Land of the King, Chapter 85: The End

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I… I took the path less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost

(The remaining three rulers of Arnor missing from the Annals of Kings have been added to this edition.)

XXXX Arathorn II 5342-5421

The fortieth High King was born in the year 5094, and he would die three hundred and twenty-seven years later in 5421.

The early years of his life were spent dividing his time between Arnor and the North who were at the time separate wholly. The marriage of his father and mother, the heirs apparent of both realms, was expected to see Arathorn ascend to the throne of both kingdoms and unite them in a personal union. This expectation doubled when both his grandfathers passed and his parents became the rulers of the respective realms.

Young and eager to please, the young Arathorn became extremely popular and beloved in his father’s homeland, where the young prince journeyed far and over the vast realm of Arnor and its territories across the Narrow Sea. Yet in the North, little was thought of the prince, the people did not hate him, but neither did they truly love him.

Despite his best attempts to earn their affection, the Northmen were a hard and stubborn people. In their hearts, no matter how much they might like Prince Arathorn as a person, they could never bring themselves to be as devoted to him as they were his well-respected mother Queen Aryanne. The fact that Arathorn was Arnorian first, and not Nord, would forever hinder his ability to earn the loyalty of his northern kin. It did not help that Arathorn spent much more time in Arnor than in the North upon his majority, and this cannot be blamed on him for it was expected that the rule of Arnor would prove a greater task than the governance of Winterfell’s domain.

In the absence of their Crown Prince, the people of Norda found a new prince to favor. The second of four children, Prince Araphant was born fifty-five years the younger of his elder brother. He was closest to and dearest to the heart of his mother Queen Aryanne, and rumors abouned that wished to name him her heir over his brother.

All of Queen Aryanne’s four children had been given a traditional Stark name upon their birth, with Arathorn’s own being Artos. However, only Araphant came to prefer and use the name his mother gave him more than his Arnorian name of Araphant. As the years passed, Araphant ceased using his name and title as Prince of Arnor unless when visiting Arnor, otherwise in all other occasions in Norda, he went by the name and title of Prince Rickard Stark.

Though proud of his lineage from Elendil and of the long and storied history of Arnor, the North resonated with Rickard in a way Arnor never did and it was home to him in a way it never really was to his brother. Rickard Stark soon earned the affection of his mother, remaining in the harsh cold North, alone of all his siblings. One by one, the rest would all leave Winterfell, choosing to live lives of comfort and luxury in Arnor.

So it came that after years of rising tensions, Rickard and his supporters officially asked Queen Aryanne to name him heir to Winterfell in 5227 E.L, sparking the Succession Crisis of the North. How the crisis was resolved, and of the estranged relationship between Arathorn and Rickard’s parents afterwards has already been told.

What has not been yet told is that Prince Rickard reached out to his brother in private and spoke with him at length. What exactly it was that they spoke of is not known, what is known is that it came at a moment when a two thousand-year old alliance was on the brink of breaking. Whatever it was that the brothers spoke of, Prince Arathorn emerged and proposed his solution, and the rest is history.

115 years later, Rickard was the first to swear fealty to his brother at his coronation and for the next six decades, the two would rule alongside each other in peace. Arathorn as High King of Arnor and overlord of Rickard, as Prince of Formenor and Winterfell.

The first six decades of Arathorn’s rule would prove to be… interesting. Arnor’s power grew ever greater as it extended its reach further over the world. Arathorn did well in cultivating the already thriving empire his father had left him. Yet despite its glory, cracks were clear to those who knew where to look.

In its Second Golden Age, Arnor itself grew rich off the wealth of the trade routes and lucrative resource-rich lands it controlled, ignoring the colonies of Hyarmen and Annúrómen. These far away colonies became autonomous in all but name, with local nobles becoming far more powerful than they were in the Arnorian homeland. Still for centuries Arnor was content to leave the colonies be, with little interest in those far-flung and remote territories. Arnor’s attention was instead on its islands in the Summer, Shivering, and Jade Seas, its ports and bases in Essos, controlling all the trade in the world through those seas and Essosi canals.

And in the homeland itself, matters turned now to succession. King Arathorn had but one child, his son Prince Aragorn. By all laws, traditions, and customs, Aragorn was his unquestioned heir. However, Aragorn himself had only three daughters. According to the traditions followed since Valandil of ancient Andúnië, the second in line after Aragorn… was Arathorn’s younger brother Araphant, Prince Rickard Stark of Winterfell and Formenor.

Almost like a continuation of the Succession Crisis of the North years earlier, a furious debate now raged in Arnor. Though technically the rightful heir, the way in which Araphant had secured his principality in the north had infuriated many in Arnor, and Arathorn himself was not eager to see him to see him succeed. The Starks were seen as foreigners, ungrateful braggarts who were unworthy of the Sceptre of Arnor.

Some proposed that Prince Araphant and his line should be passed over entirely, and the Sceptre go to the next brother, Prince Arveleg. Many rightly pointed out that passing to Arveleg would break the rules of primogeniture and spark another Kin-Strife. Others said that tradition had to prevail and proposed Prince Araphant-Rickard’s eldest son, Prince Brandon Stark, or rather his near forgotten Sindarin name, Arvegil, should be the heir to Arnor and his younger brother Eddard heir to Formenor and Winterfell.

The debate raged on and on until a new faction arose, proposing that Prince Aragorn’s three daughters, should be considered his heirs, per the customs of Númenor of old. This idea soon garnered much support due to the popularity of the princesses and was championed by their father Aragorn who stated clearly he wished his daughters to inherit and would make it so when he became king, whether his father approved it or not.

Aragorn toured the empire for many years, gathering more support and calling upon the remnants of the old Rhoynish Cognatic movement. He returned in 5400 to present this support to the King and his council. The Council of the Sceptre however voted inconclusively after Araphant successfully defended his argument and Arathorn proved indecisive in deciding. The debate over the succession was soon forgotten as toward the end of that year, winter came.

That winter came on the heel of the longest summer in living memory. Ten years, two months, and sixteen days. It was only decades later that it was fully realized what exactly had begun at the close of the year 5400. What followed was twenty-three years of the coldest, harshest, and most nightmarish winter in the history of Arnor. Preparations had been made for winter, but nothing could have prepared Arnor for what came.

Winter was mild at first, but worsened with each passing year until famine spread across the world. Empires crumbled from the conditions. In Essos, the Sarne froze over, and the Rhoyne froze as far south as Selhoru. The continent descended into anarchy as Arnor withdrew behind Rammas Rómen, abandoning all its influence save in the Summer Sea, and barring the Rammas to refugees, leaving them to starve. Ibben and any port in the northern Shivering Sea was abandoned.

The entirety of the lands beyond the Wall became blanketed in a thick carpet of snow, the wildlings either all starved to death or died from frostbite, or swallowed their pride to bend the knee and flee south. The Night’s Watch collapsed, pulling back all forces from their outposts north of the Wall, with a skeleton force manning the Wall itself only by support from Arnor.

Formenor starved. Always suffering in winters, the North was hit particularly harsh. The Skagosi, remote and always defiant of Winterfell went extinct cannibalizing each other in hunger. The Gift laid abandoned, and the nobles froze in their cold castles. Millions began fleeing the North entirely, cobbling what little of their possessions they could to sell and charter passage south to Arnor. What remained of the North’s population became concentrated in Cape Kraken, the Barrowlands, and White Harbor. Winterfell became the northernmost centre of civilization in effect.

As winter worsened in the northern hemisphere, millions began migrating. From Imladen and Formenor, millions moved, first to the Arnorian homeland, and then to Hyarmen or the Summer Islands, the Basiliks Isles, Great Moraq, and other islands in the warm Summer and Jade Seas when the winter worsened even further. In East Arnor, Braavos would be gutted by the winter and subsequent migrations. The regional and provincial identities that had once been common in the homeland, Formenor, Imladen, Dorne, and East Arnor were dissolved as people mixed and mingled and had no choice but to work together to survive as the snows began covering the traditional breadbasket regions of Arnor.

“Númenor died by Water.

Valyria died by Fire.

Will Arnor die by Ice?”

– Graffiti that became common in Annúminas prior to the Second War of the Dawn.

Hyarmen, deep in the southern hemisphere, was perhaps the only region in the world unaffected by the winter. Hyarmen, the only civilized state in Sothoryos and laying claim to massive swathes of sparsely populated land, would only benefit from the winter.

At the start of the winter, Hyarmen had had some fifteen million people in its sparsely populated territory, divided among twenty-two provinces. By the twentieth year, immigration from the rest of the Empire and Westeros, and even from non-Arnorian imperial lands saw that population more than triple to fifty million. Annúrómen on the far east coast of Essos (and west from Annúminas) was entirely abandoned, its latitude similar to Formenor and Imladen had proven too cold. All the colonists of Annúrómen migrated to Hyarmen since Westeros was itself freezing in the winter.

This influx of migration was a part of a greater conflict with the Arnorian homeland. The needs of the winter had seen Arnor massively increase the taxes on Hyarmen, in the form of food. Food which was not as common as it seemed with the massive inflow of people to its lands. The colonies began protesting and that resulted in Arnor stationing fleets and armies in its lands, all but abolishing their unofficial autonomy and infuriating them. Protests and demands increased by the year as Arnor tightened its yoke on Hyarmen to survive.

The Hyarmen colonies rallied to Lord Elured of Arnen, a scion of the House of Elendil whose family had lived in Hyarmen for generations. He was one of their most influential lords and commanded great respect in the region. With his leadership, Hyarmen began leveraging the threat of rebellion, a devastating disruption to the food supply and a distraction from the crisis that Arnor could not afford. They demanded a withdrawal of Arnor’s armies and fleets, and the establishment of an autonomous principality with Elured as Prince of Hyarmen.

King Arathorn balked. He saw the demands of Hyarmen as horrendous and unacceptable. The idea that fellow Dúnedain would quibble over autonomy and threaten Arnor with starvation to concede infuriated him and many others.

Reluctant to give them what they wanted, King Arathorn dithered and deliberated while Arnor continued to suffer in the depths of winter. Tensions began rising. For a time, many feared war was inevitable. Before Arathorn could resolve the dispute, word suddenly came from the north of the fall of the Wall in 5420.

After thousands of years, the Others had returned. Many soon realized that the winter was the Second Long Night, and in those dark hours, Hyarmen proved its loyalty and dedication to the greater good. With King Arathorn’s reluctant recognition of Lord Elured as Prince of Hyarmen, Hyarmen agreed to postpone the finalization of their status within Arnor to after the war and supplied the homeland with food throughout the War for the Dawn as the Arnorian armies in their lands returned home to fight.

King Arathorn marshalled his armies to defense of Formenor, which many questioned, already of the opinion that Formenor had been a parasite leeching of Arnor’s food for years. Indeed, many thought that if not for Formenor, Arnor might not be at Hyarmen’s mercy. Wisdom ultimately prevailed when many realized the North had to be protected lest the Others march upon Arnor with millions of undead wights from its slain people.

In the north, the Army of the Dead proceeded at lightning speed, overrunning all the north save Moat Cailin, Barrowton, and White Harbor. Even Winterfell had fallen, with Prince Araphant giving his life so that his sons and people could escape to Moat Cailin. The situation was dire when Arnor’s army arrived at Moat Cailin and for the next two years, Arnor and the remnants of Formenor would wage a brutal war against the undead, almost never seeing the sun. Finally, they had fought their way back to Winterfell in 5423 and as they laid siege to it, he revealed himself.

In ancient and long forgotten tales, the myths of the world speak of Seven Maiar and the other. And that other revealed himself now, greatest and god of his kind. The Great Other would do single combat with King Arathorn, Sir Arron Dayne, Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth, and many more a champion. In the end, he was cast down, but all who fought him gave their lives to do so. King Arathorn was slain, and Narsil was broken when he fell.

All over the empire, the people mourned. Though his indecision and stubbornness had angered many, the old king had only ever had the best in mind for Arnor and his heroic sacrifice redeemed him in the eyes of the people, even those of Hyarmen. So passed the fortieth king of Arnor.

XXXXI Aragorn II Andúril 5421-5618

Perhaps the most famous king in recent history, Aragorn was born in the year 5209. He grew up during the height of the Arnorian Empire, perhaps it was only fitting he would live to see its darkest hours and its evolution into something greater.

