Steward of the King

The first Steward had been appointed by King Rómendacil I in the sixth century of the Third Age, but none of the earlier Stewards are known by name until Húrin of Emyn Arnen, who served more than a thousand years later. Húrin established the line of hereditary Stewards, and all the Stewards of Gondor who followed him descended in some degree from the House of Húrin.

Just a few years after acceding to the Kingship of Gondor, Ondoher was lost in battle, as were both of his natural heirs. There followed a year without a King in Gondor, during which Steward Pelendur was instrumental in arranging the succession. Arvedui of Arthedain laid claim to the throne as a direct descendant of Isildur, but Pelendur moved the Council of Gondor to reject this claim, instead elevating the successful Gondorian general Eärnil to the throne as Eärnil II.

On Pelendur's death, the title of Steward passed to his son Vorondil. The Stewards had traditionally been selected from the old House of Húrin, but this was the first time the title had been directly inherited in this way. The precedent having been established, the title and duties of the Steward would pass from father to son through the remainder of the Third Age.

Mardil son of Vorondil succeeded his father to serve King Eärnil II, and afterward Eärnil's son Eärnur. The reign of the latter King was brief indeed: though Mardil sought to restrain him, he went to meet a challenge from the Witch-king, and was never seen again. Since the fate of the King was not known with certainty, Mardil ruled in his name for the next thirty years, and thus the tradition of the Ruling Stewards came into being.

Mardil was thus the last of the Stewards to serve a King until the return of Isildur's Heir Aragorn, nearly a thousand years later. Mardil was succeeded as Ruling Steward by his son Eradan, and his line continued until the end of the Third Age. Altogether there were twenty-six Ruling Stewards of Gondor, down to Denethor II who took his own life during the War of the Ring.

The presumed heir of Ruling Steward Denethor II was his eldest son Boromir, but Boromir was slain by Orcs while part of the Fellowship of the Ring, making Faramir the heir to the Stewardship. During the events of the War of the Ring, the Heir of Isildur - a Man known as Aragorn - returned to Gondor, and was recognised as the High King. Denethor died by his own hand during that War, and Faramir did briefly rule the South-kingdom in his place, but ultimately Faramir became the first Steward to serve a King for nearly a thousand years.

A genealogical chart reproduced in volume XII of The History of Middle-earth identifies Faramir's successor as Prince of Ithilien (and therefore presumably also as Steward) by the name Elboron. This is from draft material that was never formally published, so its canonicity is unclear, but if Elboron was truly Faramir's heir, then he would have succeeded to his father's duties in the year IV 82. This means that he might potentially have served the long-lived King Aragorn Elessar for as long as thirty-seven years.