Elendil - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Elendil is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

's legendarium

Tolkien's legendarium

The phrase Tolkien's legendarium is used in the literary discipline of Tolkien studiesto refer to the part of J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy fiction being concerned with his Elven legends; that is, historic events that have become legendary from the perspective of the characters of The Lord of the...

. He appears in The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...

, The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...

and Unfinished Tales
Unfinished Tales
Unfinished Tales is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980.Unlike The Silmarillion, for which the narrative fragments were modified to connect into a consistent and...

.

Known as Elendil the Tall (Tolkien put his height at "more than man high by nearly half a ranga", almost 8' or 240 cm), Elendil the Faithful ('Elendil Voronda' or 'Vorondo') or Elendil the Fair, he was the father of Isildur

Isildur

Isildur is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He appears in the author's books The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales....

and Anárion

Anárion

Anárion is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. His name is derived from Anar, which means "Sun" in Tolkien's invented language of Quenya...

, last lord of Andúnië, and the first High King of Arnor

Arnor

Arnor is a fictional kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings. Arnor, or the Northern Kingdom, was a kingdom of the Dúnedain in the land of Eriador in Middle-earth. The name probably means "Land of the King", from Sindarin Ara- + dor...

and Gondor

Gondor

Gondor is a fictional kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, described as the greatest realm of Men in the west of Middle-earth by the end of the Third Age. The third volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, is concerned with the events in Gondor during the War of the Ring and with...

Literature

Elendil is first introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It takes place in the fictional universe Middle-earth. It was originally published on July 29, 1954 in the United Kingdom...

.

He was born in 3119 of the Second Age

Second Age

The Second Age is a time period from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings. Tolkien intended for the history of Middle-earth to be considered fictionally as a precursor to the history of the real Earth....

in Númenor

Númenor

Númenor is a fictional place in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings. It was a huge island located in the Sundering Seas to the west of Middle-earth, the main setting of Tolkien's writings, and was known to be the greatest realm of Men...

, son of Amandil

Amandil

Amandil is a fictional character from J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Amandil was a Lord of Andúnië, succeeding his father Númendil upon his death. Amandil is most noted for being the father of Elendil, founder of the Númenórean Realms in Exile....

, Lord of Andúnië and leader of the "Faithful" (those who remained loyal to the Valar

Vala (Middle-earth)

The Valar are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They are first mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, but The Silmarillion develops them into the Powers of Arda or the Powers of the World...

), who maintained a strong friendship with the Elves

Elf (Middle-earth)

In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion...

and preserved the old ways against the practices of Ar-Pharazôn and Sauron

Sauron

Sauron is the primary antagonist and titular character of the epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.In the same work, he is revealed to be the same character as "the Necromancer" from Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit...

. Elendil's name means either "Elf-friend" or "Star-lover" in Tolkien's fictional language

Fictional language

Fictional languages are by far the largest group of artistic languages. Fictional languages are intended to be the languages of a fictional world and are often designed with the intent of giving more depth and an appearance of plausibility to the fictional worlds with which they are associated, and...

of Quenya

Quenya

Quenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...

.

Elendil, his sons Isildur and Anárion, and their supporters fled to Middle-earth

Middle-earth

Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....

at the downfall of Númenor. Elendil landed in Lindon where he was befriended by Gil-galad. The waves carried Isildur and Anárion south to the Bay of Belfalas

Bay of Belfalas

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Bay of Belfalas was a large southern bay in the Great Sea.The Bay of Belfalas was the remainder of the eastern edge of the Great Gulf that had divided Beleriand from the Lands to the South in the First Age...

and the mouth of the River Anduin. They founded the realms of Arnor

Arnor

and Gondor

Gondor

in Middle-earth in S.A. 3320. With them they took the palantír
Palantír
A palantír is a magical artifact from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy legendarium. A palantír A palantír (pl. palantíri) is a magical artifact from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy legendarium. A palantír A palantír (pl. palantíri) is a magical artifact from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy legendarium. A palantír...

i, the "Seeing Stones" that were given to the Lords of Andúnië by the Elves

Elf (Middle-earth)

of Tol Eressëa

Tol Eressëa

In early versions of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium , Tol Eressëa was an island visited by the Anglo-Saxon traveller Ælfwine which provided a framework for the tales that later became The Silmarillion. The name is the Elvish for "Lonely Island"...

, and a seedling of Nimloth

Nimloth

In the fantasy world of J. R. R. Tolkien, Nimloth, Sindarin for "white blossom", was the name of the White Tree of Númenor. Nimloth was a seedling of Celeborn, which was a seedling of Galathilion, which was created by Yavanna in the image of Telperion, one of the Two Trees of Valinor.When the...

