Also known as: Steward Of Gondor
Denethor II was the twenty-sixth and last Ruling Steward of Gondor, lord of the city in the King's long absence, and father of Boromir and Faramir. Of high Numenorean lineage and great will and intelligence, he was accounted the noblest and most kingly of the later Stewards, a match in lore even for Gandalf -- but he was proud, and his pride hardened into a cold and lonely mistrust, above all of the wizard, whom he suspected of scheming to set another in his seat.
In his hunger to know the designs of the Enemy, Denethor dared to use the palantir of Minas Tirith, the Anor-stone; and though his will was strong enough that Sauron could not wholly enslave him, the Dark Lord bent what the Stone revealed, showing him truths chosen to drive him to despair. He loved Boromir and slighted the gentler Faramir, and when Boromir was slain and Faramir borne home as one dying, his spirit broke utterly. Crying that the West had failed, he made to burn himself and his living son together upon a funeral pyre in the Hallows; Gandalf and Pippin snatched Faramir from the fire, but Denethor cast himself upon the burning wood and perished, clutching the palantir -- which thereafter, men said, showed to any who looked in it only two aged hands withering in flame.