As a youth, his closest companions were his cousin Benjen, his bodyguard Arthur Dayne, and the brothers Boromir and Faramir, the grandsons of Steward Ecthelion.

He had no sons, only three daughters, Silmariën, Telperiën, and Vanimeldë. A great debate was begun over the law of succession because of this. Aragorn toured the empire for many years gathering support, and many say it was in this time that he promised Hyarmen the beginnings of what would later become their autonomy. The succession was finally resolved when Aragorn’s father died during the War for the Dawn and Aragorn decreed his daughters as his heirs upon ascending as King.

Aragorn fought in the War for the Dawn alongside his father and personally slew the Night’s King, the lieutenant of the Great Other. Upon his father’s death, it is said that the long thought extinct Children of the Forest revealed themselves to him and they would bring him to speak to the mythical Seven Maiar, long believed dead if they had ever existed.

They revealed to him the truth, the Great Other, or as his name was finally known, Boreas, was not dead. His spirit was hiding in the body of one of his Others and they had to kill every last one to end it all for good.

With the aid of the Children, Aragorn had Narsil reforged into a new blade which he christened Andúril, the Flame of the West, giving him his own epithet. With Andúril in hand, he led the hunt for the remaining Others after the Great Other’s defeat and personally slew the last host of the Great Other’s spirit, dispelling his spirit forever.

With the Great Other’s final death, winter at long last came to an end after twenty-three years. Almost immediately, spring began, almost in a rush and the tired and exhausted people of Arnor began to rebuild. For the first time in years, crops were grown in lands they had not been able to grow in decades and the people of Arnor would eat the best they ever had for years after that harvest. A brief panic gripped Arnor, and the whole world, when winter suddenly returned after the harvest of 5402, yet within three to four months, spring had come again. The seasons had reassumed a regular length and rhythm without the interference of the Maiar. Many thought it the final proof of the Little Ice Age theory.

In the following decades, Arnor reasserted control over its far-flung empire. They returned in time to Ibben and other territories, but slowly and not with haste. Trade took decades if not centuries to recover after the collapse of many Essosi civilizations and the anarchy and famine during the winter. Arnor itself took many years to recover and so many would continue to migrate to Hyarmen.

Aragorn also kept the promise his father had made to Hyarmen. In recognition of Hyarmen’s contributions to the empire during the Long Night and the War for the Dawn, Aragorn formally granted it autonomy as had been agreed and recognized Prince Elured as Prince of Hyarmen shortly after the War for the Dawn.

There was a formal investiture ceremony held in Annuminas where Aragorn formally named Prince Elured as Prince of Hyarmen, and granted him and the Principality of Hyarmen every right that the Principality of Formenor once held, autonomy, the right to a Principality Army separate from the Royal Army, while sharing a currency, navy, and king with the homeland.

All obligations, expectations, and privileges were legally defined and agreed upon in the letters patent that granted Elured the Principality of Hyarmen, among these was a condition that the inheritance of Hyarmen was to follow absolute primogeniture just like the Royal House of Arnor. Hyarmen would continue to acknowledge it status as part of Arnor, and pay a small nominal tax to Morlond and maintain economic links.

Prince Elured swore fealty to Aragorn and Aragorn praised the new prince’s character and skill before in a shocking move, offered him the hand of his own daughter and heir, Princess Silmariën. Many historians believe this to have been an exceedingly clever move on Aragorn’s part.

Having just been honored so greatly, Elured could hardly refuse the hand of the King’s daughter, and future Queen of Arnor itself. And why would he want to? By his marriage Elured would be not only Prince of Hyarmen but Prince-Consort of the entire Arnorian Empire.

Aragorn had heeded the warnings of many councilors who had told him that granting autonomy to Hyarmen was tantamount to dividing the Empire in half. With Prince Elured’s marriage to his heir, Aragorn had ensured Hyarmen would remain bound firmly to Morlond and created the potential for his grandchild to inherit Arnor and Hyarmen both in one union, effectively ending Hyarmen’s autonomy once more.

