Thorondur Girithlin

Thorondur Girithlin
House	House Girithlin
Title	Lord Girithlin, Captain of Gondor
Age	61

Thorondur Edrahil Hir Girithlin (2985 TA - present) is the Lord of the ancient House Girithlin and a Knight-Elder of Dol Amroth. He was the first Swan-Knight in many a year to be granted the white mantle of the White Knight, and served with distinction in the semi-hereditary post of the Knight-Herald for much of his life. Thorondur Girithlin is accounted a Captain of Gondor and has led several successful military campaigns, as well as proven his individual skill at arms in any number of tournaments.

As Lord Girithlin, Thorondur has been responsible for maintaining longstanding House traditions of Dunadan purity and a generally conservative political stance. This has at times put him at odds with families of less distinctive lineage. He has typically treated the minor conflicts and jealousies that arise from such a stance as acceptable casualties of staying true to one's principles. In this he is-- some would say ironically-- not unlike his most vocal rivals among the Great Houses, the Bragollach and Telpekhiri.

He was absent from Gondor for a time in his twenties, and throughout his life since has been dogged by rumors of friendship with the Elves. He has never denied this tale. Now entering his seventh decade, the purity of the Girithlin line has made itself starkly clear in the few concessions Lord Thorondur's appearance has made to age. In many ways he yet resembles the brash young hero of earlier days, with the grey-streaked hair at his temples his only real nod to the passage of time.

Early Life and Squirehood

Thorondur led a typical early life for his station. The eldest son of one of Dol Amroth's leading families, he was educated appropriately. He was close with his brothers, particularly the youngest (Minalcar), and showed an aptitude both for the noble arts of arms and riding but also other, more refined activities-- song, poetry-- that have largely fallen by the wayside in Gondor's twilight. He allegedly gained a somewhat rakish reputation, but this can neither be confirmed nor denied so many years later.

The Crossings of Poros

The lessons of the Haradaic Wars had fallen on deaf ears by the third decade of the Third Age's thirty-first century. Weakened though she was, the South-Kingdom sought to project her might southward, in a more permanent fashion. Only Iluvatar knows what mad counsel drove the Lord Steward and Prince Imrahil to establish a fortress at the Crossings of Poros, but it would be little time indeed before they learned their folly in so doing.

A fortress in the midst of an unforgiving desert stretches its garrison's supply lines to the limit, even without the prospect of unfriendly nomads and desert raiders. It took little provocation for a Haradrim army raised by the Lords of Umbar to encircle the lightly-defended fortress and cut its defenders off from resupply. Tragic indeed for Gondor-- and the moreso in that the fortress itself was commanded by none other than the Prince Imrahil.

When word reached Dol Amroth of this peril, the Lord Herald moved without delay. Summoning what knights and armsmen were ready to the field and swift riding, he took ship with such a force as he could muster with but a single thought: To save his Prince and the army trapped with him. Too, from the dungeons beneath the Citadel did Thorondur release a captive Haradrim shaman, on a single condition-- that the witch-doctor would lead his men without trickery across the treacherous desert.

As the swan-ships took flight, the siege stretched onward. The morale of the forces of Gondor crumbled, and reinforcements out of Umbar arrived under the Black Lord Talan to further encircle the valiant Dunedain. Soon five of the six Tower Lords had gathered there with their armies, foreseeing not only victory but terrible slaughter and spilling of Gondor's fair blood.

So it was that the Lord Thorondur sailed his fleet up the length of the Poros for some many miles, only making landfall when the river was no longer navigable. And following the guidance of the Haradrim shaman, his mounted army rode by nightfall with such speed as they could for the Crossings, and the conflagration that awaited them.

As the sun rose over the Crossings of Poros, Thorondur and his knights were met with a terrible sight: the siege had been given up, and the assault had begun. Yet hope filled their hearts, for in their arrogance the Haradrim and Umbareans had left their rear unguarded. Arelion Amrothind Girithlin sounded the charge upon the Herald's silver horn, and the Southrons were cut down by the hundreds as they turned to face the lances of their foe. The Lords of Umbar had their slaughter, but it did not go as they'd planned it.

That day, Thorondur Girithlin gave battle to no less than four of Umbar's Tower Lords, defeating each one in single combat-- and last of them, Black Talan, who had-- unknown then to the Lord Girithlin-- tortured his own one-time squire, Sir Drenlyn. With their superior cavalry, they were able to facilitate a strategic, orderly withdrawal from the battered fortress at Poros to their ships downriver. Lord Thorondur had the thanks of Prince Imrahil once more, and would return home a hero of the land. For his actions at the Crossings, he would be appointed a Captain of Gondor by the Steward Denethor himself.

Marriage and Family

Sometime following the return from his triumphant relief action at the Crossings of Poros, Lord Thorondur was motivated to at last secure the succession of his ancient House. His rationale for doing so remains his own, but at the time his doings caused considerable uproar, for most every eligible maid in the South Kingdom paid him court. Here was a hero, a man of wealth and power and not least, august lineage. And yet many were the whispers that his heart would forever remain with the Princess Lothiriel.

