He is among the most famous heroes of not only the First Age, but in all the history
of Middle-earth. His actions would directly lead to the defeat of Morgoth, the founding of Numenor,
and the prosperity of the early Second Age. His descendants are among the greatest heroes
of the Second and Third ages, and even those who were not hold him in honor and reverence.
Today, on Nerd of the Rings, we cover the life of Earendil.
Earendil is born in the year 503 of the First Age in the hidden realm
of Gondolin. His mother is Idril, daughter of Turgon - the High King of the Noldor.
His father is the mortal man Tuor, making Earendil just the second child
ever born of man and elf. The first being Dior, the son of Beren and Luthien.
What was a happy childhood would meet great tragedy when Earnedil is just seven years old.
For in the year 510, the location of Gondolin is revealed to Morgoth by the traitor Maeglin.
Maeglin had long coveted Idril, and held a hatred for Tuor.
As Gondolin is attacked by dragons, balrogs, and orcs, Maeglin attempts to kill Earendil
and kidnap Idril. However, Tuor prevents this and throws Maeglin from the walls of the city.
Earendil, his parents, and as many survivors as could be gathered make their way through a
secret path through the mountains which Idril had commissioned. As they make their way through the
Cirith Thoronath, they are ambushed by a host of orcs and a balrog. The eagles of the city attack
the orcs, and a lone elf among the group stays behind to fight the balrog of Morgoth. Glorfindel
fights the demon of shadow and flame and they would both fall from the precipice to their dooms.
With Gondolin in flames, the refugees make their way south,
resting for a short time in the willows of Nan-tathren. Thanks to the power of
Ulmo which dwelt in the river Sirion, they are healed of their wounds and sorrows.
There, Tuor sings to his son a song - The Horns of Ylmir - speaking of his encounter with
Ulmo the lord of waters. In the hearts of both father and son, a sea-longing is awakened.
They continue down the Sirion to the Havens ruled by Cirdan the Shipwright, settling in the lands
of Arvernien. After his parents sailed into the West, Earendil becomes the leader of his people
and marries Elwing, the daughter of Dior. And in 532, she would give birth to twin
sons - Elrond and Elros. For a time, they would have peace and happiness, living on the shores of
Beleriand. However, like their father, Elrond and Elros’ lives would be interrupted by war.
Over the years, Earendil had, with the help of Cirdan, built a mighty ship Vingilote and
he would at times sail around the seas west of Middle-earth in search of Tuor and Idril, while
his family remained behind at the havens. This time, an attack would come not from Morgoth, but
from their fellow elves. For the sons of Feanor had learned that Elwing had inherited the Silmaril
of Beren and Luthien and they attack the havens - in the third kinslaying of elves against elves.
Rather than being captured and allowing the murderous Feanorians to gain a silmaril,
Elwing instead casts herself into the sea, silmaril in hand. But it was not her doom:
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
Eärendil her beloved. On a time of night Eärendil 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 Eärendil 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.
Learning of the tragedy at the havens, and possibly believing his sons lost,
Earendil resolves to search for Valinor. They come to the blessed realm,
But Eärendil climbed the green hill of Túna and found it bare; and he entered into the streets
of Tirion, and they were empty; and his heart was heavy, for he feared that some
evil had come even to the Blessed Realm. He walked in the deserted ways of Tirion,
and the dust upon his raiment and his shoes was a dust of diamonds, and he shone and glistened as
he climbed the long white stairs. And he called aloud in many tongues, both of Elves and Men,
but there were none to answer him. Therefore he turned back at last towards the sea; but even
as he took the shoreward road one stood upon the hill and called to him in a great voice, crying:
'Hail Eärendil, of mariners most renowned, the looked for that cometh at unawares, the longed
for that cometh beyond hope! Hail Eärendil, bearer of light before the Sun and Moon! Splendour of
the Children of Earth, star in the darkness, jewel in the sunset, radiant in the morning!'
That voice was of Eonwe, the herald of Manwe. And Earendil is brought before the valar,
where he asks for pardon for the Noldor and for mercy for the men and elves of Middle-earth
who are now at the mercy of a merciless foe.
Because Earendil had taken his journey on behalf of others and not himself,
Manwe did not judge that Earnedil should be put to death,
as would have been the punishment for him coming uninvited to Valinor.
But when all was spoken, Manwë 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 Eärendil,
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 Eärendil 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.'
The Valar send the great Host of the West to Beleriand to overthrow the dark lord. For
forty years, the War of Wrath decimates the lands of Beleriand. But Earendil’s part in
the story would not cease with being a mere messenger. His ship is blessed by the Valar
and rather than sailing the seas, it shines with a white flame as he takes to the skies. He sails
at the helm of Vingilote, with the silmaril upon his brow. And when Morgoth unleashes his last
and greatest weapon, the winged dragons, Earendil and the great eagles of the First Age
meet them in battle. Earendil kills Ancalagon the Black - the greatest dragon to ever
live - and his body is cast down onto peaks of Thangorodrim, which are destroyed in his ruin.
With Morgoth defeated and Beleriand destroyed, Earendil returns to Valinor.
Ever after, he would sail the skies, the silmaril upon his brow, as the Star of Earendil. Those
remaining in Middle-earth in later days would call it Gil-Estel - The Star of High Hope.
As we know, Elrond and Elros were not lost in the kingslaying, but would survive into
the Second Age. And like Earendil and Elwing, they are given the choice of being counted among
the immortal elves, or to receive the Gift of Men. Elrond chooses the path of his parents,
while Elros chooses mortality. Elros and the Edain sail from the coasts of Middle-earth,
following the Star of Earendil to find a newly risen land for them - the isle of Numenor.
It is the light of Earendil’s star which, over 6000 years later, is given to Frodo Baggins.
For Galadriel had a phial, in which shone the light
of Earendil. The light which would shine even in the darkest depths of Mordor…
Frodo gazed in wonder at this marvellous gift that he had so long carried, not guessing its
full worth and potency. Seldom had he remembered it on the road, until they came to Morgul Vale,
and never had he used it for fear of its revealing light. Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima!
he cried, and knew not what he had spoken; for it seemed that another voice spoke through his,
clear, untroubled by the foul air of the pit.
Unto the ending of the world, Earendil’s star would grace the sky, and his light and his story
would be remembered for thousands of years. Held in great reverence as both a beloved star and
the ancestor of some of the greatest elves and men throughout the second and third ages of the world.
Only at the Final Battle, the Dagor Dagorath,
would Earendil return to strike Morgoth from the skies. To learn more about Tolkien’s
end of days and Earendil’s role - check out my Dagor Dagorath video.