Can an arbitrary King of Harad ever become the King of Gondor? Obviously, no – but it would be a matter of religion, as the Haradrim are Melkorians, not “Eruvians”. Can a King of the Mark claim the throne? The matter of race is not paramount, as the Vidugavia-Eldacar line ascertains, but then what is of chief importance? The descent from Eärendil.
For unlike in the usual monarchies of Europe or the Middle East or China, Gondor is not ruled by an interchangeable “dynasty”. There is no right of conquest, no divine right of kings, no descent from Fatima, no heavenly mandate.
There is only one man – Eäredil – in whose veins the blood of Idril Celebrindal and Lúthien Tinúviel flowed.
Of course, the Edain of old once had the usual chiefs, and kings. Eärendil had them for his forefathers, too, uniting all the Three Houses of Edain. But his line has been venerated so greatly over the millennia for what the blood of the Elves represents – the union of the Children of Eru in their tragic and heroic fight against Melkor in the First Age.
‘And this I remember of Boromir as a boy, when we together learned the tale of our sires and the history of our city, that always it displeased him that his father was not king. ‘‘How many hundreds of years needs it to make a steward a king, if the king returns not?’’ he asked. ‘‘Few years, maybe, in other places of less royalty,’’ my father answered. ‘‘In Gondor ten thousand years would not suffice.’’
© JRRT – LotR, Book IV, The Window on the West
And so my question is thus – is Gondor a monarchy? Its kingship clearly stems not from dynasties and not from gods, but from what the blood of Eärendil represents in their religion, their theology and mythology – just like, dare I say, Juche Korea?
For the entirety of existence of the DPR of Korea is contingent on the destiny of their heroic founder Kim Il Sung -tongji. You cannot imagine a ruler being chosen from a random “dynasty” – it is the Blood of Mangyongdae whose importance is paramount, its struggle against imperial Japan and the imperialist USA (Melkor analogies).
The founder of the Korean nation is considered the legendary Tangun from 2333 BCE – reminiscent of how Elessar claimed the throne of Anárion based on his kinship with Elendil who had lived 3000 years prior.
…our archaeologists had excavated Tangun’s remains from his tomb and proved that the remains are 5,011 years old… […] According to their investigations, Tangun was over 170 centimetres tall, a man of above-average height with a large build compared to his contemporaries.
Parallels with Elendil the Tall?
…the glorious 100-year history of Juche Korea exists and the ten million year-history of the Kim Il Sung nation and Kim Jong Il Korea is firmly guaranteed.
Other facts: the Ever-Victorious, Iron-Willed Commander was born on the Day of the Shining Star on Mount Mindolluin (towering-head-blue) / Paektusan (white-head mountain). Hwasong is literally “fiery star” (Mars) in Korean – the Star of Eärendil, the Tree Light of the heavenly Silmaril…
Alright, I should stop, otherwise, it will lead me to finding Middle-earth on the bottom of the Pacific.
‘Yet there are among us still some who have dealings with the Elves when they may, and ever and anon one will go in secret to Lórien, seldom to return. Not I. For I deem it perilous now for mortal man wilfully to seek out the Elder People. Yet I envy you that have spoken with the White Lady.’
‘I don’t know about perilous,’ said Sam. ‘It strikes me that folk takes their peril with them into Lórien, and finds it there because they’ve brought it. But perhaps you could call her perilous, because she’s so strong in herself. You, you could dash yourself to pieces on her, like a ship on a rock; or drownd yourself, like a hobbit in a river. But neither rock nor river would be to blame.
Still, these passages remind me of how a mortal man may think of the Eternal Land, conscious that Mannish Gondor was founded on the same principles, although drifting away.
Adûnâi 