So yeah, turns out it wasn't as long as the Rohan one, but to be fair, I didn't get to the actual history of Rohan until 50 minutes into that video. At least in this one I got to Arnor proper after about 10 minutes. Also, I had the unwelcome surprise of putting together this video today, and finding out my audio file was corrupted. Always fun when you have to re-record fifty minutes worth of lines.
So glad you made another long video. The Rohan video had so many little details come up that I don't think would have had a place in the more focused lore videos. I hope we get more of these soon, or at least sooner than next year 😅 doesn't even matter what topic, just whatever you feel has enough to talk about
@@johnlogan3096 Looks like my first reply got deleted as I had included a link to the official DAC ModDB page lol. Anyways, Divide and Conquer “DAC” is a major SubMoD for Third Age Total War “TaTW”. TaTW in turn is a Lord of the Rings inspired total conversion Mod for the classic Creative Assembly medieval strategy game Medieval 2 Total War. Basically, DAC is a RTS set in Middle Earth during the Third Age.
The fall of Arnor is ironic because its geography is much better than that of Gondor. In a fertile basin, not cut in half by mountains or next to scary step-lands mongols could pour out of, like Gondor. Arnor was defended by mountains on all sides as well as stable elvish allies. Its only weakness geographically might be the hill men of dunland to the south, who could occasionally travel and raid north. Yet it fell, and Gondor didn’t. Demonstrates the importance of the human aspect of empire beyond merely the geography.
That could also be why the Witch-King was sent to destroy them, if they were allowed to flourish they would be a greater threat to evil than Gondor was, especially when allied with the elves.
Those same hillman also seemed to integrate into armor boosting the population. Don't forget dwarves in Moriar and the blue mountains. In addition, access to the sea.
I think the disaster of the Gladden fields sealed the fate of Arnor. Arnor took heavy casualties in the last alliance. The death of two mighty and majestic high kings (in potential for one) and the 200 knights and lords was a blow that it couldn't recover from. If Isildur or even Elendur survived, the kingdom would be attractive even to the southern Dunedain, and it could slowly recover.
Arnor's geography reminds me of Russia's geography, both were large open areas with large rivers and smaller ones, but minhiriath had a big ass gap to the northeast from which Angmar came and ravaged the land
@@saeedshahbazian9889 Arnor did fine for 700 year after the war of the last alliance, and even after being split up they did fine until Angmar and the plague screwed them. Their line of Kings is also the one that didn't fail, unlike in Gondor.
26:47 I might get flack for this but I’ve always found Fornost better suited as Arnors capital than Annuminas. Annuminas always struck me as having more spiritual significance as the city of Elendil the spot where the kings of Arnor would ritualistically be crowned than a center of administration. Fornost suited that task better it was better positioned more defendable and was able to sustain its population longer. In third age total war when playing the free peoples of Eriador I always move the captital from Bree to Fornost and its population grows faster than any settlement.
Yeah, if I remember right, the Canon from BFME2 RotWK is accurate in the fact that at the time of the later stages of the Angmar wars, Fornost became the capital because of the centuries of war, and the Great Plague from Rhovanion and Angmar simultaneously. There just weren't enough Dúnedain left in Annúminas to actually populate it fully. But when Aragorn returned and reforged Arnor with Gondor in the 4th Age, he made Annúminas the capital of the Reunited Kingdom as it was under Elendil.
I believe Annuminas was the best spot in the beginning and the best city of the two, because it was better suited for an defense(an attacker would have to take Fornost and later cross the Baranduin to get there), and the lake Nenuial would provide fish and fertile lands in the valleys of the hills of evendim, so the population could grow quicker. Also, I believe most of the dunedain lived west of the Baranduin of the time, they were a minority in Arnor but were still in the hundreds of thousands I think, so Annuminas was closer to them than Fornost, and though Fornost was the last city in the Royal Road from the south, it became more important because of the devastating war of the last alliance, in which so many of the dunedain and the Middle Men died, it could imply a great hit on the people west of the baranduin, which would render Annuminas less important
I never saw it that way, interesting. I agree there was history and spiritual significance in Anuminas as the middle men had been there for so long. I thought Fornost was smaller so it was easier to fill with people and it was closer to the enemy and thus became the capital.
