#meneldil

Thinking about Gondor’s dynastic disputes has me thinking about how interesting it is that the royal House of Anárion was ever a thing at all. IIRC, Anárion was the older son in an earlier draft, and in that case the kingship falling to his son Meneldil would simply be business as usual. But in the final version, Isildur is the elder son, and he had four sons of his own. He could have turned Gondor over to one of them instead of to Meneldil. Or, if he was set on establishing all of his children in Arnor, he could have made Meneldil a viceroy of some kind rather than placing him on the throne as king in his own right. It’s just a really different and intriguing way of going about things.

I can think of various explanations, but I don’t think we really get a conclusive one, though Isildur’s grief for Anárion factoring into his decision wrt the Ring seems relevant. And the Silm says Isildur “forsook” Gondor. It’s an odd situation and an odd decision—with, of course, major ramifications that he may not have ever foreseen.