Dúnisthil turns page after page of an exceptionally large illuminated tome, the cover of which is bound in emerald coloured leather, graced by an intricate motif of ornate floral patterns in gold. The tome, the title of which, is written in Quenya and using silver letters of the Fëanorian script, reads ; I Aldar ar Olvar o Eldalondë, or in the common tongue : The trees and plants of Eldalondë. Underneath is written in the same letters :Restored by Ëarendur II in the year 845 of the Third age. The peculiarity of the tome lies not so much in its thickness as in the unusually large size of its vellum pages.
The reason behind this seeming exorbitant size is revealed as Dúnisthil slowly works his way towards the end of the tome. For, each page he turns has been written and illustrated as exquisitely as the next. Depicting exuberant, elegant, but above all, refined and lifelike botanical drawings.
After having turned many a page and having thus beheld a depiction of practically every plant that once grew in Eldalondë, Dúnisthil comes to a different and separate section. It is written in a different hand, no longer in Quenya but in Sindarin, though still in the Feänorian script. The colours being used are different as well. The letters are no longer in greens and hues of gold but in scarlet and black. It reads:
Kingdom of Arnor, Annúminas.
The year 851 of the Third age
Here follows the account of Dúnisthir II, lore master to Ëarendur, tenth king of Arnor. Concerning the lineage and deeds of the house of Nólimon that was founded by Dúnisthir I in the days of Ëarendur, sixteenth lord of Andúnië.
Foreword
I put to vellum this historical account concerning my house with a sense of pride mingled with grief. For much that I hold dear, is in peril of being lost.
My lord and king is feeling the approach of old age. The hunter that follows us ever more swift-footed closes in on him. The end of his life-days is drawing near. It will not take long now, ere his wearied spirit will relinquish its housing, and depart beyond the circles of Arda.
“The seeking beyond” the Eldar call it ‘the gift of the one to Men’. Yet what the spirit of men seeks eludes me. It matters not, for knowing the answer to this enigma will not avert my lord’s passing and along with him the Kingdom of Arnor as I know it.
My precious Arnor, founded by Elendil who had come up out of the sea on the wings of the wind in his escape from Mar-nu-Falmar. It will be no more ere my own life days will have come to an end, so I fear.
Ever since the northern Kingdom was founded it has been fading slowly. Us Arnorians have never fully overcome the toll in lives we paid in the war of the last alliance. If that was not grievous enough, Arnor lost many of its brightest and most knowledgeable souls whom had come with lord Elendil out of the west that is no more. My brethren, fellow members of the order of Nólimon. They were slain in the company of Isildur among the reeds and irises of Loeg-Ningloren.
Thus our numbers have hence'forth slowly dwindled and ever have we forsaken some of the old wisdom that was borne out of the West. Annúminas, tower of the west, sprawling city, fairly wrought of marble white, loftily built, reflected in the glimmering opal waters of Nenuial, can house more people than there now dwell.
Halas, all this is the lesser grief compared to what has come to pass in my troubled days. For the sons of my king regard one another jealously. The younger deny the elder the throne. Arnor shall be broken up into petty realms. Though I have come to this conclusion in dismay and utter loathing of myself, I see no other way, lest Arnor descend into civil war. To make matters worse, I foresee Annúminas cannot be the capital for much longer, as it symbolizes the royal sceptre of the whole of Arnor, if not all the lands held by the Elendili. It may very well be that Annúminas should be abandoned ere this century comes to a close. For what is the purpose of dwelling in a city that has lost its main purpose, and is too vast for a dwindled population to manage her? A shadow of foreboding has fallen over me, foretelling me that all this is merely a taste of the hardship and downturn, the wheel of faith still has in store for us Dúnedain of the north. Much that once was has been lost and much more may very well founder yet in times that have not yet come to pass.
Now then have I come to the chief purpose of writing this account. Namely to write a genealogical roll concerning the lineage and deeds of my forefathers, that the memory of them shall not grow dim and pass like rain on the mountain, like wind in the meadow.
With this in mind, I hope my descendants, who should come after me, will continue to expand this roll. Though even more importantly, uphold the principles, the values, and above all the wisdom that was born out of the west by our people lest all turn to vain ambition.