All Good things come to an End. Old Arnor/Eriador are gone. Yet they are reborn in Joy after the War of the Ring and into the Fourth Age of Middle Earth. Let us hope our own world is as Fortunate.
I love how in "of the rings of power and the third age" is paints the picture or Arnor dwindeling and basically going downhill after Isildur dies, but when we look we can see that the Kingdom did fine 700+ years after, and even after the split continued to exist fine for even longer.
I enjoyed that, thanks for making it. I think Tolkien's lore is so vast that it suits itself better to long form videos, but I understand why they're special projects.
So happy I found your site. I will have to listen to this again to recall so many details of the history of the Dunedane and Aragon. No-one ever seems to have a happy life what with the wars and menace of Sauron. It is no wonder so many write fan fiction to give these characters some happiness. Nevertheless, thank you for such a detailed historical understanding. Tolkiens genius continued to astound me.
The irony of how the North kingdom fell but kept its Dúnedain blood mostly pure, compared to how the Southern kingdom endured at the loss of much of its Dúnedain blood.
Great video! I have been waiting for this ever since your announcement, and I will be watching it over and over Now that you've mentioned it, a podcast video on Aragorn II would be amazing! With flashbacks all the way to his ancestors😍
Brilliant, great video man. It was great, and to make it even greater, I suggest looking into pronunciation, e.g. Eriador. I’ve never heard anyone else pronounce it like you do. I’ve heard it pronounced like Err-ē-a-door, with the stress on the first syllable. Err as in first syllable in error and ē being the long E sound. Various Tolkien experts including audio books and scholars say it this way so I assume they are right. Love your work, best of luck going forward.
I've honestly never understood the whole reasoning behind giving up on Arnor and becoming the rangers. You've just won a huge victory, there's no reason to think that they would be unpopular, and surely the realm would benefit from some leadership to help it regrow? Was it shame? It's always portrayed as noble but it seems so odd to just abandon the people, from their perspective at least.
Manpower. The Numenorians had lost the manpower to hold onto the mandate of power. Claiming title when one doesn’t have the swords to pack it up tends to go badly. Internal disagreements over the succession also likely played a
I love how we don't get names for the brothers that split Arnor (something quite Important) but we get the names for a lot of Dunedain chieftains that we only know the birth & death dates. 😂
Can you do more such long videos? I love listening while getting ready to sleep and many RUclipsrs have annoying voice or very loud music. It would be perfect if you make for characters as well. Thank you 🙏
@@waltonsmith7210 according to the Unfinished Tales, the men of "eastern arnor" went to the war of the last alliance led by Isildur, those men were probably the Hillmen
The Numenorians were to normal humans like the Noldor were to the dark elves. Sophisticated, powerfull and more wise. They also had good connections with the elves and Gil Galad. I guess it was the same reason why Thingol was accepted as King of Beleriand. It was just better to have him a leader.
I have a What If question: If Aragorn was slain at the Battle of the Black Gate, who would rule Gondor? Would Faramir or Imrahil have become King and start a new line considering both would have the most legitimate claim to the Throne? Would they have kept the office of Steward as the ruling figure of Gondor?
I am thinking about the framing device of the Lord of the Rings being the translation of the Red Book of Westmarch, annotated after Samwise' departure to Valinor by Gondoran scribes. Those Gondoran scribes would have had access to the historical records of Gondor, but those of Arnor and other realms would be in varying states, with probably many details lost. I suggest that the history of Arnor that we have would be much richer and more detailed were Arnor's records available to them.
