Arnor, the Northern Kingdom (Part III)

by Revan

1. Arnor’s Fall – Causes & Consequences

Why did Arnor fall? There are many simple reasons why the Northern Kingdom ended so quickly. The main reasons were:

A) Causes

1) Angmar’s attack. The Witch-King was more powerful than the Dúnedain and that’s why he managed to destroy Arnor. The Men of the North were able to win only one battle and that was the final one, the battle of Fornost. But it was too late.

2) Arnor’s division into three separate regions. It’s almost sure that Angmar would have been crushed if Arnor was united. However, the Kingdom of Rhudaur made an alliance with the forces of evil, so the Witch-King had to fight only 2/3 of Arnor, having the rest 1/3 at his side. Of course we should mention that even before Angmar’s appearance, the three Kingdoms of Arnor were at civil war. The Witch-King just chose the right time to attack.

3) Gondor’s and other allies’ absence at the early years of the war was also a cause. The King of Arthedain didn’t asked for any help from Gondor or the Elves. Only at the end, Cirdan sent a boat to rescue King Averdui and Gondor helped the Men of the North defeat Angmar at Fornost.

4) The absence of a main enemy before Angmar’s appearance. The Southern Kingdom survived much longer than the Northern. It’s known that Gondor had many enemies: Mordor, men of Harad, the Easterlings,
Wainraiders and the Corsairs of Umbar were always a menace. We can say that Mordor was surrounded by enemies. On the other hand we have already said that Arnor was surrounded by Elven Realms and other allies, and that’s why the Kingdom was so unprepared when Angmar attacked.

B) Consequences

The fall of the Northern Kingdom had terrible consequences for the people of Middle Earth. Sauron succeeded in defeating the Northern Kingdom and wiping out one of his most dangerous enemies. The Witch-King was defeated, but Angmar’s campaign was victorious. Not only that but the Dark Lord managed to draw Gondor’s attention away from Mordor, to the far north. Also, the fall of Arnor resulted in the formation of the “Rangers”. Rangers were guardians of Eriador, including The Shire.

Surprisingly the end of the Northern Kingdom had a good side too. Shortly after the fall of Arnor, the last known King of Gondor fell in Minas Morgûl. Sauron believed that he had broken the line of the kings and that there were no other heirs of Isildur or Anarion. Obviously he was wrong. Aragorn was able to stay hidden at Rivendell and become a Ranger. Sauron learned about him only during the War of the Ring. Aragorn revealed himself using the palantír of Orthanc. The sudden appearance of Isildur’s Heir surprised and panicked Sauron. That’s why he began the war against Men earlier than he was planning and attempted a quick attack to Minas Tirith using Minas Morgûl’s army. But that wasn’t the only benefit. Aragorn managed to draw the attention of Sauron away from Mordor, giving time to Frodo and Sam. If the Kingdom of Arnor was still existing Aragorn would have become a King, and then he could not have caught Sauron by surprise.

Author’s Epilogue

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you found it much informative but most importantly I hope you enjoyed it.