Vidugavia

During the thirteenth century of the Third Age, while Narmacil I held the throne of Gondor, the lands of Rhovanion were divided among peoples descending from the Northmen. No single chieftain among these people could claim overall rule, but among them the greatest at the time was Vidugavia, who held the lands between Greenwood the Great and the river Celduin (or Running). As the chief of the strongest nation of the Northmen, Vidugavia styled himself as 'King of Rhovanion', though he did not in fact rule over the entire region.

In the time when Vidugavia took up the leadership of his people, Rhovanion was under the power and protection of Gondor. The Northmen were encouraged and supported by the South-kingdom, because they formed a bulwark against any possible attacks from the East. Not all of the princes of Rhovanion were reliable allies of the southern Dúnedain, but Vidugavia and his people remained staunch in their allegiance to Gondor.

In the year III 1248, news reached Gondor of a gathering force of Easterlings, and Regent Minalcar rode out to meet the threat. Vidugavia of Rhovanion joined with the armies of Gondor, and together they won a great victory near the shores of the Sea of Rhûn. Wishing to build closer ties with a valuable ally, Minalcar sent his son Valacar to dwell among the Northmen as an ambassador to Vidugavia's court.

Valacar became more than Gondor's diplomatic representative among Vidugavia's people. He was entranced by the Northmen, and especially by Vidugavia's daughter Vidumavi. The two wed, and through their son Vinitharya (who came to be known as Eldacar), Vidugavia became an ancestor of the later Kings of Gondor. Eldacar's eventual accession to the throne of Gondor led to the civil war of the Kin-strife, which saw the King deposed and forced to retreat to dwell among the Northmen for a time. Eventually, with the help of his allies, he was able to reclaim the throne and establish his line.

These events that resulted from the marriage of his daughter did not fully unfold until two centuries later, long after Vidugavia's own time. He would have been succeeded as lord of the Northmen by his son, the brother of Vidumavi, who gave rise to an important line of his own. Over the centuries that followed, Vidugavia's successors would give rise to the Lords of the Éothéod and then the Kings of Rohan. So Vidugavia's distant descendant Théoden continued to maintain the alliance with Gondor that dated back to the time when Vidugavia ruled in Rhovanion, nearly 1,800 years before the War of the Ring.