To be fair, i think it says in Unfinished Tales or the Silmarillion that even Arnor was just a shadow of Númenor. Much of the culture wasn't saved because Erú quite literally wiped the island out I'm less than 30 minutes. I feel like what we get is actually pretty good considering had Elrond stayed longer we might have gotten more information or if Tolkien had gone more in depth on the topic. Because Cirdan didn't take the last ship with presumably Celeborn and Thranduil until years after Sam left across the Belegaer. Sam left after Rosie passed and passed the Red Book to his children but I think Merry, Pippin, and Aragorn were all still alive and flourishing as messengers for Rohan and Gondor and as king respectively. Gimli and Legolas had yet to sail down the Anduin and to Valinor also. Aragorn would have likely remembered much of what Elrond told him and of his own studies when being fostered in Rivendell. Not to mention Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen who had much longer to study history from their father who fought in the wars. Perhaps the new age and fading of evil and magic was just naturally changing Gondor's culture and the Fellowship and Arwen were some of the last of a bygone age.
I wonder if the reason the Dunedain of the north dwindled is that their women emigrated to Gondor for better living conditions and amenities. Small towns in modern times have a similar problem, imagine how severe it would be in a society that has gone from the height of civilization to a hunter-gatherer remnant by the choice of its leadership.
Sadly the story of Arnor is nonsensical, because Tolkien is clueless about population growth. And not just human population, but fauna and flora becoming plentiful as well. Also Arnor not having trade and relationships with the Dwarves in Khazad Dum and the Blue Mountains makes no sense whatsoever. The Dwarves playing no role in general makes no at all, even with the dwarves isolationist nature.
If I have to keep getting up from what I am doing to skip all the ads, the long form format becomes worthless to me. I wont be watching any of your longer videos for this reason.
So yeah, turns out it wasn't as long as the Rohan one, but to be fair, I didn't get to the actual history of Rohan until 50 minutes into that video. At least in this one I got to Arnor proper after about 10 minutes.
Also, I had the unwelcome surprise of putting together this video today, and finding out my audio file was corrupted. Always fun when you have to re-record fifty minutes worth of lines.
The dark powers clearly did not wish this video to be released 😬
So glad you made another long video. The Rohan video had so many little details come up that I don't think would have had a place in the more focused lore videos. I hope we get more of these soon, or at least sooner than next year 😅 doesn't even matter what topic, just whatever you feel has enough to talk about
@DarthGandalfYT yet you overcame this adversity for the greater glory of Arnor.
Thank you so much for this video, Kind Regards.
the witch king of angmar's ghost is corrupting your files
This video is longer than the rule of most High Kings of the Noldor.
😅👍
Fingon ruled the shortest for just 17 years so…..
@@talesoftheeldar8688 17 years is nothing to an elf.
Would be cool to have a follow-up video that covers the lore of Arnor from Merp
@@thomasalvarez6456 ok but a lot of things happend during fingons rule
Knights of Cardolan thanks you for your service!
Just happened to be playing a fresh Northern Dunedain DAC campaign when I got the notification for this video. 👍🏻 nice
What's DAC?
@@johnlogan3096 Looks like my first reply got deleted as I had included a link to the official DAC ModDB page lol. Anyways, Divide and Conquer “DAC” is a major SubMoD for Third Age Total War “TaTW”. TaTW in turn is a Lord of the Rings inspired total conversion Mod for the classic Creative Assembly medieval strategy game Medieval 2 Total War. Basically, DAC is a RTS set in Middle Earth during the Third Age.
@@johnphillips4708 Still have V3 where you can play as Rivendell and only have one settlement. It makes it fun to come up with new strategies
The fall of Arnor is ironic because its geography is much better than that of Gondor. In a fertile basin, not cut in half by mountains or next to scary step-lands mongols could pour out of, like Gondor. Arnor was defended by mountains on all sides as well as stable elvish allies. Its only weakness geographically might be the hill men of dunland to the south, who could occasionally travel and raid north. Yet it fell, and Gondor didn’t. Demonstrates the importance of the human aspect of empire beyond merely the geography.
