Eärendil
| House / Order | House of Hador and House of Finwë; of the Half-elven |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | |
| Status | Sails the heavens (set apart from death) |
| Origin | Gondolin; the Mouths of Sirion; the heavens |
| Born | First Age 503 |
| Died | — |
| Weapon | The ship Vingilot; the Silmaril upon his brow |
| Fate | Sails the sky with a Silmaril as the Morning and Evening Star |
| Portrayed by |
Eärendil, called Eärendil the Mariner and the Blessed, was the greatest mariner of the Elder Days, the half-elven son of Tuor and Idril, who sailed across the Sundering Seas to beg the aid of the Valar against Morgoth. Bearing a Silmaril upon his brow, he was set in the heavens as a star of hope, and his line, through his sons Elrond and Elros, runs to both the Elves of Rivendell and the Kings of Númenor and Gondor.
Background
Eärendil was born in the hidden Elven city of Gondolin, the son of Tuor, a mortal Man of the House of Hador, and Idril Celebrindal, an Elven princess, daughter of King Turgon. He was thus of mingled blood, half Elven and half mortal. When Gondolin fell to the treachery and assault of Morgoth, Eärendil as a child escaped its ruin with his parents among the few survivors, and came at last to dwell at the Mouths of Sirion by the sea.
The voyages
At the Havens of Sirion, Eärendil wedded Elwing, who bore a Silmaril, the holy jewel rescued from Morgoth's iron crown by her grandparents Beren and Lúthien. Seized by the sea-longing, Eärendil built the great ship Vingilot and sailed the western seas, seeking ever the path to Valinor to beg pardon and aid for Elves and Men against the Dark. For long he failed to find the way.
When the sons of Fëanor, bound by their terrible Oath, attacked the Havens to seize the Silmaril, Elwing cast herself into the sea with the jewel rather than yield it, and was borne up in the form of a white bird by the grace of the Vala Ulmo to her husband upon the waves. With the Silmaril's light to guide him, Eärendil at last won through to the shores of Valinor.
Eärendil the Star
Eärendil came before the Valar as the emissary of both Elves and Men, the first mortal to set foot in the Undying Lands, and pleaded for their aid. His prayer was answered: the host of Valinor came forth in the War of Wrath, overthrowing Morgoth and ending the First Age. Because Eärendil had passed the forbidden seas, he might not return to mortal lands. Instead, by the judgment of the Valar, he was set to sail the airs of heaven in his ship with the Silmaril bound upon his brow, and so he became the brightest of stars, a sign of hope to the peoples of Middle-earth.
Legacy
The light of Eärendil's star, captured in a phial of water from Galadriel's mirror, was given to Frodo Baggins and shone in the dark of Shelob's lair and the land of Mordor. Eärendil's sons by Elwing were Elrond and Elros, who were each given the choice of their kindred: Elrond chose the Elves and remained as Lord of Rivendell, while Elros chose mortality and became the first King of Númenor, ancestor of Aragorn.
Character
Eärendil embodies hope reaching across despair, the mariner who would not cease seeking until he had won the salvation of his peoples. As the Evening Star he is a perpetual emblem in Middle-earth of light shining in darkness, invoked by the Elves and, unknowingly, by the Hobbits who carried his light into the heart of the Enemy's realm.
Appearances
- The Silmarillion (Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath)
- The Fellowship of the Ring (Bilbo's song at Rivendell)
- The Two Towers (the Phial of Galadriel)