House of Anárion

The Royal House of Gondor was the extended house of the nobles and royalty of Gondor, descended from its first Kings. The house included the Kings of Gondor and their heirs, of course, but also their siblings and their descendants. On several occasions, the direct line of descent failed in Gondor, and other members of the house were called on to take up the Kingship. Most notable among these was Meneldil himself, the first King to rule Gondor in his own right, who took up the throne on the death of his uncle Isildur.

There are examples of members of the Royal House being granted important military roles. For example, the great Gondorian general Eärnil was a member of the Royal House, being a descendant of Telumehtar, great-grandfather to the reigning King Ondoher. Indeed, when Ondoher and his heirs were lost, Eärnil eventually succeeded to the Kingship himself.

One important political role, however, was closed to members of the Royal House: that of Steward. When Rómendacil I created the Stewardship, he specified that no member of the House should ever take the role. The descendants of the House of Húrin, who would eventually take on the hereditary Stewardship of the realm, were noted as being of high Númenórean blood, but they were not members of the Royal House itself.

When Denethor II was about to immolate himself upon a pyre, he proudly told Gandalf that he was a "Steward of the House of Anárion". By using this name for the head of the royal house of Gondor he was rejecting Aragorn as a new king, calling the line of Isildur a "ragged house long bereft of lordship and dignity".