Despite this potential reunification in the future, for the time being Hyarmen was still relinquished and allowed its autonomy as a principality, and while that had precedent in Arnor, many still disliked this new arrangement. Aragorn took advantage of these sentiments and of the devastation of the Long Night to reorder Arnor itself. Formenor was wholly annexed into Arnor by right of inheritance as Prince Araphant-Rickard and his three sons had all perished. Aragorn also annexed the Principalities of Strongsong/Formen-Imladen, Braavos, and Pentos. Thus the four principalities were abolished and made simply another province of Arnor each, their ruling princes either had no power to contest these rulings after the Long Night or their lines had become extinct altogether.

As far as possible, Aragorn consolidated the empire into a cohesive unit, seeking to end the regionalism which had been slowly developing before the Long Night, fearing that more provinces would seek autonomy or even independence like Hyarmen did. Dorne, East Arnor, the Summer Islands and Basilisk Isles were paid special attention to in this process of consolidation. Annúrómen was never recolonized as Arnor turned all efforts to reordering and consolidating its possessions in Essos, northern Sothoryos, and the Shivering, Jade, and Summer Seas.

By the end of Aragorn’s reign, Arnor’s empire had been reforged. Other than Hyarmen which was now like a southern sister realm of Arnor and destined to rejoin the fold eventually, the rest of its empire had either been assimilated into the kingdom at its heart or were too weak to ever break away. And more than just politically, Arnor’s culture and society would begin to change rapidly with the advent of the Industrial Revolution in Aragorn’s later rule, drastically causing Arnor’s power to grow once more as technology advanced like never before. In the reign of a single king, Arnor had changed drastically and many wondered if it would change even more when the first ever queen took the Sceptre of Annuminas upon the death of Aragorn II.

XXXXII Silmariën the Good 5618-Present

Our current and gracious ruler is Silmariën the Good Queen, the first ever Ruling High Queen of Arnor and its Empire. Queen of Formenor and the Vale and the Summer Islands. Sealady of Braavos, Princess of Pentos, Sovereign of the Stepstones, Princess of Naath, Mistress of the Basilisk Isles and Ibben and countless other titles.

It is fitting perhaps that the first queen of the ancient Line of Andúnië would bear the name of Silmariën, mother of Valandil, founder of that line. Eighteen Lords of Andúnië and forty-one High Kings of Arnor and now at long last, a queen takes up the Sceptre of Annuminas, the Rod bestowed upon the original Silmariën to give her son Valandil when he came of age.

Queen Silmariën was born in 5346. She is the spitting image of her late mother, Ashara Dayne, and inherited her violet eyes and raven-black hair. The Queen was raised from a young age to rule though her succession was not confirmed until she herself was 63 years old. She is the first queen of the Númenórean people since the usurped Tar-Miriel of ancient history and legend, and what a fine queen she has proven to be.

Even before her ascension to the throne, Silmariën was greatly loved. For many years she was known as ‘The People’s Princess’ winning the hearts and minds of many Arnorians. She won much support by her kindness, her charisma, and bravery as she impressed all the empire and won their adoration. Giving alms and resolving disputes as she traveled. Even after her father became king, Silmariën did not cease her touring of the empire.

Famously, during the depths of the Long Night, Silmariën rejected the luxuries of the royal palace to sleep in the cold streets of the poor of Morlond, her humility and solidarity winning her praise, love and adoration from the people. During the tumultuous years of the Long Night, its aftermath and her father’s reorganization and consolidation of the empire, the people of Arnor and its empire remained for the most part, steadfast, faithful and loyal to the Sceptre. Many attribute this to her incredible reputation.

She consented to marry Prince Elured of Hyarmen after the Second Long Night, to ensure peace in the Empire and the continuation of the male line of Elendil. Cleverly, Silmariën took steps to ensure that no Succession Crisis could divide her heir’s inheritance as it had her grandfather’s. She took all of her younger children back to Arnor and later sent them to govern estates in the Summer Islands or as emissaries in the rebuilding countries of Essos.

Her eldest son and heir, Prince Eärendil was raised equally between Arnor and Hyarmen and is very familiar with and exceedingly popular in both. Silmariën’s objective here was aided by the fact that the millions of immigrants that had come to Hyarmen during the Long Night and after, and now made up the majority of its population, were more familiar with her and her father and grandfather as rulers than her husband Elured and saw little problem with Hyarmen rejoining Arnor fully. Because of Queen Silmariën’s foresight, her son and heir stands to become both the High King of Arnor and Prince of Hyarmen, reuniting the Empire firmly under a single ruler and restoring the full unity of the Dúnedain.

