Though a man of Dol Amroth, Assur spent the majority his late adolescent and early adult years in the villages at the foot of Amon Din. His family was cast out of the South Gondor city due to massive political upheaval shortly after Imrahil’s rule came to an end. They escaped the economic hardship of Dol Amroth and found themselves unwelcome in the hamlets surrounding Minas Tirith. Many long weeks of travel brought them to the Druadan Forest on the northern slopes of the White Mountains. Here they lived amongst the towns that had sprouted up at the foot of Amon Din where trade with Gondor and Rohan consisted almost strictly of game and cattle. In the few years after their settlement, Assur’s father Azzadel was stricken with disease and passed in winter. Already his father’s estate had dwindled due to their coin being worth so little, as the villages and towns of Anorien relied more on commodities and other goods for bartering rather than the traditional means of currency in much of Gondor. Necessity drove him into the forests to utilize what little talent with a weapon he had. Necessity seasoned his fingertips and made him patient with a bow. Through multiple winters he honed his skills in the name of survival for his family. It soon became a profession, along with selling his abilities as a tracker.

Soon hunters began to encroach on the land of the Druedain, or ‘Woses’ as they were often referred to, which caused an uneasy tension with the forest dwellers. Assur, like many of the hunters in the Amon Din villages, respected the Woses and did not delve too deeply into the wood. Those who did not cease the invasion of Druedain territories soon began to disappear mysteriously. Before long, wild game, too, began to disappear from the woods, leaving the settlement at Amon Din a failure. In the wake of this, Assur took his talents and his family to the new settlement at Ithilien under Prince Faramir. Being that hunting was already a successful venture in the hills of East Gondor, it was necessary for one to diversify their abilities and before long Assur had taken to the Great River on a small craft purchased with proceeds from his efforts.