return

1372 the return of the king
Men of the Harad was loosened, but because it was there that
Ar-Pharazôn the Golden, last King of Númenor, had landed and
humbled the might of Sauron. Though great evil had come after,
even the followers of Elendil remembered with pride the coming
of the great host of Ar-Pharazôn out of the deeps of the Sea;
and on the highest hill of the headland above the Haven they
had set a great white pillar as a monument. It was crowned with
a globe of crystal that took the rays of the Sun and of the Moon
and shone like a bright star that could be seen in clear weather
even on the coasts of Gondor or far out upon the western sea.
So it stood, until after the second arising of Sauron, which now
approached, Umbar fell under the domination of his servants,
and the memorial of his humiliation was thrown down.’
After the return of Eldacar the blood of the kingly house and
other houses of the Dúnedain became more mingled with that
of lesser Men. For many of the great had been slain in the
Kin-strife; while Eldacar showed favour to the Northmen, by
whose help he had regained the crown, and the people of Gondor
were replenished by great numbers that came from Rhovanion.
This mingling did not at first hasten the waning of the Dúnedain,
as had been feared; but the waning still proceeded, little by
little, as it had before. For no doubt it was due above all to
Middle-earth itself, and to the slow withdrawing of the gifts of
the Númenóreans after the downfall of the Land of the Star.
Eldacar lived to his two hundred and thirty-fifth year, and was
king for fifty-eight years, of which ten were spent in exile.
The second and greatest evil came upon Gondor in the reign of
Telemnar, the twenty-sixth king, whose father Minardil, son of
Eldacar, was slain at Pelargir by the Corsairs of Umbar. (They
were led by Angamaitë and Sangahyando, the great-grandsons
of Castamir.) Soon after a deadly plague came with dark winds
out of the East. The King and all his children died, and great
numbers of the people of Gondor, especially those that lived in
Osgiliath. Then for weariness and fewness of men the watch on
the borders of Mordor ceased and the fortresses that guarded
the passes were unmanned.
Later it was noted that these things happened even as the