, the White Tree of Númenor.

Unfinished Tales explains that, upon landing in Middle-earth, Elendil proclaimed in Quenya

Quenya

: Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta! "Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come. In this place will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world." His heir and 38-great-grandson Aragorn

Aragorn

Aragorn II is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, one of the main protagonists of The Lord of the Rings. He is first introduced by the name Strider, which the hobbits continue to call him...

spoke these traditional words again when he took up the crown of Gondor

Gondor

in The Return of the King
The Return of the King
The Return of the King is the third and final volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, following The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers.-Title:...

.

Elendil lived in Arnor, where he founded the city of Annúminas. His son Anárion founded the city of Minas Anor in Anórien, and his son Isildur founded Minas Ithil in Ithilien

Ithilien

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, Ithilien is a region and fiefdom of Gondor.Ithilien, or "Moon-land," is the easternmost province of Gondor, the only part of Gondor across the Great River Anduin lying between the river and the Mountains of Shadow , subdivided by the stream of...

. Across the Anduin

Anduin

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, Anduin is the Sindarin name for the Great River of Wilderland, the longest river in the Third Age . The ancestors of the Rohirrim called it Langflood. It flowed from its source in the Grey and Misty Mountains to the Mouths of Anduin in the Great Sea...

the city of Osgiliath was built. Across the realms, towers were built for the seeing-stones called palantíri, with which the realms kept in contact.

As explained in The Fellowship of the Ring, Sauron

Sauron

eventually returned to Middle-earth, establishing a stronghold in Mordor

Mordor

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Mordor or Morhdorh was the dwelling place of Sauron, in the southeast of northwestern Middle-earth to the East of Anduin, the great river. Orodruin, a volcano in Mordor, was the destination of the Fellowship of the Ring in the quest to...

, which was next to Gondor. In 3428 he attacked, seizing Minas Ithil. Isildur fled north to his father, leaving Anárion in charge of Gondor. In 3434, Elendil and Isildur returned south, together with the Elven High King Gil-galad

Gil-galad

Ereinion Gil-galad is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, and featured in The Silmarillion.- Character overview :...

and their combined armies, in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. They defeated Sauron in the Battle of Dagorlad, and laid siege to his stronghold of Barad-dûr

Barad-dûr

Barad-dûr is the fortress of Sauron in the heart of the black land of Mordor and close to Mount Doom in the fantasy world of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...

for seven years. During this long siege Anárion was killed. In the year 3441 of the Second Age, Sauron

Sauron

came out personally to do battle. Gil-galad and Elendil fought him, but both were killed, and Elendil's sword Narsil

Narsil

Narsil is a fictional sword featured in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. It is introduced in The Lord of the Rings as having once belonged to King Elendil of the Dúnedain...

was broken beneath him. Isildur used the broken sword to cut the One Ring

One Ring

The One Ring is a fictional artifact that appears as the central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy novels. It is described in an earlier story, The Hobbit , as a magic ring of invisibility. The sequel The Lord of the Rings describes its powers as being more encompassing than...

from Sauron's hand, and the Dark Lord's spirit fled, not to reembody itself in its old form for many years.

The standard of Elendil was the White Tree Nimloth

Nimloth

with seven stars above it (representing each of the stars on the banners from the seven of the nine ships that escaped the destruction of Númenor that carried the palantír
Palantír
A palantír is a magical artifact from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy legendarium. A palantír A palantír (pl. palantíri) is a magical artifact from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy legendarium. A palantír A palantír (pl. palantíri) is a magical artifact from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy legendarium. A palantír...

i), and above them a silver crown. This standard became the main symbol of royalty in Gondor.

Adaptations

In Ralph Bakshi

Ralph Bakshi

Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...

's 1978 animated adaption of The Lord of the Rings, Elendil is only mentioned and not shown. Aragorn mentions that he carries the sword of "Elendil of Gondor", but his relationship with Isildur is not explored.

In Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson

Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...

's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...

, Elendil is portrayed by Peter McKenzie. He appears in the prologue, where he is killed by Sauron. Though Aragorn

Aragorn

uses his name as a battle cry, he is never identified with it while on-screen. However, in the third film, Aragorn mentions that Andúril (former Narsil) was "the sword of Elendil" when Elrond gives him the reforged blade.

External links

A History and Complete Chronology of Númenor - A detailed chronology of Númenor, its successor states and their rulers.

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