Kin-strife

The Kin-strife was a disastrous decades-long civil war in Gondor during the Third Age.
== History ==
=== Background ===
The unrest that eventually built up to the Kin-strife began when Valacar, the son of King Rómendacil II of Gondor, married a woman of the Northmen of Rhovanion, Vidumavi. She bore him a son, Eldacar, but many of the people of Gondor of Númenórean blood were angered by this mixing of the blood of Middle Men and Númenóreans, and the coastal provinces rebelled when Valacar grew old.
=== Conflict ===
In TA 1432, when Eldacar succeeded his father, the already-present unrest grew into open rebellion, particularly in the Southern and coastal provinces. Many people saw Eldacar as a half-breed, therefore having no right to rule. The chief of them was his distant relative Castamir the Usurper, also known as the "Lord of Ships," who in TA 1437 usurped the throne, forcing Eldacar into exile. During the rebellion, Osgiliath was besieged, then sacked and the great Dome of Stars was destroyed and the city's palantír lost.
Castamir then murdered Eldacar's son and heir Ornendil. Eldacar fled to Rhovanion, and Castamir ruled in his stead.
A full decade later, in TA 1447, Eldacar returned with an army from Rhovanion; at the same time, a rebellion by the people of the inland provinces against Castamir's cruel rule took place. Eldacar defeated and killed Castamir at the Battle of the Crossings of Erui, but Castamir's sons and many of their supporters fled south, first to Pelargir, where they were besieged and then to Umbar. Eldacar could not follow them, as the fleet was loyal to Castamir's sons.
=== Aftermath ===
As a result of the conflict, Gondor lost the city of Umbar and gained a new enemy in the Corsairs of Umbar and the descendants of Castamir's sons. Gondor's hold over the Haradrim was lost in the conflict, resulting in the resumption of war in and invasions of South Gondor. Also, many of the Dúnedain nobility were killed during the civil war, leaving Gondor significantly weakened. Some of the losses were replenished by a wave of Northmen settlers from Rhovanion.
The Kin-strife was, along with the losses suffered in the Great Plague and Wainrider War, one of the chief reasons for the abandonment of the fortresses in and surrounding the lands of Mordor.