Remnants of the Northern Kingdom (Book)

Remnants of the Northern Kingdom

By Brablo Boffin

The Shire Reckoning, the calendar by which we keep to today, began over fourteen hundred years ago. Scholars are in agreement that Year One was heralded by the crossing of the Brandywine River by Marcho and Blanco from Bree. In those days a King still ruled from the great city of Norbury, otherwise Fornost Erain. The Northern Kingdom of Arnor had fallen centuries before, bitterly divided between the descendants of Eärendur. Fraternal strife followed the death of King Eärendur, from which came the three splinter realms of Arnor: Arthedain, Cardolan, and Rhudaur.

The true lineage of Eärendur, who claimed the ancient Ship-kings as his ancestors, continued only in Arthedain. His eldest son and rightful heir, Amlaith, claimed kingship over Arthedain, the greatest of the splinter realms. The tenth King of Arthedain, Argeleb the Second, is remembered in our histories as he who granted the Hobbits of Bree, who had long dwelled within Cardolan, the land that would be known evermore as the Shire. West of the Brandywine River and east of the White Downs, nestled between the Northern Moors and South Marches, the coming of Marcho and Blanco to the green hills of the Shire is a history woven with the threads of legend.

For centuries Arthedain had warred against the dark power of Angmar, ruled by the terrible Witch-king, which eventually culminated in the destruction of both realms. The Fall of Norbury in 374 forced King Arvedui into exile, where he would perish in the frozen ice bays to the north. Thereafter he would be remembered as the Last King. The Battle of Norbury, taking place a year after its sacking by the Angmarians, resulted in the complete annihilation of the Witch-king’s forces. Peace was restored to the remnants of the Northern Kingdom, Eriador, but the Days of the King had ended.

The Lost Realms of Arnor and Arthedain, often used interchangeably, have often been forgotten by scholars of the Shire. The pleasant green countryside that greeted the following of Marcho and Blanco has a history reaching through the many centuries that predate the first mention of hobbits, when the proudest of the ancient Westernesse ruled all lands east of the Sea. Those times are forgotten times, seldom remembered in even the oldest songs. A thousand long years have passed since the death of the Last King, and the Arnorian people have faded into the shadow of time.

Try as we may, it is quite impossible to truly forget the age that was the Northern Kingdom. Remnants of this forgotten past are scattered throughout the landscape of the Shire. Some are found in plain sight, enthroned at such heights that they have long served as the silent sentinels of the land, watching over an ever-changing world. Others have crumbled under the strain of the centuries, blanketed by moss and coiled by reeds of green grass. They are the ruins of the Shire, which have become as natural to the landscape as the rolling hills and oak trees. To step among them is to step through to an age long past, where once the feet of kings and knights paced, long before Year One of the Shire Reckoning.

This book accounts the many ruins that scatter the Shire today, from watchtowers to castles that demonstrate the architectural power of the ancient Westernesse people. They are made of the same strong stone that our own ancestors, led by Marcho and Blanco, first looked upon when exploring this new homeland.