Denethor II

Denethor II was the twenty-sixth and last Ruling Steward of Gondor, and father of War of the Ring heroes Boromir and Faramir.
== Biography ==
Denethor was the third child and only son of Ecthelion II. A proud and noble man, the blood of Númenor ran truer in him than it had in any man of Gondor for many years. He was described as subtle and often scornful and could perceive the thoughts of men, including those that dwelled far off, similar to Faramir; but his son was oft moved to pity, whereas Denethor was filled with disdain. It was difficult to deceive him and dangerous to try.
In TA 2976, he married Finduilas of Dol Amroth, daughter of Prince Adrahil II of Dol Amroth.The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers, I: The Númenórean Kings, (iv): "Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion" Together, the couple had two sons, Boromir and Faramir. A few years later, in TA 2988, Finduilas died young, leaving Denethor embittered.The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Third Age"
He succeeded his father Ecthelion II as twenty-sixth Ruling Steward in TA 2984. During his stewardship, Gandalf was less welcome in Minas Tirith, and his counsels went unheeded.
=== War of the Ring ===
In later life, Denethor secretly used a palantír to probe Sauron's strength, using it at the top of the White Tower in a secret chamber above the throne room.Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Four: III: "The Palantíri" The effort aged him prematurely, and although Sauron was not able to bend him to his will as he had Saruman, knowledge of the Dark Lord's overwhelming forces exacerbated the bitterness that had taken root at the time of the death of his wife. 
Denethor was well aware that Sauron's assault on Gondor would come during his lifetime and prepared accordingly, even though he increasingly came to believe that the struggle would be hopeless. In TA 3018 when Sauron attacked Osgiliath, he found the strength and preparedness of Denethor greater than he had expected or feared. Minas Tirith was fully provisioned for a siege and as war loomed Denethor sent away from the city the old, the women and children and had the beacons of Gondor lit, dispatching errand-riders with the Red Arrow to Théoden of Rohan to summon aid.
The death of Boromir, his eldest and favorite son, and the siege and apparent doom of Gondor drove Denethor further along the path of despair. Following this news and the passage of Frodo Baggins through Ithilien he became estranged from Faramir, though Faramir still upheld his father's wishes. Denethor therefore dispatched Faramir with reinforcements to command the garrison at Osgiliath and following the battle there and at the Causeway Forts, sent out a cavalry sortie under the command of Prince Imrahil to rescue his son's retreat. However Faramir returned severely wounded, breaking Denethor's spirit.
Looking into the palantír, Sauron was able to drive him mad with despair, giving him a hopeless vision of an approaching black fleet from the south, portending that Gondor would fall to Sauron thanks to the Corsairs of Umbar coming to assist in the Siege. Sauron, however, obscured the vision's finer details to hide that those ships would in fact be under the command of Gondor's erstwhile king, Aragorn, who ousted the Corsairs at Pelargir and come by ship to relieve the city. Denethor therefore believed that further resistance was futile, although he remained steadfast in his rejection of the shadow.
He committed suicide on March 15, TA 3019, having ordered his men to erect a pyre for him and Faramir in the Hallows of Minas Tirith. He threw a torch onto the pyre, then broke the white rod of his office over his knee and cast it into the flames, symbolizing the end of his stewardship and the rule of the Stewards. He laid himself down on the table and so perished, clasping the palantír in his hands. His attempt to take the grievously injured and apparently dying Faramir with him was thwarted by the timely intervention of Beregond and ultimately, by Gandalf.
Denethor II ruled as the Steward of Gondor for 35 years, from TA 2984 until his death in TA 3019. The title of Steward was passed to his son, Faramir, who also became the first of the Princes of Ithilien.The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter V: "The Steward and the King" After his death the Anor-stone would only show Denethor's hands slowly withering in flame, unless the viewer had great strength of will to turn it to other visions.
== Etymology ==
Denethor had been the name of the tenth Ruling Steward of Gondor, who, in turn, was named after a king of the Nandorin Elves.
The name comes from the Nandorin words dene ("strong, lithe") and thara ("tall, slender"), and gives the name a meaning of "Lithe and lank".The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, Part Four: Quendi and Eldar, Appendix D: Kwen, Quenya, and the Elvish (especially Ñoldorin) words for 'Language'
== In adaptations ==
thumb|255x255px|Denethor II (1980)
=== Television ===
Denethor was voiced by William Conrad in the 1980 Rankin/Bass animated adaptation of The Return of the King.
=== Radio ===
*Robert Farquharson voiced Denethor in BBC Radio's 1955 radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
*Tom Luce voiced the character in the 1979 The Mind's Eye radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
*Peter Vaughan portrayed the character in BBC Radio's 1981 radio serial The Lord of the Rings.
*Heinz Schimmelpfennig voiced the character in the 1991-1992 German radio serial adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.Der Herr der Ringe (hörspiel). (German: "The Lord of the Rings (radio play)". Ardapedia.org (German-language wiki of Tolkien's Legendarium). Retrieved/cited 30 May 2021.
