Denethor

Denethor II
Tolkien's legendarium character
Aliases	Steward of Gondor
Race	Men
Book(s)	The Return of the King (1955)

Denethor II, son of Ecthelion II, is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Return of the King, which is the third and final part of his novel The Lord of the Rings. He is the 26th and final Ruling Steward of Gondor.

Denethor was born in T.A. 2930, the first son and third child of Ecthelion II. Ecthelion became the 25th Ruling Steward of Gondor in T.A. 2953, and at the same time Denethor became the heir apparent, inheriting the Horn of Gondor. He succeeded his father as Denethor II in T.A. 2984.

As stated in the early chapters and the Appendices of The Return of the King, Denethor was widely considered a man of great will, foresight, and strength. However, he failed to reach out to his people, who flocked instead to Thorongil, an outsider who served Denethor's father with great renown. Thorongil vanished from Gondor four years before Denethor would succeed his father as Ruling Steward. Thorongil (who was secretly Aragorn, Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North and hence a claimant to Gondor's throne) had advised Ecthelion to put faith in the wizard Gandalf, whom Denethor distrusted.

In T.A. 2976 Denethor had married Finduilas, daughter of Prince Adrahil of Dol Amroth. She gave birth to two sons, Boromir and Faramir, before dying when they were ten and five years old, respectively (T.A. 2988). Denethor never remarried, and became more grim and silent than before.

In a conversation with Pippin just before the first meeting with Denethor, Gandalf described Denethor as "…proud and subtle, a man of far greater lineage and power [than Théoden of Rohan], though he is not called a king." Following that meeting, after Pippin has sworn fealty to Denethor, Gandalf further commented:

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