Denethor II

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This article is for Denethor II for other uses see Denethor (disambiguation)

"Abandon your posts, please, flee while you can."

—Denethor after seeing the Mordor invasion force

Denethor (TA 2930 - March 15, 3019) was the twenty-sixth and last Ruling Steward of Gondor and father of Boromir

Denethor was the third child and eldest son of Ecthelion II. In TA 2976 he married Finduilas of Dol Amroth (TA 2950 - TA 2988), daughter of Prince Adrahil II of Dol Amroth. She gave birth to two sons: Boromir (b. TA 2978 - February 26, 3019) and Faramir (b. TA 2983) - FO 82.

Denethor succeeded his father Ecthelion II as the twenty-sixth Ruling Steward in TA 2984. During his stewardship Gandalf was less welcome in Minas Tirith and his counsels went unheeded.

Denethor is known to have secretly used a palantír to probe Sauron's strength. The effort aged him quickly, and the knowledge of Sauron's overwhelming force exacerbated the depression that had taken root at the time of the death of his wife, Finduilas, in TA 2987. Sauron used the palantír to drive him mad with despair. He retained, however, an air of nobility and power.

The death of Boromir, his eldest son and favorite, together with the siege and apparent doom of his capital city, drove him over the edge into insanity. Denethor's madness seems to have followed a certain logic. Sauron did have vastly superior forces, all of which he had surely shown to the Steward in the palantír.

His actions, however, did not immediately proclaim his insanity. The Osgiliath mission was not obviously suicidal, as the city had not yet been overrun. The warning beacons of Gondor had indeed been lit, although Denethor expected little help.

Denethor committed suicide on March 15, 3019, having ordered his men to burn him alive on a pyre prepared for him and Faramir in the Hallows of Minas Tirith. He threw a torch onto the pyre. He took the white rod of his office and broke it on his knee, casting it into the flames, symbolizing the end of his stewardship and the end of the rule of the Stewards. He laid himself down on the table and so perished, clasping the palantír in his hands. He also attempted to take the grievously injured and apparently dying Faramir with him, but was thwarted in that by the timely intervention of Peregrin Took with the aid of Beregond, a guard of the City, and ultimately Gandalf the White.

The Stewardship passed to Faramir, who remained in the Houses of Healing for a time, although the command of the city fell to the Prince of Dol Amroth during the remainder of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

[edit] Portrayal in adaptations

Denethor was voiced by William Conrad in Rankin/Bass's 1980 animated adaptation of The Return of the King, and by Peter Vaughan in BBC Radio's 1981 serialisation.

In Peter Jackson's movie trilogy, Denethor was played by John Noble. In the movie, Denethor appears totally irrational, already completely overwhelmed by grief for Boromir's death. He sends his remaining son and a Cavalry unit on a suicide mission to attack enemy-captured Osgiliath and refuses to light the beacons of Gondor to call for the aid of Rohan. Shortly before the initial Siege of Gondor commences, Denethor views the huge armies of Mordor outside his walls, and in a fit of panic, he cowardly orders all the soldiers at Minas Tirith to flee from their posts. It was then that Gandalf the White wacked Denethor with his staff several times, knocking the crazed Steward unconscious, then taking control of the city’s defenses himself. The demise of Denethor is also changed - later, shortly before Denethor is fully consumed by flames, he is seen looking at his surviving son, Faramir, one last time, coming to his original state of mind, and realizes in his last moments what he has done to his son, and the horror of what he would had done. As the fire spreads throughout his body, painfully burning the Steward, Denethor runs out of the hallows, still consumed by fire, and leaps off the top end of the rock prow of Minas Tirith during the siege, and plunges to his utter death down many high levels of the city. The palantír of Osgiliath, which allowed Sauron to drive him mad in the first place is never shown in the movie, although it is hinted at in the Extended Edition.

Preceded by: Ecthelion II

Ruling Steward of Gondor TA 2984 - TA 3019

Followed by: Faramir

Ruling Stewards of Gondor
Mardil Voronwë | Eradan | Herion | Belegorn | Húrin I | Túrin I | Hador | Barahir | Dior | Denethor I | Boromir | Cirion | Hallas | Húrin II | Belecthor I | Orodreth | Ecthelion I | Egalmoth | Beren | Beregond | Belecthor II | Thorondir | Túrin II | Turgon | Ecthelion II | Denethor II