To all righteous Dúnedain who yet dwell here on this hither shore, I wish to give this counsel.
O thou wanderer in this shadowed land.
Heark ! Wherever thou goest, never forget who thou art, nor from whence thou comest. Do not let thy hearts be troubled by the brooding shadow, that ever strives to make us dread the gift of the one to Men. Thus, turning something worth embracing, however bitter to receive, into a grief : a doom of men. Hold faith, have estel, for though dark my stand. Hearken to what the wise among the Eldar once told us about what we men are : sole masters of ourselves within Arda under the hand of the One.
Benain na mén!, may the Valar keep us!
In hope, Dúnisthir II.
The heirs of Dúnisthir I
The house of Nólimon: The Dúnisthirioni.
Dúnisthir I (Estelion): 2828 – 3084 of the second age (256 years)
One of the faithful, the Elendili and a Númenorian of high descent who had more than his fair share in Elros’, Tar-Minyatur’s, bloodline.
He was born in Eldalondë, the most beautiful of all the havens of Mar-nu-Falmar. Eldalondë the green it was called once. As the tale goes, hither in the earlier days, the ships of the Eldar of Eresseä came most often. All about that place, up the seaward slopes and far into the lands grew the evergreen fragrant trees they brought out of the uttermost west. However in Estelion’s time, the ships from Eresseä came but seldom and secretly if at all.
He had seen the Eldar only once when he was still a lad. They made a lasting impression on a young Estelion, solidifying his love for the Eldar, with which he was brought up.
As a child he came to nurture a great interest in, and liking of the magnificent flora surrounding his home. Then and there the foundations of what would become a dedicated botanist were laid. Later in life he would become renowned in a completely different field : that of construction. Many an important building all over Mar-Nu-Falmar was conceived by his hand, and each was constructed under his supervision. He fulfilled numerous timber and mason-works commissioned by the king, though in his heart, he secretly loathed the ruling line of Elros, and in truth his love and loyalty was given to the lord of Andúnië.
However, as he once wrote in his diary, of which some parts have been preserved till this day, his greatest passions were botany and lore of the elder days.
In the autumn of his life when Ar-Sakalthôr (Tar-Falassion) was king and Eärendur was lord of Andunië, he was appointed to the new office of lore master, as a member of the order of Nólimon, by Eärendur, tenth lord of Andúnië.
This order was found to preserve the wisdom and knowledge of Mar-nu-Falmar, and wherever possible to expand it. This was more than necessary, for their king and his followers, or ‘the king’s men’ as they were wont to call themselves, ceased to use the elven-tongues, and they forsook ever more the old ways and spoke against the Eldar, the Valar and yea, even the one. The king’s men would not permit anyone to welcome the Eldar of Eresseä nor climb the Menelterma to visit its clouds wreathed hallow. In darker days they began to persecute the Faithful, those that remained loyal to the old ways of the Valar and of the One, and the King’s Men resented their wish to remain in the friendship of the Eldar. Nólimon was the name given to this order in the memory Vardamir, eldest son and first child of Elros, Tar-Minyatur, for his chief love was for ancient lore and therefore was named Nólimon.
On accepting his new office as lore master and member of the order of Nólimon, Estelion relinquished his name and took the new name of Dúnisthir, meaning ‘Master of lore from the West’ in Sindarin. The syllable íst’ in his name signifies lore or knowledge and ever after, the heirs of Dúnisthir I would use this syllable in the names they would take when their fathers yielded the office to them.
The first great work that came from Dúnisthir I’s hand as a member of the order, was of botanical importance, describing and discussing all trees, plants, herbs, weeds and their flowers, that used to grow in his beloved Eldalondë. Afterwards he would write several important works about the art of construction and many other matters that related.
Selebistion (Tirianûr): 2914-3169 of the second age (255 years)
Tirianûr was a master of herb lore and their uses, hence his name of office, Selebistion.
Ever striving to find a new herb or plant extract that contained certain useful properties, he would travel far and wide ever in search of yet another plant that could be put to good use in some manner. In his ceaseless roving he would even set sail to Pelargir and roam the vast lands of Middle-Earth.
In his eighty eight year all Faithful that could be found, were expelled to Rómenna, a port in the east of Mar-nu-Falmar. So it came to pass that he was severed from his beloved trees and plants that grew at Eldalönde.
Tormented by this he undertook a perilous deed. On Narbeleth of the year 3016 of the second age he went in secret back to the forests and gardens of Eldalondë, from whence he took with him the fruits and seed of as many trees and plants as he could. For these trees and plants that grew there were brought out of Eresseä, and had the most valued and potent properties of all.
Manwenistion (Glânhen):2996-3245 of the second age (250 years)
Born in Rómenna, Glânhen was a lore master and member of the order of Nólimon in the days of king Tar-Palantir, the righteous true-seer who repented, and those of Númendil lord of Andúnië, grandson of Eärendur.
What his field of expertise was the annals do not tell, though his fierce loyalty to the old ways may explain his adopted name of office Menwenistion.
What is known however is that in the days of Tar-Palantir, the faithful had peace for a while. This might explain why such an extraordinary amount of works regarding lore and history were written by the members of the order in this period.
Manwenistion passed away out of grief when his time had not yet fully arrived as he came to realise his king’s noble deeds would prove to be to no avail in the end.
Thoronistion (Tonndîr): 3108 - slain 3317 (209 years)
Lore master and member of the order in the days of king Ar-Pharazôn and Amandil lord of Andunië.
On hearing tidings that the king, in his madness, was devising to assail the utter west itself, Thoronistion ascended in utter despair the steep ways of the Menelterma, and at the holy place he prayed to Illúvatar and the Valar.
As he came down the mountain to the wide grasslands that surrounded it, he was betrayed. The king had put a ban on ascending the Menelterma on the pain of death and was therefore lead to Armenolos to the temple of Morgoth, cursed be his name, erected by Sauron whose grip on the king was said to be strong in those days.
It was in that evil place where he was tormented and sacrificed on the fire altar in the honour of Melkor, to whom I prefer to refer in loathing as Morgoth the accursed, the dark enemy. His son Hirgon, some others close of kin and friends of his father, being disguised, watched him burn in agony. They did not avert their gaze, but instead felt his suffering as if it was their own as they prayed for him.
Dúnisthil now skips the uneventful account of one of his forebears. He suufices by reading the title of the account.
Cyllistîr (Hirgon): 3203 – 3437 (234 years)
He then takes notice to the particularly extensive account of the son of the former, he reads.
Côlistion (Galadîr): 3359 second age – 50 third age (232 years)
Loremaster and member of the order in the days of Isildur and his youngest son Valandil. The last of my forebears to be born in Mar-nu-Falmar.
Galadîr was a metallurgist and used his knowledge of metals for the crafting of all sorts of comely tools. Because of the need of that time he was seen most often crafting swords, armour and shields of great renown.This vocation was also signified by the name Côlistion (Scion of metal lore) he adopted when he took over the office of lore master from his father.
Being sixty, he sailed with his father Cyllistîr and the other members of the order of Nólimon on the ship of Elendil to Middle-Earth, to escape the Alkallabeth.
Many of the order of Nólimon would later perish in what was to become known as the disaster of the Gladden Fields. For they remained longer in Gondor with their new lord Isildur, where the main Arnorian host had already made its way back home. This they did to aid him with restoring the order of that realm by planning and overseeing great labours of reconstruction alongside their Gondorian counterparts.
Côlistion would have suffered this same fate, had he not convinced his lord Isildur of the necessity for himself to remain in Gondor longer still.
For he deemed it necessary that he instruct further the metal- and weapon smiths there, in the lore of metal and the arts of armour- and sword making. Skills they needed to protect Gondor, lying so close to Mordor and being open to attack from both the east and the south. He would stay for another six years of men ere he returned to Annúminas, his new home on the hither shore.
It proved to be a long and at times ardious journey. First he took ship from Osgiliath, sailing down Anduin to Pelargir, and from thence by sea to the ancient port of Lon Daer , and on a large river barge up the river Gwathló towards the Arnorian town of Tharbad and thence finally to Annúminas by the Númenoréan road, now called the great north-south road.
Dúnisthil now skips many accounts and glances, without reading it, the account of Ëarendur’s life, the author of the introduction to the historical chronicle he’s reading.
Eärendur II (Estelmir):686 – 887 (201years)
