Though Gimilthôr may claim otherwise, he was in truth an orphaned child to a no-good corsair of Umbar and a local soothsayer, neither of them having any noteworthy ancestry, save for perhaps the corsair's distant Númenorian bloodline that had long since been muddled by mixed marriages.

  Still, in him was kindled from an early age, in great part due to his mother's work in fore-telling, the curious conviction that he was destined to topple the might of Gondor and restore the legacy of Castamir. With him he carried ever a medallion detailing the image of Castamir, with whom he does indeed share remarkable resemblance, though quite by chance.

  The father had not bothered naming his son before he drowned at sea, a tragedy his mother naturally claims to have foreseen. But she gave him the Adûnaic name of Gimilthôr, as is custom among the folk of Umbar, and which means 'Star-child'. Through her daily dabbling in pyromancy, she had her young son share in her visions and portents.

  All this added to his belief that he was destined for great things, even after his mother died by some misbegotten fever and he was left to scrape off barnacles of the hulls of corsair ships to survive. Luckily for him, his father had passed onto him a natural born skill with the blade, something that he quickly discovered could help him to rise up in the ranks of the corsairs. Indeed, after some time aboard ships taking orders of less ambitious men, he became Gimilthôr, captain of the Azruzagar, 'The Blade of the Sea', a fine ship with red sails adorned with a black star. It sailed through rough seas like a sharp scimitar and was much praised, even among his rivals.

  As a young captain he harried the coasts of Gondor, first to appease his crew with plunder, next to obtain a footing there and establish camp. For it was his desire not to slay every Gondorian he met, nor to burn their cities to the ground, but to subjugate them to his rule and make Pelargir his royal seat. Few of his crewmen actually accepted his royal claim, but they abided with him for the time being.

  In that, they were not alone, for he made many rivals among the captains of Umbar, whom took his ambition far from serious. But they in part abided with him because he was amusing and also because, for all his boasting, he was in fact a doughty warrior who had thus far slain any who challenged him in single combat. But to lessen his prominence in the eyes of the Captain of the Haven, they call him mockingly Bên-Bênî, 'Servant of Servants'.

  The first mate of the Azruzagar eventually grew tired of all the mocking and turned to plans of mutiny. He had ever been at the precipice of his captain's overly ambitious undertakings and he felt a change of leadership was due. Thus, even after having successfully taken a Gondorian homestead at the shores of the province of Belfalas, Gimilthôr was unknowingly losing the support of his crew. Upon their way back to the Bay of Belfalas, misfortune struck the Azruzagar and the ship came battered and beaten out of an unnatural storm far west into the open sea. The crew reckoned this a sign that the time of mutiny had come, throwing their captain overboard.

  Fate decided, however, he was to wash ashore a small island west of the mainland whence only a month later he sailed aboard a makeshift raft for the shores of the mainland. Alas, the current was too strong and the winds unfavourable, which caused his raft to veer off course and land far further to the west of Gondor than he had anticipated. Here he was in enemy lands yet undiscovered, without food or water, save a trusty sword and his medallion of Castamir. He swore vengeance upon his treacherous crew and to regain his ship and destiny. But he could not hope for aid in these strange lands, wherever it was that he had landed.

  By his skill of reading stars and some stroke of luck he ventured northward, believing to reach some Gondorian settlement ere long. In truth, he was travelling deep into Eriador and realised it only many miles after leaving shore, by asking some old man where he had made port. From the old man he took what he needed, sparing him little but the promise that he, as the king returned, would one day reward him handsomely. A horse brought him to the north-south road, across the Gwathló river, from where he made it to Bree-Land. Here he stayed for a while to gather provisions, preparing his journey back to Harondor and Umbar proper.

  His sojourn in Eriador was brief, but rewarding. He made some unsavoury friends with whom he travelled first east into Mordor, where he learned much of what passed in the lands beyond. He devoted himself anew to Sauron and with his blessing he travelled then southward to the lively ports of Umbar to enact revenge upon his treacherous crew and relay words of war to his people. For Sauron had begun his schemes to bring a second darkness to Middle-Earth, and he would have need of the corsairs before long.

  When Gimilthôr at last arrived at Umbar, he came to the harbour in grim company from Mordor, and none dared to stand in his way, for they believed he was now in high regard with the Dark Lord Sauron. He then sought out his former crew and when he found them, he challenged his first mate to single combat, slaying him with two quick strokes of his sword. Then he had his closest supporters executed and he hung their bodies from the mast of his ship, there for all to see. That is how he reclaimed the Azruzagar and that is how he became great indeed among the Corsairs of Umbar as his mother had foreseen. Henceforth, he was known in Umbar and beyond as Gimilthôr The Firebrand.