Captain of the Southern Army

Soon after his accession to Gondor's throne, King Ondoher realized that his kingdom's northern enemies, the Wainriders, had made an alliance with her old southern foe, the Haradrim. To counter this double threat, Ondoher divided Gondor's army into two parts; a larger Northern Army and a smaller Southern Army. The Northern Army he led himself; his distant cousin Eärnil was named Captain of the Southern Army.

As Ondoher had foreseen, the Wainriders and Haradrim launched a joint attack on Gondor, in the year Third Age 1944, and Gondor's two Armies marched through Ithilien to the defence of the South-kingdom. Ondoher's northern force was all but destroyed by the Wainriders, but Eärnil led his lesser Army to a great victory over the Haradrim. Turning north, the Southern Army reunited with the remnant of the Northern, and together they fell on the Wainriders at the Battle of the Camp. Eärnil's victories as the Southern Army's Captain would ultimately earn him the Kingship of Gondor itself.