Annúminas, the first capitol of the North Kingdom, and High Seat of all the Kingdoms of Men, fell into ruin some years after the wars against Sauron. The heirs of Valandil, son of Isildur, left that place and established their seat of power at the fortress-city of Fornost on the North Downs. There, many generations of kings dwelt, even after the North-kingdom of Arnor was sundered into three: Arthedain, the chief kingdom; Cardolan, which was quickly devastated by plague and war; and Rhudaur, which fell under the rule of an evil king of the Hill-men, who was secretly in league with Angmar.
Fornost withstood the first assault of the Witch-king of Angmar, though King Arveleg I was slain. Arveleg's son Araphor, not yet come to manhood, acquitted himself well in the battles that followed, and aided by Círdan the Shipwright, Elf-lord of the Grey Havens, drove the Witch-king's army out of Arthedain. Victory was bitter, however, for the watchtower of Amon Sûl was razed. Fortunately, the palantír that had been kept at Amon Sûl had already been removed to Fornost when the tower fell.
Fornost stood for more than three hundred years after the first assault, until the Witch-king led the armies of Angmar and Rhudaur in a great campaign against Arthedain. When the city fell, King Arvedui fled with the palantíri of both Amon Sûl and Annúminas, but he perished in the Ice Bay of Forochel, and both of the stones were lost. The North-kingdom ended, and Arvedui's son Aranarth became the first Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North, from whom is descended Aragorn, son of Arathorn, the Heir of Isildur. Fornost is now a ruin, overgrown by green grass and commonly known at the time of the War of the Ring as Deadmen's Dike. Its full tale is little known to any in the North, save the Rangers who are all that remain of the people who once lived within its walls.
Fornost Erain
Quick Facts
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| Dates: | Founded in II 3320 or shortly thereafter Invaded and occupied by the Witch-king in III 19741 |
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| Location: | The southern end of the North Downs, roughly one hundred miles north from Bree | ||||||||||||||
| Origins: | Founded by Elendil after his escape from the Downfall of Númenor | ||||||||||||||
| Race: | Men | ||||||||||||||
| Division: | Dúnedain | ||||||||||||||
| Pronunciation: | fo'rnost e'rine (The last syllable of erain rhymes with English 'fine' or 'shine') | ||||||||||||||
| Meaning: | fornost means 'north-fortress'; erain translates as 'kings'2. | ||||||||||||||
| Other names: | Deadmen's Dike, Kings' Norbury, Norbury of the Kings | ||||||||||||||
| Note: | 'Fornost Erain' was this city's full title, but it is more often referred to simply as 'Fornost' | ||||||||||||||
The city of the Kings of Arthedain
The chief city of Arthedain, and the seat of its Kings from Amlaith to Arvedui. Soon after the loss of the kingdom of Arthedain, the Battle of Fornost was fought there between Gondor and Angmar.
Footnotes
| 1 | The Witch-king's occupation of Fornost only lasted for a year, after which he was expelled by the forces of Gondor. Nonetheless, the Northern Dúnedain seem to have made no attempt to reoccupy their old capital. Perhaps their numbers were too few after the desperate fighting of the preceding years, or perhaps the Witch-king left too great a residue of evil behind him in the city. Whatever the reason, Fornost fell into desolation and decay over the next thousand years, and was a mere crumbling ruin at the end of the Third Age. After the War of the Ring, Gandalf predicted that Aragorn would come north and rebuild the city, but it's unclear exactly when this refounding of Fornost took place. |
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| 2 | This usage is reflected in the Hobbits' names for the city. Their 'Norbury' was a direct translation of the Elvish Fornost, but they also occasionally referred to it as 'Kings' Norbury' or 'Norbury of the Kings', each of which is a translation of the full Elvish form, Fornost Erain. |
Fornost Bosses
- Megoriath
- Warchief Búrzghâsh
- Gurkâmâb
- Zhurmat
- Rhavameldir
- Zanthrug
- Shiruk and Kamordî
- Brogadan
- Riamul
- Krithmog
- Einiora
- Remmenaeg
