Ar-Pharazôn, Númenórean King
Kings of the Dúnedain
The title of King (Sindarin "Aran", Quenya "Aran", English "Haran") was the common designation of a realm‑head and in ancient days of Middle‑Earth the preeminent form of government. Originating among the Elves of the Great Journey as a title for greater chieftains, the name originally signified "Great One", a political figure whose authority surpassed that of a mere clan‑leader and who drew power from character, skill, charisma and leadership, and in later ages from blood and birthright. Thus many Elvish thrones began as elective, charismatic monarchies that over time assumed hereditary form and concentrated authority in single great families or clans. The Feanorians, for example, were led by the sons of Fëanor after his death as lord of the Noldor; the eldest bore the style of High‑King, which remained often titular, the lesser kings preserving practical autonomy.
Men adopted the institution and adapted it to varying custom. Early human monarchies tended to be elective in the manner of chieftaincy, favoring elders or proven men; youth was seldom advanced to the throne. The Númenóreans most faithfully imitated Elvish forms; their kings, styled "High King", descended from Elros Tar‑Minyatur and exercised comparatively absolute authority over their people and vassals. Númenórean offshoots in the colonies organised diversely but usually retained kinship with their ancestral forms; Black Númenóreans preserved their own great lords while some realms, Umbar among them, were governed by confederate councils of rival lords. The northwestern Elendili of Gondor and Arnor maintained Númenórean monarchical traditions under a High‑King of the house of Elendil the Tall; after Elendil’s fall the North‑ and South‑kingdoms diverged into independent realms each with its own king, yet both traced descent to the Lords of Andúnië and retained ancient governmental forms. Aragorn Elessar was the first true High‑King of a reunited realm in more than three millennia, and under him the Elendili polity was restored in near‑perfect form.
Other peoples applied diverse conceptions of kingship from charismatic elective rulers to hereditary monarchs rooted in ancestral deeds. Vidugavia was a Northman chief who assumed a kingly style as the capstone of long success in war and politics. The rulers of Bardings provide another example: Bard Bowman was the first of his line to take the title King; his ancestors had been lords and nobles of Dale, and Bard’s election by acclamation converted the office into a hereditary dignity thereafter. Similarly, Eorl the Young was the first king of the Rohirrim; his forebears held the title of Chieftain as leaders of the Éothéod, and Eorl’s election and subsequent hereditary succession founded the royal line of Rohan.
Titles[]
Equivalents and local usages of King in the tongues of Middle‑Earth:
- Ar‑ — royal prefix in Quenya; used by the Númenóreans.
- Aran — Sindarin and Quenya word for king; used among the Noldor, Sindar, Nandor and Dúnedain.
- Ashdurbuk — title of the Orc ruler of Gundabad and the Orcs of the North; the High‑Chief or King of the Orcs.
- Atârn — Ky'târi equivalent.
- Autarb — Harûze title for a local or petty king.
- Bôm — Balchoth term for their elder or king.
- Brenhin — a Dunlending hill‑chief or petty king.
- Cyning — Rohirric/Éothéodan word for king.
- Great Goblin (Durba‑Hai) — a powerful Goblin‑chieftain, used chiefly in Goblin‑town and sometimes in Moria.
- Hûrdriak / Hûr — originally the High‑King or High‑Chief of the Asdraya, later a local lord under Balchoth rule.
- Hûz of Amôv — originally a personal name, later a title for a great king or coalition leader among Eastern tribes.
- Kân — a "Khan" or "Khagan" of the Rhûnaer‑Easterlings.
- Kank — originally warlord, later king of the Rúartar.
- Katây — titles in Ioryaga and Kykuria.
- Khûdriag / Khûrdirag / Khûr — titles of the kings of Khand.
- Khurdriag‑Ata — a Variag god‑king or sacred king.
- Konung — Rhovanian word for king among the Bardings.
- Kralyî — title for the king of Rây or Bôzisha‑Mîraz.
- Lhûki-Kân — title of the dragon‑ruler of the Golden Army of Rhûn.
- Morachd — king of the mountains among the Mountainmen or Oathbreakers.
- Mûl — title of the king of Wômawas Drûs.
- Rhi — local lord or petty king in Minhiriath or Enedhwaith.
- Rí — title for a king among the Hillmen.
- Sêy— a wise overlord among certain Ahar‑Easterling groups.
- Szêm — kingly title among the Shrel and later Easterlings of Rhûn.
- Tar‑ — royal prefix in Quenya; used by Númenóreans and High‑Elves.
- [[Tári — Quenya for queen.
- Tarb / Taryb — in Near‑Harad a lesser local lord; in Greater Harad a city‑king or the greatest king of Zîrayn.
- Taskral / Taskrel — Near‑Harad title for a powerful city‑king or stone‑king.
- Théoden — Rohirric personal name that denotes lord or king.
- Ulfar — title among Vothrig.
- Uzbad — a dwarven lord or "King under the Mountain".
- Yî — Mûmakanian title for king or god‑king.
See also[]
Editorial Note: This entry contains speculative or fan-based material — such as fanon, fanfiction, or theory constructs — that may not be directly supported by canonical texts. Interpretations offered here are part of the NNCA’s speculative corpus and should not be mistaken for primary Tolkien sources.