Date of Birth:                2930 TA

Date of Death:              3019 TA

Terms of Office:           from 2984 to 3019 TA

Race:                               Man

Culture:                          Man of Gondor

Family:                           House of Ecthelion

Spouse:                          Finduilas of Dol Amroth

Date of Marriage:       2978 TA

Children:                     Boromir, Faramir

Meaning of his name: Most likely “stranger”, but “thôr” signifies “eagle” or
                                       “swooping/leaping down” in Sindarin.
                                       He was named either after the Nandorin Elf Denethor , the son of
                                        Lenwë, or after the 10^th ruling steward of Gondor.

Physical description: he is described as an old man with white hair, a carven face with
                                     proud bones and skin like ivory, a long curved nose and dark deep
                                     eyes.    _{For more info go to the [Quotes]}

Biography:  Denethor II was the 26^th and last ruling steward of Gondor. He was a noble man of high ancestry: his family had ruled Gondor in the stead of the missing king for a thousand years (since 2050 TA) and had been the hereditary steward of the kings for hundreds of years before that. Although not being King Denethor was privately considered  not as a regent, but as a King. A king which did not desire to leave the throne of Gondor to anyone that was not his proper son.

                     When someone laid eyes on Denethor for the first time, the Steward looked like a great wizard, greater even than Gandalf. But Denethor was no wizard, yet in his veins ran the blood of Numenor. He was a noble man, proud, valiant and wise, and rumoured to be far-sighted, knowing of events happening a long distance away.

                     Although a great captain, Denethor was overshadowed in his youth by the greater captain Thorongil. In later life he realised that Thorongil was none other than Aragorn II and he began to fear that Aragorn and Gandalf, whom he held a long dislike for, were allies to steal the throne of Gondor. As his successors, Denethor was against giving the crown to the heir of Isildur, as Gondor’s kings were descendants of Anarion, Isildur’s brother.

                     Before succeeding his father Ecthelion on the throne in 2984 TA, he married Finduilas of Dol Amroth (a sister of Prince Imrahil) in 2976. She bore him two sons: Boromir (2978) and Faramir (2983), but she died five years after her youngest son’s birth. After his wife’s death Denethor became even more grim and withdrawn from the public.

                     Denethor was 84 (almost the same age as Aragorn) at the time of the War of the Ring. Although that is not particularly old for one in whom “the blood of Westernesse ran true” Denethor had been aged beyond his years, but it is unknown whether by the death of Finduilas or his attempts to use the Palantir and his encounters with the mind of Sauron.

                     In his pride and concern for Gondor Denethor chose to look into the Palantír, the magic Stone of Seeing brought by Elendil, to try to determine the actions of Sauron and to prepare Minas Tirith for the war that was to come. But he did not see in the Palantír what he desired, but was Sauron allowed him to see.

                     He saw great armies, thousands of Orcs being trained for the war. With the passing of time this knowledge drove him crazy, because according to what he saw, the final defeat of Gondor was inevitable. The fact that the bearer of the Ring had entered Mordor only contributed to the pressure on Denethor, for it seemed impossible to him that such a small Hobbit could rescue Gondor from approaching evil. Furthermore the fact to have trusted Saruman and to have been betrayed made him so distrustful of Gandalf, to the point of almost refusing his aid.

                     When his elder and favourite son Boromir, died in 3019, Denethor fell into a deep depression and the friendship and respect of Faramir for wizards had taken almost all hope from him to leave a son on the throne on his place. Even though the swearing in of Pippin as a Swordthain of Gondor cheered him some, it was not enough to save him in the end.

                     It did not matter to him how the war against Sauron would go to finish, for Denethor it already was lost!
Nothing would be as before, as it has been during all his life. Either Mordor would win, or the King would return to claim his right on the throne.

                     Faramir’s illness after the encounter with a Nazghul combined with Denethor’s vision in the Palantír of the fleet of Umbar sailing up the Anduin (which it was, but under Aragorn’s control) caused the Steward to despair. He called for his servants and ordered them to take Faramir to the Houses of the Death, where the kings and stewards of Gondor were laid after death. There he tried to cremate both Faramir and himself. Faramir was saved, but Denethor died in the flames. And he died laughing, holding the Palantír, which was said to have shown only two aged hands withering in flame ever after.

                     Toward the end of his life, Denethor took to wearing a mail shirt at all times, in the belief that the effort would keep his body strong.

                     Tolkien once said that “Denethor was corrupted by the politics” and that he had “many powerful allies and men, but could nor consider them worthy reliable, so opening almost the path for the victory of Mordor”.