The twenty-fifth Ruling Steward of Gondor and father of Denethor. In his days a captain came to Gondor out of the West calling himself Thorongil, "Eagle of the Star," who served with such distinction — including a daring raid that burned the Corsair fleet at Umbar — that Ecthelion loved him and set him above many. Thorongil was Aragorn, serving incognito; Denethor suspected as much, and his jealousy of his father's regard for the stranger planted the bitterness toward "the upstart from the North" that would poison his stewardship decades later. Ecthelion also welcomed the counsel of Gandalf, another habit his son reversed.