May the Good Queen rule for centuries more, and when the time at last comes for her to pass from this word, may her son Prince Eärendil rule as ably and nobly as her. Long Live the Queen!

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Afterword

The Arnor of now is incredibly different from the Arnor Elendil founded. From the small realm that covered merely the hills of Malldolan and its border provinces of Anórien and Ithilien, to the almighty empire that fought and defeated dragonlords and ice demons and their cold god alike. Its power and influence now covers the world entire, even for all that Arnor now has to share that power with a daughter-realm.

The Industrial Revolution has spread like wildfire and technology has progressed incredibly. Arnor’s ships go now without the wind, and many are made of metal that shear hidden rocks, and they sink not in calm or storm; but they are no longer fair to look upon. Her towers grow ever stronger and climb ever higher. Her shields are impenetrable, her swords cannot be withstood, her darts are like thunder and pass over leagues unerring. Great factories bellow smoke while massive tracks of rail line the continents of Essos, Sothoryos, and Westeros.

With each passing decade, greater and wiser innovations are being made. Who knows what the future will hold? Nonetheless it looks bright and we will continue on into the future and beyond, always keeping our eyes focused forward, but never forgetting our past.

Change is at the root of Arnor’s history. As conservative as our people are, change is inevitable after over five thousand years. Who knows what else Arnor could have been, what it could have become? Perhaps Arnor might never have expanded in another world, remaining locked in Malldolan. Perhaps if the Purists won the Kin-Strife, Arnor might have fallen, or if Arnor had lost the First Dragon War, would there have been a Second, Third, Fourth or Fifth?

If a single decision had been made differently in our long history, so much would have changed. If we scan back through our past, every single decision has culminated in the Arnor that now exists. Arnor has survived Greyborn raids, civil wars, blood purism, racism, wars of survival with Valyria and the Others, endless winters and devastating famines.

We have had wise kings, foolish kings, kind kings, and cruel kings, and now we have a Queen. Perhaps it is fitting that the Annals of Kings ends with the first queen. All future editions will have to be referred to as the Annals of Rulers instead.

So it is that we come at last to the end of our history as of now, but history is always being made and as one journey ends, another begins. The end is just the beginning. It is my hope to my students that this latest edition of the Annals of Kings, which is in truth but a summarization and abridgement of our true history, and probably not a good one at that, has nonetheless bestowed upon all of you a greater understanding of the deep and rich history of our people and prepared you to understand how not to make the mistakes of our forebears as we continue to move into the future.

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Author’s Note: I had these three chapters sitting in my computer for almost years now. There were some difficulties with my former beta who couldn’t commit to the project anymore so I ended up deciding to finish the story on my own at long last. 

Well, this is it. After 85 chapters, Land of the King has at last come to an end. It’s been a long journey and I’m immensely grateful to all of you who followed me along for the ride. Land of the King blew up beyond my wildest dreams. I know the chapters haven’t always been good, or the plotlines always made sense, and I think the ending is rushed, but for a first fic I think I did good. I’ve learned so much in the years I wrote this story, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. This experience, the experience of the first true story I ever wrote, I think will stay with me forever. 

To everyone who followed Land of the King from the beginning or came in later, to those of you who supported me monetarily even, thank you, this story would never have gotten so far without your support, suggestions, and encouragement, and it was fun, so very fun writing this story. It was always the highlight of my day when I saw a new reply or review and a part of me is empty now that that will all end. FFN might still have reviews later on, but SB and AH, the heart of the story, those threads will die and I’ll be sad. Oh well, all good things come to an end. Might be presumptuous of me to say LOTK is good but I think I’ve deserved that eh? Leave this author some pride in his first story.

The lessons I learned from Land of the King, I took to my second story, High Tide, and I used them to craft that story into something I think is of higher quality than LOTK. I hope y’all will decide to check that out and support it as well, but if not, I’m still grateful that people followed this first wild crossover idea of mine. 

The next chapter after this is not part of the story proper but is rather a post-epilogue essay and analysis looking back on the story. Feel free to check it out if you are interested, but if you are not, this is Tertius out for the last time on LOTK. Thank you for reading.