"E�rendil was a mariner

that tarried in Arvernien

he built a boat of timber felled
in Nimbrethil to journey in..."
? E�rendil by Bilbo Baggins
E�rendil the Mariner (Q "sea-friend", pron. [?e.a'rendil]) was one of the Peredhil
(S "Half-elven"), and an important figure in the legends of the Elder Days.
Descended from all the Three Houses of the Edain, he was the first known person to
reach Aman in the First Age. He was crucial in the War of Wrath and the patriarch
of the line of the Kings of N�menor through his son Elros.

Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 Legacy
3 Genealogy
4 Names and etymology
5 Other versions of the Legendarium
6 Inspiration
7 References
[edit] History

��rka �korp�kov� - Travelling South

The son of Tuor and Idril, daughter of King Turgon, E�rendil was raised as a child
in Gondolin. E�rendil was seven years old when Gondolin fell, and narrowly escaped
death at the hands of his kinsman Maeglin during the battle. He was borne out on
the shoulders of Idril's house-carle Hendor. As they rested in Tasarinan, the
waters of Ulmo awoke the sea-longing in both father and son.[1]
He lived afterwards in Arvernien by the Havens of Sirion. E�rendil later became the
leader of the people who lived there, and married Elwing, daughter of Dior the son
of Beren and L�thien. They had two sons, Elrond and Elros.

Ted Nasmith - E�rendil the Mariner

With the aid of C�rdan the Shipwright, E�rendil built a ship, Vingil�t� (or
Vingilot), and sailed around the seas west of Middle-earth, leaving his wife behind
in Arvernien. At this time Elwing had in her possession the Silmaril that Beren had
wrested from Morgoth. News of this came to the sons of F�anor that were still
living, and they attacked the people living in Arvernien, and slew most of them.
But Elwing, rather than be captured, threw herself with the Silmaril into the sea.
The Silmaril was not lost, however:

Steamey - E�rendil and Elwing

For Ulmo bore up Elwing out of the waves, and he gave her the likeness of a great
white bird, and upon her breast there shone as a star the Silmaril, as she flew
over the water to seek E�rendil her beloved. On a time of night E�rendil at the
helm of his ship saw her come towards him, as a white cloud exceeding swift beneath
the moon, as a star over the sea moving in strange courses, a pale flame on wings
of storm. And it is sung that she fell from the air upon the timbers of Vingilot,
in a swoon, nigh unto death for the urgency of her speed, and E�rendil took her to
his bosom; but in the morning with marveling eyes he beheld his wife in her own
form beside him with her hair upon his face, and she slept.
�Of the Voyage of E�rendil and the War of Wrath
Hearing of the tragedy that had befallen in Arvernien, E�rendil then sought after
Valinor, and he and Elwing found their way there at last. E�rendil thus became the
first of all mortals to set foot in Valinor. E�rendil then went before the Valar,
and asked them for aid for Men and Elves in Middle-earth, to fight against Morgoth;
and the Valar accepted his plea.

Because E�rendil had undertaken this errand on behalf of Men and Elves, and not for
his own sake, Manw� forbore to deal out the punishment of death that was due; and
because both E�rendil and Elwing were descended from a union of Elves and Men,
Manw� granted to them and their sons the gift to choose to which race they would be
joined (a gift that was further passed to the children of Elrond, who became known
as the Half-elven). Elwing chose to be one of the Elves. E�rendil would have rather
been one of the Men; however, for the sake of his wife, he chose to be one of the
Elves.

But when all was spoken, Manw� gave judgement, and he said: 'In this matter the
power of doom is given to me. The peril that he ventured for love of the Two
Kindreds shall not fall upon E�rendil, nor shall it fall upon Elwing his wife, who
entered into peril for love of him; but they shall not walk again ever among Elves
or Men in the Outer Lands. And this is my decree concerning them: to E�rendil and
to Elwing, and to their sons, shall be given leave each to choose freely to which
kindred their fates shall be joined, and under which kindred they shall be judged.'
�Of the Voyage of E�rendil and the War of Wrath

Ted Nasmith - E�rendil and the Battle of Eagles and Dragons

The Valar, having listened to E�rendil's plea, went with a mighty host to Middle-
earth, and overthrew Morgoth, and bound him. E�rendil took part in the battle, his
ship Vingil�t� was blessed by the Valar, and filled with a shining white flame and
sent to the skies. He sailed at its helm with the Silmaril bound upon his brow.
Alongside Thorondor and the Eagles, E�rendil the Mariner slew the great dragon
Ancalagon and cast it down onto Thangorodrim, the event which, along with the sheer
devastation caused by the War of Wrath, led to the Ruin of Beleriand.

[edit] Legacy
See also: Star of E�rendil

Jef Murray - Earendil

E�rendil lived on in Valinor and the gleaming of the Silmaril upon his brow could
still be seen in the skies of the distant West as the bright Evening Star.[2] Those
who remained in Middle-earth called it Gil-Estel (S. "Star of High Hope").

In the Second Age, the descendants of the Edain followed the Star of E�rendil to
reach Elenna. When N�menor fell under the Shadow, Tar-Atanamir mentioned E�rendil's
fate to argue about immortality to the Messengers of the Valar; the Messengers
responded that his was a fate apart as a Half-elven, and he was bound to the sky,
unable to return, whereas the N�men�reans demanded the liberties of both Elves and
Men.[3]

Bilbo Baggins wrote the Song of E�rendil[4] and the legend of E�rendil also
inspired the poem Errantry.[5]

[edit] Genealogy
Marach
House of Hador

Haldad
House of Haleth

B�or
House of B�or

Finw�
Noldor

Indis
Vanyar

Huor
F.A. 444 - 472

R�an
F.A. 450 - 472

Turgon
Y.T. 1300 - F.A. 510
Elenw�
d. Y.T. 1500

Tuor
b. F.A. 472

Idril
b. Y.T.
E�RENDIL
b. F.A. 503

Elwing
b. F.A. 503
Elros
F.A. 532 - S.A. 442

Elrond
b. F.A. 532
Kings of N�menor
Aragorn
T.A. 2931 - Fo.A. 120

Arwen
T.A. 241 - Fo.A. 121

[edit] Names and etymology

Sound-icon.png Earendil.mp3
By Ardamir. (Help; more articles)
E�rendil was known by many epithets: E�rendil Halfelven[6], E�rendil the
Blessed[7], Bright E�rendil[2][3], and E�rendil the Mariner.[2][8]

E�rendil was his given father-name. His mother-name was Ardam�r�. E�rendil is a
Quenya name, meaning "Devoted to the Sea", literaly "Sea lover" (e�r + -ndil).[9]
[10]

Although these Quenya names were not given Sindarin forms in the Legendarium,
experimental Sindarized forms, such as Aerendil and Aerennel, were used by Tolkien
in certain manuscripts,[11] as well as a direct translation: Seron Aearon.[10]

E�rendil was translated as Azrub�l in Ad�naic, from azar ("sea") and the stem bel-.
[12]

Tolkien used the original Old English name E�rendel for all drafts previous to The
Lord of the Rings, and first he related it with the Elvish words ea ("eagle") and
earen ("eyre"), but the exact meaning of the name remained unclear within the
Legendarium until he remade into Quenya to Earendil.[13]

[edit] Other versions of the Legendarium

In an early sketch of the voyages of Earendel in the Lost Tales, Tolkien considered
to have Earendel meet her (as Wirilom�) in his travels, which Christopher Tolkien
found surprising.[14] In the first sketch of the Silmarillion (1926) intended to
"reboot" the legendarium, Earendel slew Ungoliant.[15]

[edit] Inspiration

One of the two Heraldic Devices Tolkien designed for E�rendil

While E�rendil is a Quenya name inside the Legendarium, Tolkien created the name
based on Old English literature. Tolkien himself stated that the name was derived
from the Anglo-Saxon �arendel.[16] He says that he was struck by the "great beauty"
of the name as early as 1913, which he perceived as "entirely coherent with the
normal style of A-S, but euphonic to a peculiar degree in that pleasing but not
'delectable' language."

There is a poem by Tolkien dated to 1914 entitled The Voyage of E�rendel the
Evening Star.[17] Tolkien was also aware of the name's Germanic cognates (Old Norse
Aurvandill, Lombardic Auriwandalo), and the question why the Anglo-Saxon one rather
than the Lombardic or Proto-Germanic form should be taken up in the mythology is
alluded to in The Notion Club Papers.[18] The Old Norse together with the Anglo-
Saxon evidence point to an astronomical myth, the name referring to a star, or a
group of stars, and the Anglo-Saxon in particular points to the Morning Star as the
herald of the rising Sun (in Crist christianized to refer to John the Baptist).
Tolkien was particularly inspired by the lines in Christ:

�ala �arendel engla beorhtast / ofer middangeard monnum sended

"Hail Earendel, brightest of angels / sent over Middle-earth to men."
which can be taken as the inspiration not only for the role of E�rendil in
Tolkien's work, but also for the term Middle-earth (translating Middangeard) for
the inhabitable lands.

The first line is paralleled by Frodo's exclamation in Shelob's Lair, "Aiya

E�rendil Elenion Ancalima!"[19] which is in Quenya and translates as "Hail
E�rendil, brightest of stars!". Frodo's exclamation was in reference to the "Star-
glass" he carried, which contained the light of E�rendil's star, the Silmaril.

References
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta
Silmarillion: Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"
? 2.0 2.1 2.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta
Silmarillion: Of the Voyage of E�rendil and the War of Wrath"
? 3.0 3.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Akallab�th:
The Downfall of N�menor"
? J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Many
Meetings"
? J.R.R. Tolkien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, "Preface"
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta
Silmarillion: Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta
Silmarillion: Of the Coming of Men into the West"
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Of the Rings of
Power and the Third Age"
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Appendix: Elements
in Quenya and Sindarin Names"
? 10.0 10.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth,
"The Shibboleth of F�anor": The names of Finw�'s descendants, p. 348
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "The
Shibboleth of F�anor": Note 52
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "The
Problem of Ros", p. 373
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One,
Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales � Part One, p. 251, entry "E�rendel"
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "The
Tale of E�rendel"
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Shaping of Middle-earth, "II. The
Earliest 'Silmarillion' (The 'Sketch of the Mythology')"
? J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of
J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 297, (dated August 1967)
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "The
Tale of E�rendel", pp. 267-269
? J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Sauron Defeated, "Part Two: The Notion
Club Papers"
? J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, "Shelob's Lair"