Marsala

Penny Arcade's opinion

Aranarth didn't try to continue the North Kingdom, let alone press his claim to Gondor. But he and his descendants continued to protect Eriador and maintain it (in a curiously empty state outside of the Shire and Breeland) for centuries. I think they did feel unworthy of a royal title until they had earned it again. However, the emptiness of Eriador in the late Third Age (less populated than Wilderland!) is one of the oddest bits of Tolkien's world-building. It seems to be an artifact of the earliest drafts of The Fellowship of the Ring, in which Frodo (then Bingo) had to make it to Rivendell through an uninhabited wilderness after leaving Bree. This idea wasn't fully present in The Hobbit - note that the encounter with the trolls is said to be their first night camping, which implies that inns were present right up to the Edge of the Wild!