That could also be why the Witch-King was sent to destroy them, if they were allowed to flourish they would be a greater threat to evil than Gondor was, especially when allied with the elves.
Those same hillman also seemed to integrate into armor boosting the population.
Don't forget dwarves in Moriar and the blue mountains. In addition, access to the sea.
I think the disaster of the Gladden fields sealed the fate of Arnor.
Arnor took heavy casualties in the last alliance. The death of two mighty and majestic high kings (in potential for one) and the 200 knights and lords was a blow that it couldn't recover from. If Isildur or even Elendur survived, the kingdom would be attractive even to the southern Dunedain, and it could slowly recover.
Arnor's geography reminds me of Russia's geography, both were large open areas with large rivers and smaller ones, but minhiriath had a big ass gap to the northeast from which Angmar came and ravaged the land
@@saeedshahbazian9889
Arnor did fine for 700 year after the war of the last alliance, and even after being split up they did fine until Angmar and the plague screwed them. Their line of Kings is also the one that didn't fail, unlike in Gondor.
26:47 I might get flack for this but I’ve always found Fornost better suited as Arnors capital than Annuminas.
Annuminas always struck me as having more spiritual significance as the city of Elendil the spot where the kings of Arnor would ritualistically be crowned than a center of administration. Fornost suited that task better it was better positioned more defendable and was able to sustain its population longer.
In third age total war when playing the free peoples of Eriador I always move the captital from Bree to Fornost and its population grows faster than any settlement.
Yeah, if I remember right, the Canon from BFME2 RotWK is accurate in the fact that at the time of the later stages of the Angmar wars, Fornost became the capital because of the centuries of war, and the Great Plague from Rhovanion and Angmar simultaneously. There just weren't enough Dúnedain left in Annúminas to actually populate it fully. But when Aragorn returned and reforged Arnor with Gondor in the 4th Age, he made Annúminas the capital of the Reunited Kingdom as it was under Elendil.
I believe Annuminas was the best spot in the beginning and the best city of the two, because it was better suited for an defense(an attacker would have to take Fornost and later cross the Baranduin to get there), and the lake Nenuial would provide fish and fertile lands in the valleys of the hills of evendim, so the population could grow quicker. Also, I believe most of the dunedain lived west of the Baranduin of the time, they were a minority in Arnor but were still in the hundreds of thousands I think, so Annuminas was closer to them than Fornost, and though Fornost was the last city in the Royal Road from the south, it became more important because of the devastating war of the last alliance, in which so many of the dunedain and the Middle Men died, it could imply a great hit on the people west of the baranduin, which would render Annuminas less important
I never saw it that way, interesting. I agree there was history and spiritual significance in Anuminas as the middle men had been there for so long.
I thought Fornost was smaller so it was easier to fill with people and it was closer to the enemy and thus became the capital.
someone had to say it didn't they, you bastard!
This is better than any show. Just more lore!!! A fan since 2007. Love it!
Clearly this is the place to come for the highest quality Arnor content on RUclips!
Very cool thanks for video listening while I work
All Good things come to an End.
Old Arnor/Eriador are gone.
Yet they are reborn in Joy after the War of the Ring and into the Fourth Age of Middle Earth.
Let us hope our own world is as Fortunate.
I love how in "of the rings of power and the third age" is paints the picture or Arnor dwindeling and basically going downhill after Isildur dies, but when we look we can see that the Kingdom did fine 700+ years after, and even after the split continued to exist fine for even longer.
I enjoyed that, thanks for making it. I think Tolkien's lore is so vast that it suits itself better to long form videos, but I understand why they're special projects.
I Remember when I was one of your first hundred subscribers and I kept leaving comments for an Arnor video
Tremendous job. Thank you. That was very, very enjoyable.
Been watching since your 4th video of the War in Middle Earth Series. Glad it's gotten this far while still finding unique topics to discuss
Excellent video! I love these longer, extended looks at things so please keep them coming.
Thoroughly enjoyed this :) - I look forward to more long length vids like this for sure!
Can you do the same for the Dwarves?
