In his account of Arvedui's claim on Gondor's throne, Tolkien once mentions a body known as the Council of Gondor, that took authority over Gondor after the loss of Ondoher left it kingless. Except for the fact that it acted under the control of Steward Pelendur, we are told almost nothing of this Council or its normal function.
It was traditional among the Men of Númenor for the King to maintain a council of advisers, and it is not unreasonable to presume that their descendants in Gondor followed a similar system. The Númenórean 'Council of the Sceptre' was composed of nobles from each of the main regions of Númenor, together with the King's Heir. Indeed, we know that Gondor's Council was made up from representatives of each of the South-kingdom's separate lands as well as the armed forces, probably in addition to the King's heir, and apparently the Steward as well.
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The Council is only definitively mentioned in connection with the succession crisis following Ondoher's death in III 1944, but we can be confident that it predated this. In Númenor, the forerunners of the Gondorians had maintained a Council throughout their history, and Tolkien confirms in his Letters that the tradition persisted in Gondor.
In The Letters J.R.R. Tolkien (No. 244, dated 1963), Tolkien gives us a glimpse of the workings of the Council. He states there that it persisted to Denethor's time, and comprised the lords of the fiefs of Gondor, as well as the chief captains of Gondor's armed forces. After Aragorn Elessar became King, he maintained the Council, but reorganised it. We're also told that he re-established the Great Council of Gondor, making Faramir (the hereditary Steward) its head and chief councillor. This 'Great Council' is not otherwise mentioned, so its history can only be guessed. The fact that its leader was the Steward of Gondor perhaps suggests that this was how the Council had functioned before the loss of the last King and the rise of the Ruling Stewards.
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