Sorry everyone!!.
I was just looking at the map that comes with the FoTR:EE DVD and i noticed where the Gladden fields actually are, and they are nowhere near Mordor or Gondor, why on earth was Isiludur and co. there!, its past Lorien!!? I’m quite confused by this, surely he would have taken the ring to his court and become paranoid, and effectivly just like Gollum?
Please explain!
Isildur wasn’t to be the ruler of Gondor. Elendil’s two sons were Isildur and Anarion. Isildur was slated to rule the North realm (in Arnor) and Anarion was to rule the South realm (Gondor).
After the defeat of Sauron (where Elendil and Anarion were slain), Isildur stayed in Gondor for a while with his nephew Meneldil to instruct him, before committing him to the rule of Gondor. He left some written records in Gondor (in Minas Anor – which became Minas Tirith) before leaving, to head for the North Kingdom. One of these said, “The Great Ring shall go now to be an heirloom of the North Kingdom…”
So, it would seem that Isildur was waylaid at Gladden Fields as he was travelling back to the North kingdom, where he was to rule.
Point of order: Isildur was to be high king of all Numenorians, in Arnor and Gondor. Like his father before him, he would rule from Annuminas in the north. His nephew would command the loyalty of the Gondor crowd under the high king’s reign. The king of Gondor would be subserviant to the high king.
This went awry with the death of Isildur and his 3 oldest sons. Only Valandil, an infant, was left safeguarded at Rivendell. He did go on to be king of Arnor, but lacked the clout to claim the High Kingship.
Yay, another LOTR thread!
I’ve always kind of wondered about the two-kingdom setup. It seems to make Numenorian politics tremendously complicated. Why didn’t they just have one really big kingdom?
Because Isildur and Anarion his brother washed up on the shore of southern Middle Earth, in what became Gondor, took leadership of the local Numenoreans, who were all “faithful” to the Valar, and built a kingdom.
Meanwhile their dad, Elendil, washed up further north, near the Grey Havens, by Gil-Galad the elven king. He commanded the loyalty of local numenorean colonists living along the shores of middle-earth. He founded Arnor.
Now when dad and kids got back in touch, the boys, being good sons, yielded to their dad as the ultimate authority. But the kingdoms were far apart, and just forming, so they went the local autonomy on most matters route, relying on the High King for overall defense against the shadow. At that time they thought Sauron destroyed, so didn’t think they’d have to fight a war again real quick, just put down the local riff-raff, ie the “Black Numenoreans” and other Sauron allies from before the downfall of Numenor.
But suddenly the Big S was back on the scene, and they needed one voice and one uniform defense policy. Thanks to the palantiri, communication lines were set up, and the last alliance was forged, with Elendil and Gil-Galad in supreme command. And we know how that went.
After the events of the Gladden Field disaster, noone of adequate stature was left to claim High Kingship, nor was there such an urgent need for a High King.
Quadgop, you continue to amaze me.
Ask nice, and I might even explain the kin-slaying, and the glory that was King Telumehtar Umbardacil. 
Right! I does ask. And if and if that isn’t nice enough, I begs.
OK Quadgop the Detailed. I bow to your knowledge, and scrapinly ask the following:
Please tell the story. I’m interested in how the name Telmehtar is linguisticly related to Aragorn’s house name which Tolkien explains as “Strider” in Westernese (forgive my bad spelling) I ask as to my username.
telumë “roof, canopy” (WJ:411 cf. 399; see also telluma); Telumehtar “warrior of the sky”
telluma “dome, copula”, especially the “Dome of Varda” over Valinor, but also applied to the domes of the mansion of Manwë and Varda upon Taniquetil. Adopted from Valarin delgûmâ under the influence of pure Quenya telumë (WJ:399, 411).
From: ardalambion
So we have Telu, or “dome”, and Mehtar, related to macar, or “swordsman”. Menelmacar was the name given to Orion.
We have less definitive to say about Telcontar, other than the bold statement that it is Quenya for “strider”. This we cannot seem to break down into its component parts with the Quenya wordlists JRRT gave us. There is “telco”, meaning “stem”, and also “telep-” for silver, and “tele” for “end”. But I’ve found no versions of “contar” or “ontar” or similar in the quenya word lists.
So Telcontar means “Strider” in Quenya cuz JRRT sez so, while Telumehtar means “sky-warrior” because of it’s component parts, which mean “sky” and “warrior” in Quenya cuz JRRT sez so. Sorry I can’t be more elegant than that.
Telumehtar was also of course King of Gondor, and in third age 1811, defeated the Corsairs at their haven of Umbar. The king was known thereafter as Umbardacil, which means “victor over Umbar”.
Just found this tidbit on the web:
from: http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/TolkLang/elfling-mirror/059nn/05948
Make of it what you will
Also this:
from
http://greenbooks.theonering.net/questions/files/050100.html#etymologystrider
works for me.
I have a question: what’s East of Mordor? On my map, there’s an ocean to the west, a tundra to the north, and badlands to the south. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of natural barrier east of Rhûn to block exploration.
i actually found the entire map of the world of middle earth, and the grey havens and all the places the elves leave for, and ‘middle earth’ (shire/gondor/mordor et.al.) are very small in relation to the rest of the map. The Map shape is very much like an upturned V with Middle earth being on the shore of the West of the East of the V (make sense?) its all very interesting, but des make an already confusing set of places/peoples even more confusing. I have tried to find a picture, but can only find the basic map, if anyone can provide a link it would be most appreciated.
If you really want to decipher JRRT’s topography and cartography and history, go get Karen Wynn Fonstad’s “The Atlas of Middle-Earth”
Okay, Mr Smarty Pants QtM. 
What about the names of all the stars, and all living things, and the whole history of Middle-earth and Over-heaven, and of the Sundering Seas.
Okay, Mr Smarty Pants QtM. What about the names of the stars, and all living things, and the whole history of Middle-earth and Over-heaven, and of the Sundering Seas.
Well, you see, there was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made…
Qadgop, you are a god. I worship at the feet of your scholarship!
Seriously, very impressive! Thanks!
When I grow up, I want to be just like Qadgop.