Valacar was the son of Rómendacil II, and was the twentieth King of Gondor. In TA 1250, during his father's reign, he was sent as an ambassador to dwell with the Northmen and thus further Gondor's alliance with them and Vidugavia, the self-proclaimed King of Rhovanion.

But Valacar exceeded his father's intentions, for not only did he become accustomed to the language of the Northmen and their culture, but he also wed Vidumavi, daughter of Vidugavia, and their union was the origin of the civil war of the Kin-strife, the first great evil to befall Gondor.

The Northmen had not been granted the long lifespans of the Dúnedain, and Vidumavi died even before Valacar had acceded to the throne of Gondor. Nevertheless, she bore him a son. He was named Vinitharya in Rhovanion, but returned to Gondor with his father under the name of Eldacar.

The high men of Gondor looked with disapproval upon Valacar's marriage to Vidumavi and the prospect of Eldacar succeeding as King, for they feared that the royal Númenórean blood would lose its purity and might through such unions. By the later parts of Valacar's reign, some of the southern provinces of Gondor had already broke out into rebellion. At Valacar's death in TA 1432, this rebellion turned into a violent civil war, known as the Kin-strife.

Valacar ruled Gondor for 66 years (TA 1366 - 1432), and was succeeded by his son Eldacar.
Encyclopedia entry originally written by Nenyia