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Denethor II, son of Ecthelion II, is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Return of the King'', which is the third and final part of his novel ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is the 26th and final Ruling Steward of Gondor. ==Literature== Denethor II was the first son and third child of Ecthelion II. As stated in the early chapters and the Appendices of ''The Return of the King'', he was widely considered a man of great will, foresight, and strength. However, he failed to reach out to his people, who flocked instead to Thorongil, an outsider who served Denethor's father with great renown. Thorongil vanished from Gondor four years before Denethor would succeed his father as Ruling Steward. Thorongil (who was secretly Aragorn, Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North and hence a claimant to Gondor's throne) had advised Ecthelion to put faith in the wizard Gandalf, whom Denethor distrusted. He married Finduilas, daughter of Prince Adrahil of Dol Amroth. She gave birth to two sons, Boromir and Faramir, before dying when they were ten and five years old, respectively. Denethor never remarried, and became more grim and silent than before. In a conversation with Pippin just before the first meeting with Denethor, Gandalf described Denethor as "…proud and subtle, a man of far greater lineage and power (Théoden of Rohan ), though he is not called a king." Following that meeting, after Pippin has sworn fealty to Denethor, Gandalf further commented: Unlike Saruman, Denethor was too strong to be corrupted by Sauron. In the novel, he began secretly using a ''palantír'' to probe Sauron's strength, though he incorrectly insisted he was able to control it. The effort aged him quickly, and the knowledge of Sauron's overwhelming force depressed him greatly, mostly due to deliberately biased visions from the ''palantír'' on the part of Sauron. Boromir's death depressed Denethor further, and he became ever more grim. Nonetheless he continued to fight Sauron with every resource at his disposal until the forces of Mordor arrived at the gates of the White City, at which point he lost all hope. In the published essay on the Palantiri, Tolkien wrote: Near the novel's climactic battle, Denethor ordered the warning beacons of Gondor to be lit, and forces were called in from all of Gondor's provinces. The civilian population of Minas Tirith was sent away to safety. As invasion seemed imminent, Denethor sent the Red Arrow to the Rohirrim as a call for aid. The Council decided that Gondor could make no stroke of its own, but Denethor ordered Gondor's forces to the outer defences of Osgiliath and the great wall of the ''Rammas Echor''. He wanted to make a stand, since the defenses had been built at great expense and not yet been overrun, and he assumed that no help was forthcoming from Rohan since his messenger had not returned with the Red Arrow. The messenger had in fact been killed by Orcs during the ride back to Minas Tirith. Faramir knew his men could not stand against Sauron's army, but he nonetheless obeyed out of respect for his father and late brother. Faramir was badly wounded in the ensuing battle and was returned, apparently mortally wounded, during the retreat, as the capital city was under siege by vastly superior forces. His spirit broken by the apparent loss of his son, Denethor ordered his men to burn him alive on a pyre prepared for himself and Faramir in Rath Dínen. He took the white rod of his office and broke it over his knee, casting the pieces into the flames. He laid himself down on the pyre and so died, clasping the ''palantír'' in his hands. He also attempted to take Faramir with him, but was thwarted by the timely intervention of Peregrin Took, who saved Faramir with help from Gandalf and the guard Beregond. They were too late to save Denethor, however; he burned to death as Sauron's forces stormed the gate. The stewardship passed to Faramir, who remained in the Houses of Healing for a time and was later made Prince of Ithilien by Aragorn. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Denethor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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