So happy I found your site. I will have to listen to this again to recall so many details of the history of the Dunedane and Aragon. No-one ever seems to have a happy life what with the wars and menace of Sauron. It is no wonder so many write fan fiction to give these characters some happiness. Nevertheless, thank you for such a detailed historical understanding. Tolkiens genius continued to astound me.
Loved this long form videos. Thanks so much
The irony of how the North kingdom fell but kept its Dúnedain blood mostly pure, compared to how the Southern kingdom endured at the loss of much of its Dúnedain blood.
So happy that you made another long video. Thank you
I think this was excellent and well researched. Yes, it's long, but I fell asleep to it last night and caught up this morning. Just what I needed. 👍
I absolutely Love your longer format
Great video! I have been waiting for this ever since your announcement, and I will be watching it over and over
Now that you've mentioned it, a podcast video on Aragorn II would be amazing! With flashbacks all the way to his ancestors😍
Bravo! This was wonderful.
Great video man. I appreciate the effort you put into these videos and topics.
Awesome video! Buuuut show more maps maybe? Love maps. ❤️
Brilliant work DG
Great as always! Thanks!
Congrats to 40K Darth ... :)
I always womdert why nobody makes a movie or more movies about arnor. Its such a great history. And you could have much more creativ freedom
I would love to see one that also features the rebuilding.
Agreed. I would like to see how they managed to habe a three way civil war that resulted in a stalemate with nobody winning.
1:10 this humor earned a sub all on its own.
Another excellent, podcast style video.
Another amazing video!!👌🏼
Great job
Nice art, interpretation of Lotro’s Annuminas looks like
One thing led to another, and Aragorn was crowned high King
Incredible review 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
great stuff! Thank you
Did this while playing Return to Moria. Thank you 🧝♂️
I've been looking forward to this. Arnor is simply the most intriguing of two Realms in Exile.
More of these pls.
Please take this in the best way possible but this is the kind of stuff I love to fall asleep to 😍
Brilliant, great video man. It was great, and to make it even greater, I suggest looking into pronunciation, e.g. Eriador. I’ve never heard anyone else pronounce it like you do. I’ve heard it pronounced like Err-ē-a-door, with the stress on the first syllable. Err as in first syllable in error and ē being the long E sound. Various Tolkien experts including audio books and scholars say it this way so I assume they are right.
Love your work, best of luck going forward.
Can we get a video on Ciryatandor from MERP, The land of Akhorahil?
yes!!!! please do more videos like this
Yeessssss!!! By the blood of Arnorrrr!!!!
Well done! I wonder if a similar extended Barrow Wights video would be possible in the future?
I've honestly never understood the whole reasoning behind giving up on Arnor and becoming the rangers. You've just won a huge victory, there's no reason to think that they would be unpopular, and surely the realm would benefit from some leadership to help it regrow? Was it shame? It's always portrayed as noble but it seems so odd to just abandon the people, from their perspective at least.
Manpower. The Numenorians had lost the manpower to hold onto the mandate of power. Claiming title when one doesn’t have the swords to pack it up tends to go badly. Internal disagreements over the succession also likely played a
you are so underrated my friend.
All hail Darth Gandalf the Great!
29:03 Fracturing of Arnor
32:38 Arrival of Hobbits
33:10 Angmar
I love how we don't get names for the brothers that split Arnor (something quite Important) but we get the names for a lot of Dunedain chieftains that we only know the birth & death dates. 😂
Can you do more such long videos? I love listening while getting ready to sleep and many RUclipsrs have annoying voice or very loud music. It would be perfect if you make for characters as well. Thank you 🙏
just subscribed.
So Elendil just showed up in Eriador and proclaimed himself as a king? How did that go over with the people living there lol
He was the leader of the Faithful and most of the Númenoreans living in that area were also of the Faithful so I imagine it went over quite well.
Judging the the disloyalty of the Hillmen, not very.
