Ornendil

Biography: Ornendil
Birth - Death	Third Age Before 1330 - 1437
Race:	Man
Gender:	Male
Ancestor(s):	Isildur ⁞
Parent(s):	Eldacar Vinitharya
	Ornendil
Sibling(s):	Aldamir
Info:	Son of the 21st King of Gondor

Ornendil (Quenya for Tree-friend) was a prince of Gondor and the elder son of King Eldacar Vinitharya. A member of the House of Anárion, he lived during the troubled years leading up to the civil war known as the Kin-strife, and was slain during the capture of Osgiliath in the conflict between his father and the rebel lord Castamir the Usurper.

Ornendil was born before the year T.A. 1330, during the reign of his grandfather, King Valacar. Through his father he belonged to the royal line of Gondor and was heir to the throne after his father Eldacar, but his family's position became contentious because Eldacar's mother, Vidumavi, was a woman of Rhovanion. Many among the proud Dúnedain of Gondor regarded this northern ancestry with suspicion, believing that the blood of the royal house had been diminished. These tensions simmered for many years and would later erupt into open rebellion. Ornendil's younger brother was Aldamir, who would survive the conflict and later succeed Eldacar as king.

When Valacar died in T.A. 1432, Eldacar inherited the throne of Gondor, but opposition to his rule quickly crystallized among the southern provinces and the powerful naval factions of the realm. Their chief leader was Castamir, a descendant of the royal house and captain of Gondor's fleets. Rejecting Eldacar's claim, Castamir and his supporters began the civil war remembered as the Kin-strife.

During the early stages of the conflict Eldacar held the capital city of Osgiliath, which became the principal battleground of the war. For several years the king's forces defended the city against the rebels. In T.A. 1437 the armies of Castamir finally stormed Osgiliath. The city was taken and burned in the fighting, and the devastation dealt a lasting blow to Gondor's ancient capital. Eldacar himself escaped the ruin of the city and fled north to seek refuge among his mother's kin in Rhovanion, but his son Ornendil was captured by the rebels.

Castamir ordered Ornendil's execution soon after the fall of Osgiliath. The killing of the prince was a calculated act meant both to weaken Eldacar's claim and to demonstrate the rebels' resolve. Ornendil died in T.A. 1437 at an age of more than one hundred years, as was common among the long-lived Dúnedain.

The death of Ornendil became one of the most bitter personal losses suffered by Eldacar during the civil war. A decade later, in T.A. 1447, Eldacar returned from exile with allies from Rhovanion and confronted Castamir's forces at the Battle of the Crossings of Erui. In that battle Eldacar slew Castamir himself, avenging the death of his son and reclaiming the throne of Gondor.