Why did the Lord Girithlin forsake the Flower of Belfalas? None can say with any certainty, but it is known that Lord Thorondur puts much stock in omens, prophecies, destinies and other such elvish talk. A popular theory of the day insisted that he came by some such foretelling to do with himself and Lothiriel, and quietly parted from his suit for the hand of the princess. Such fabulous talk is largely considered to be no more than ridiculous rumour, of course, but who can truly know the way of it? All posterity will say is that at long last, Lord Thorondur Girithlin put forth a suit for the hand of perhaps the least likely candidate in all the Coasts: the Lady Narinzil Bragollach.

Certainly there were many on both sides of the marriage who frown upon the union to this day, for Girithlin and Bragollach have been at odds for long years. Yet the Prince Imrahil was not among these, rejoicing at the news that two of his most valued banner-houses should be thus joined. (Did some agency of the Prince have a hand in the arrangement? It is not an idle wonder.)

Following his marriage, the Lord Thorondur soon stepped down from the office of the Knight-Herald, and removed his household from the Citadel and its Herald's Tower to his family estates at Lond Duilin. In due time, twins were born to the Lady Narinzil; a daughter named Miyathel and a son, Calimendil Edrahil.

Retirement

Following the birth of his children, Thorondur himself has proven ever more distant from the comings and goings of the Prince's Court-- and even more rarely, Minas Tirith. On occasion he will emerge from his country life to advise his friend and patron, the Prince; to ride to the hunt with his boon-companion the Prince Elphir or his cousins, Arelion Amrothind Girithlin and Arnafel Isilrim.

It is known that should dire need arise, Thorondur Edrahil will rally the House of Girithlin to war behind the banner of Amroth-- and alas, some whisper darkly, perhaps that day of need is looming.

Titles

• Lord Girithlin
• Captain of Gondor
• The White Knight of Dol Amroth
• Knight-Herald of Dol Amroth
• Knight-Elder of Dol Amroth
• Elf-Friend to the House of Elrond (alleged)

Family

• Echorion Girithlin / father
• Isilwen Girithlin (Isilrim) / mother
• Calimendil Girithlin (deceased) / brother
• Minalcar Girithlin (presumed dead) / brother
• Eilhen Girithlin / sister
• Narinzil Girithlin (Bragollach) / wife
• Calimendil Girithlin (II) / son
• Miyathel Girithlin / daughter
• Arnafel Isilrim / cousin
• Elenion Girithlin / cousin
• Meneliel Bragollach (Girithlin) / cousin

Contemporaries

• Indilzar Bragollach
• Amarthion Girithlin
• Sirion "The Elder" Isilrim
• Borgilas Bragollach
• Andrandir of Ithilien
• Menehil Telpekhor
• Hirluin Telpekhor
• Elphir Imrazor
• Erchirion Imrazor
• Lothiriel Imrazor
• Narinzil Bragollach
• Arnafel Isilrim
• Mindell the Mighty
• Garen of Minas Tirith
• Rorgan Nimothan
• Direglad of Dol Amroth
• Findamir Laurelin (NPC)
• Erindil Telpekhor (NPC)

Former Squires

• Calladan Telamarth (House Telamarth)
• Drenlyn (surname?)
• Arelion Amrothind Girithlin
• Belegorm Isilrim

OOC Notes

The character of Thorondur Girithlin was actively played primarily from 1995-1996 and 2000-2004. Between the summer of 1996 and the spring of 2001, Thorondur's player ran him as a secondary/alt character several times, both officially and non, to help friends in Gondor with their plots. Upon the player's retiring from the Aragorn feature in early 2001, this character became a primary role again and would remain so until Thorondur's player retired permanently from Elendor in early 2004.

Between 1996 and 2001, Thorondur's player held several other feature characters both within and outside of Gondor. These included Imrahil (III), Adrazor (Dunadan Haradrim Tower Lord), Halbarad (III) (Dunadan Arnorian) and Aragorn (V). He served with distinction as +Ruler of Arnor for over a year and additionally did local-admin tours in Gondor, Harad and Arnor. Together with such luminaries as Indilzar, Borgilas, Elphir (5) and Arnafel, "Rondo" contributed a significant amount of input to the shaping and IC/OOC structures of Dol Amroth and Gondor in the mid/late 1990s. Says the player himself:

"I loved Gondor. As much time as I spent in Arnor and the North, Gondor was always 'home'. It was where my friends were, really. I didn't always get along the leadership there-- we had a lot of petty factionalism, and it was too bad really-- but the gang we had in Dol Amroth, the atmosphere, the Knights, the way we influenced writing and pose styles, all of that was unforgettable. When my friends left, I hung on for a while but that was pretty much it for me. It was always about the people. If you like the folks you're playing the game with, you'll always have fun."

The name "Thorondur" was inspired by a Middle-Earth Role-Playing product the player had read sometime in his fairly unremarkable junior-high years-- not, as is sometimes assumed, the Great Eagle of the Silmarillion, Thorondor. The origins of the House Girithlin were inspired by the same gamebook.