@@waltonsmith7210 according to the Unfinished Tales, the men of "eastern arnor" went to the war of the last alliance led by Isildur, those men were probably the Hillmen
The Numenorians were to normal humans like the Noldor were to the dark elves. Sophisticated, powerfull and more wise. They also had good connections with the elves and Gil Galad. I guess it was the same reason why Thingol was accepted as King of Beleriand. It was just better to have him a leader.
"Well I didn't vote for you!"
Five minutes in and I’m longing for a map.
Ufff gonna slowly digest this video, seems yummy, God I love Arnor!
0:01
11:06
34:01
this is perfect to listen, meanwhile I build my kingdom in minecraft
I would have enjoyed being a soldier of Arnor posted to Lond Daer.
Question: Did Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron while he was down? Or was Sauron still capable of fighting?
I have a What If question: If Aragorn was slain at the Battle of the Black Gate, who would rule Gondor? Would Faramir or Imrahil have become King and start a new line considering both would have the most legitimate claim to the Throne? Would they have kept the office of Steward as the ruling figure of Gondor?
If Aragorn was slain I believe Faramir would have the best claim since he was a descendant of Anárion
I am thinking about the framing device of the Lord of the Rings being the translation of the Red Book of Westmarch, annotated after Samwise' departure to Valinor by Gondoran scribes. Those Gondoran scribes would have had access to the historical records of Gondor, but those of Arnor and other realms would be in varying states, with probably many details lost. I suggest that the history of Arnor that we have would be much richer and more detailed were Arnor's records available to them.
To be fair, i think it says in Unfinished Tales or the Silmarillion that even Arnor was just a shadow of Númenor. Much of the culture wasn't saved because Erú quite literally wiped the island out I'm less than 30 minutes.
I feel like what we get is actually pretty good considering had Elrond stayed longer we might have gotten more information or if Tolkien had gone more in depth on the topic.
Because Cirdan didn't take the last ship with presumably Celeborn and Thranduil until years after Sam left across the Belegaer.
Sam left after Rosie passed and passed the Red Book to his children but I think Merry, Pippin, and Aragorn were all still alive and flourishing as messengers for Rohan and Gondor and as king respectively. Gimli and Legolas had yet to sail down the Anduin and to Valinor also.
Aragorn would have likely remembered much of what Elrond told him and of his own studies when being fostered in Rivendell. Not to mention Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen who had much longer to study history from their father who fought in the wars.
Perhaps the new age and fading of evil and magic was just naturally changing Gondor's culture and the Fellowship and Arwen were some of the last of a bygone age.
Where is it stated that the shire was overrun ?
I wonder if the reason the Dunedain of the north dwindled is that their women emigrated to Gondor for better living conditions and amenities. Small towns in modern times have a similar problem, imagine how severe it would be in a society that has gone from the height of civilization to a hunter-gatherer remnant by the choice of its leadership.
This would have been a far more difficult journey at a time when people did not move around as much as they do in our time.
@@istari0 True enough, some intrepid Gondorian merchants would need to be involved, since I doubt Lindon sailors would help it along.
I would love a LOTR PC game where you can play Arnorians or Gondorians
Wholy damn 🫨
Wielder of the Flame... 🔥??? 🗡 ⚔️ 😈 🧙♂️ 🌌 🎅
Except Finwe and Gil-Galad, of course.
Sadly the story of Arnor is nonsensical, because Tolkien is clueless about population growth. And not just human population, but fauna and flora becoming plentiful as well.
Also Arnor not having trade and relationships with the Dwarves in Khazad Dum and the Blue Mountains makes no sense whatsoever.
The Dwarves playing no role in general makes no at all, even with the dwarves isolationist nature.
So. Many. Ads.
If I have to keep getting up from what I am doing to skip all the ads, the long form format becomes worthless to me. I wont be watching any of your longer videos for this reason.
Arnor is the western roman empire
Gondor is Eastern Rome/Byzantine. Isn’t Mordor supposed to represent Turkey/Ottoman Empire?
Awesome video, thank you