King of Rhovanion

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King of Rhovanion was a title claimed by Vidugavia, a prince of the Northmen, in the 13th century of the Third Age. However, even if he was the most powerful of the many Northern princes, as far as we know he never truly unified all the Northmen under his claimed kingship.[1]

Vidugavia's own realm, the "Kingdom of Rhovanion", was between Greenwood and the River Running.[2] He had a line of successors, and it seems that they continued to style themselves 'King of Rhovanion' after Vidugavia's time[3]. The use of the title, at least by the direct line, could not have continued past T.A 1856, when Vidugavia's descendant Marhwini led his people out of Rhovanion to resettle in the Vales of Anduin.[note 1]

Notes

  1. The Lords of the Eotheod claimed descent from the '...kings of Rhovanion, whose realm lay beyond Mirkwood before the invasions of the Wainriders...' according to Appendix II to The Lord of the Rings. The use of the plural 'kings' here suggests that Vidugavia was not the only claimant of the title. This also implies that the kingdom lasted until the Wainrider invasions suggesting that there was a king during this time.

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion"
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion"
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The House of Eorl"