Eventually, Steward Cirion called on the Éothéod, a tribe of Northmen, for aid, and the enemy was successfully driven back. Many years of war and instability followed. Eärnur, last King of Gondor, fell at the hands of the Witch-king, and Gondor fell into the hands of Stewards. Lands were lost to the South and East the cities of Osgiliath and Ithilien were devasted the tower of Minas Ithil was captured by the Nazgûl, and thereafter known as Minas Morgul.
Civil war, plague and Easterling expansions gravely weakened the once powerful Kingdom.
Gondor prospered for many decades under the rule of Anárion’s line, and became the most powerful kingdom in the land, expanding its borders and conquering parts of Harad and Rhûn.But after the return of Sauron darkness fell upon Gondor. After the War of the Last Alliance, in which both Elendil and Anárion were lost, and the death of Isildur by an Orc ambush, the throne fell to Anárion's son Meneldil. Steward Denethor IIGondor, the Southern Kingdom of the Númenóreans – founded in the Second Age by Elendil, and ruled by his sons Isildur and Anárion.
