Anárion was the younger son of Elendil, and with his brother Isildur he escaped the Downfall of Númenor among the Faithful, whose ships the great storm carried to Middle-earth in 3319 of the Second Age.1,2
The brothers founded Gondor in the south while their father ruled Arnor in the north. They held the southern realm together, Isildur from Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Rising Moon, and Anárion from Minas Anor, the Tower of the Setting Sun, with their thrones side by side in Osgiliath between them.3,4
When Sauron attacked in 3429 and took Minas Ithil, Isildur escaped down the river and went north to Elendil, while Anárion held Osgiliath and drove the enemy back into the mountains. In the War of the Last Alliance he marched into Mordor with his father and brother, and in the long siege of Barad-dûr he was killed by a stone cast from the tower, in 3440.3,2
His son Meneldil was given the rule of Gondor, and the Kings of Gondor descended from Anárion until the line failed with Eärnur, more than two thousand years later. The tower of his name became Minas Tirith, the city that held the West against Mordor for the rest of the Third Age.3,4,5
Sources
Citations name the chapter rather than the page, so they work in any edition. The colour of each note shows what kind of source it is.
- Appendices Tolkien's own appendices to The Lord of the Rings.
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and Tolkien's late writings on the Elder Days, assembled by Christopher Tolkien from his father's papers.
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, “Akallabêth”
- Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, “The Second Age”
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”
- Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, I (ii), “The Realms in Exile”
- Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, I (iv), “Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion”