack on the city and was named The Usurper from that time on. Eventually, Castamir was defeated by the Men of Gondor, but his sons escaped and joined the Haradrim and continued to attack the kingdom for years.
3 The Great Plague
Where the Great Plague started, and whether its origins were natural or magical, is unknown. It affected both sides of every war equally, striking down even High Elves, Hobbits, and Black Númenoreaons alike, and seemed to have no antidote or treatment. The King and his heirs were all lost to the Plague, and as if in empathy, the Second White Tree of Gondor whithered and died. King Tarandor would replace it with another sapling four years later, and this was the one that was standing in the courtyard when Gandalf and Pippin would arrive more than a thousand years later.
Regardless of its origins, the Plague is cited as the reason that the guard towers watching the passes to Morder were empty when Sauron's forces rode west to begin gathering their dark forces.
2 The Original Capital Was Osgiliath
The extended version of the movies has a bit more exposition about the importance of Osgiliath, making it easy to understand why it was so important for Denethor to retake the city. It was the original capital, safe between two other human cities when the kingdom was founded, Minas Ithil to the east and Minas Arnor to the west.
In a time of weakness after the plague and the attacks of Castamir and his sons, however, Minas Ithil was captured by the Witch-King and Osgiliath fell soon after. Minas Arnor, the Tower of the Sun, was renamed Minas Tirith, the Tower of Watch, and it was now the last line of defense between Gondor and Mordor.
1 The Invasion of the Wainriders
This series of attacks, which came at a time when the country was already weakened, severely damaged Gondor and all but put an end to the Kingdom of Arnor. The Wainriders were a loose confederation of Easterling tribes that were aligned with Sauron, and their history as antagonists of Gondor goes back much further than being Saruman's thugs in The Two Towers. These are the "men of the hills" that are recruited by Saruman to sack and destroy the villages of Rohan.
The Easterlings also appear in the movies and seem to be based on an ancient European idea of a barbarian or Hun, and these groups are often seen in the historic record taking advantage of the decline of a larger power. Only book readers know how far back their hatred of Gondor really goes.