*Marián Slovák voiced the character in the 2001-2003 three-season Slovak radio serial adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.Pán prsteňov. (Slovak: "The Lord of the Rings") Slovak 2001-2003 radio play. Tolkien Gateway.net (English-language wiki of Tolkien's Legendarium). Retrieved/cited 30 May 2021.
=== The Lord of the Rings film trilogy ===
In Peter Jackson's movie trilogy, Denethor is portrayed by John Noble. In a significant change from the novels, he is depicted as an incompetent leader driven to insanity by despair. He appears in the extended edition of The Two Towers and is a major character in The Return of the King.
Denethor appears in one extended flashback scene in The Two Towers, arriving at Osgiliath as it is liberated by Boromir's troops. He congratulates his elder son while disparaging the younger Faramir, and commands Boromir to travel to the Council of Elrond, take the One Ring, and return it to Gondor.In The Return of the King, Denethor is depicted as overcome with despair, convinced that Sauron cannot be opposed. He denies Aragorn's birthright to the throne of Gondor, refuses to light the beacons to call Rohan for aid and, after Osgiliath is captured by Mordor's forces, sends Faramir and his men on a suicide mission to retake the ruined city. Largely because of his grief over Boromir's death, he also had a fragile grip on reality at best, which is demonstrated by his hallucinating Boromir's presence while lecturing Faramir right before ordering the latter to commence the aforementioned suicide mission. When Faramir is brought back to Minas Tirith unconscious, Denethor hastily concludes that his last son is dead and commands his guards to build a funeral pyre for the both of them, ignoring Pippin's insistence that Faramir is still alive. Largely thanks to his despair reaching its breaking point, he also erratically orders his soldiers to abandon their posts and let Mordor's armies storm Gondor, demanding they flee for their lives, although this order was overturned by Gandalf who temporarily knocks him unconscious with his staff. As Sauron's armies attack Minas Tirith, Denethor prepares to immolate himself alongside Faramir; only Pippin and Gandalf's intervention saves Faramir's life. As he sees Faramir start to awaken, Denethor, now engulfed in flames, throws himself off of the pinnacle of Minas Tirith.
The palantír of Minas Tirith, which causes Denethor's corruption in the novels, is only hinted at in the extended edition of The Return of the King.
==== Voice dubbing actors ====
Foreign Language 	Voice dubbing artist
Spanish (Latin America) 	Rolando del Castro
Spanish (Spain) 	Carlos Kaniowski
Portuguese (Brazil) (Television/DVD)	Renato Master † (ROTK)Renato Márcio (Extended Edition TTT and ROTK)
German 	Roland Hemmo
French (France) 	Pierre Santini
Italian (Italy) 	Oreste Rizzini
Czech (Czech Republic) 	Ladislav Županič
Slovak 	Juraj Predmerský
Turkish 	Emir Tayla
===Video games===
In The Lord of the Rings Online, Denethor has two sisters, Terenis and Vanyalos, the wife of Lord Forlong. His role in the game is relatively minor, as by the time the player reaches Minas Tirith, Faramir already lies wounded while the Steward's will is failing.
== Gallery ==
File:Denethor - LOTR The Card Game.JPG|Denethor in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game
File:Denethor - LOTR The Card Game (2).JPG|Denethor in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game - Flight of the Stormcaller Adventure Pack
File:Denethor (Ally).JPG|Denethor in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game - Encounter at Amon Dîn Adventure Pack
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Arabic 	دينيثور الثاني
Armenian 	Դենետհոր II
Belarusian Cyrillic	Дэнетар II
Bengali 	দ্বিতীয় ডিনেথর
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Денетор II
Chinese (Hong Kong)	迪耐瑟二世
Georgian 	დენეთორ II
Greek 	Ντένεθορ Β΄
Hebrew 	דנתור השני
Hindi 	डेनेथोर द्वितीय
Japanese 	デネソール2世
Kannada 	ಎರಡನೆಯದು ಡೇನೆತೋರ್
Kazakh 	II Дэнетор (Cyrillic) II Dénetor (Latin)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	ДэнэтХор II ?
Macedonian Cyrillic	Денетор II
Maori 	Denethor te Tuarua
Marathi 	दुसरा डेनेथर
Nepalese 	पहिलो डेनेथोर
Persian 	دِنِه‌تُور دوم
Russian 	Дэнетор II
Sanskrit 	डेनेथोर् २
Sinhalese 	දෙවැනි ඩෙනෙටෝර
Tamil 	இரண்டாவது தேனேதோர்
Tajik Cyrillic 	Денетор II
Telugu 	రెండవ దేనితోర్
Thai 	เดเนธอร์ 2
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Денетор II
Urdu 	دانیٹہاور دوسری
Yiddish 	דענעטהאָר דער צווייטער
== References ==
Category:Men of Gondor
Category:Ruling Stewards of Gondor
Category:The Lord of the Rings characters
Category:Characters in Unfinished Tales
Category:Characters in The History of Middle-earth
Category:The Two Towers (film) characters
Category:The Return of the King (film) characters
Category:Major characters (The Lord of the Rings)
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