Eärendil

[Sea Lover]

The Mariner. The Blessed. The Bright.

"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!"

Eönwë ["The Silmarillion", JRR Tolkien]

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Read "Eärendil, The Mariner" by Bilbo Baggins [JRR Tolkien]

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"Eärendil, The Mariner" by Bilbo Baggins [JRR Tolkien]

Written during his stay in Rivendell. (With slight input from Aragorn, son of Arathorn.)

"As a matter of fact it was all mine. Except that Aragorn insisted on my putting in a green stone. He seemed to think it important. I don't know why."

"He obviously thought the whole thing rather above my head, and he said that if I had the cheek to make verses about Eärendil in the house of Elrond, it was my affair."

[Bilbo, FotR]

Eärendil was a mariner
that tarried in Arvernien;
he built a boad of timber felled
in Nimbrethil to journey in;
her sails he wove of silver fair,
of silver were her lanterns made,
her prow was fashioned like a swan,
and light upon her banners laid.

In panoply of ancient kings,
in chained rings he armoured him;
his shining shield was scored with runes
to ward all wounds and harm from him;
his bow was made of dragon-horn,
his arrows shorn of ebony,
of silver was his habergeon,
his scabbard of chalcedony;
his sword of steel was valiant,
of adamant his helmet tall,
an eagle-plume upon his crest,
upon his breast an emerald.

Beneath the Moon and under star
he wandered far from northern strands,
bewildered on enchanted ways
beyond the days of mortal lands.
From gnashing of the Narrow Ice
where shadow lies on frozen hills,
from nether heats and burning waste
he turned in haste, and roving still
on starless waters far astray
at last he came to Night of Naught,
and passed, and never sigh he saw
of shining shore nor light he sought.
The winds of wrath came driving him,
and blindly in the foam he fled
from west to east and errandless,
unheralded he homeward sped.

There flying Elwing came to him,
and flame was in the darkness lit;
more bright than light of diamond
the fire upon her carcanet.
The Silmaril she bound on him
and crowned him with the living light
and dauntless then with burning brow
he turned his prow; and in the night
from Otherworld beyond the Sea
there strong and free a storm arose,
a wind of power in Tarmenel;
by paths that seldom mortal goes
his boat it bore with biting breath
as might of death across the grey
and long-forsaken seas distressed:
from east to west he passed away.

Through Evernight he back was borne
on black and roaring waves that ran
o'er leagues unlit and foundered shores
that drowned before the Days began,
until he heard on strands of pearl
when ends the world the music long,
where ever-foaming billows roll
the yellow gold and jewels wan.
He saw the Mountain silent rise
where twilight lies upon the knees
of Valinor, and Eldamar
beheld afar beyond the seas.
A wanderer escaped from night
to haven white he came at last,
to Elvenhome the green and fair
where keen the air, where pale as glass
beneath the Hill of Ilmarin
a-glimmer in a valley sheer
the lamplit towers of Tirion
are mirrored on the Shadowmere

He tarried there from errantry,
and melodies they taught to him,
and sages old him marvels told,
and harps of gold they brought to him.
They clothed him then in elven-white,
and seven lights before him sent,
as through the Calacirian
to hidden land forlorn he went.
He came unto the timeless halls
where shining fall the countless years,
and endless reigns the Elder King
in Ilmarin on Mountain sheer;
and words unheard were spoken then
of folk of Men and Elven-kin,
beyond the world were visions showed
forbid to those that dwell therein.

A ship then new they built for him
of mithril and of elven-glass
with shining prow; no shaven oar
nor sail she bore on silver mast:
the Silmaril as lantern light
and banner bright with living flame
to gleam thereon by Elbereth
herself was set, wo thither came
and wings immortal made for him,
and laid on him undying doom,
to sail the shoreless skies and come
behind the Sun and light of Moon.

From Evereven's lofty hills
where softly silver fountains fall
his wings him bore, a wandering light,
beyond the mighty Mountain Wall.
From World's End then he turned away,
and yearned again to find afar
his home through shadows journeying,
and burning as an island star
on high above the mists he came,
a distant flame before the Sun,
a wonder ere the waking dawn
where grey the Norland waters run.

And over Middle-earth he passed
and heard at last the weeping sore
of women and of elven-maids
in Elder Days, in years of yore.
But on him mighty doom was laid,
till Moon should fade, an orbed star
to pass, and tarry never more
on Hither Shores where mortals are;
for ever still a herald on
an errand that should never rest
to bear his shining lamp afar,
the Flammifer of Westernesse.

Please Take Note.

1. [S] "Five hundred years and three since the coming of the Noldor to Middle-earth" Eärendil was born in Gondolin, in the First Age, to Tuor (of the Edain) and Idril Celebrindal (of the Noldor). He was, therefore, one of the Half-elven (Peredhil), beautiful like the Elves, strong like Men.

"Of surpassing beauty was Eärendil, for a light was in his face as the light of heaven, and he had the beauty and the wisdom of the Eldar and the strength and hardihood of the Men of old; and the Sea spoke ever in his ear and heart, even as with Tuor his father." [S]

2. When Eärendil was 7 years old, Gondolin was attacked by Morgoth's hosts. Those who survived the siege fled to the Mouths of the Sirion (Arvernien), led by Tuor. There, Eärendil would eventually meet Círdan, the shipwright, and fall in love with the sea.

3. Tuor (a Man), started fearing old age, and set sail for the West, with Idril, in search of Valinor. Eärendil stayed behind, later becoming Lord of Arvernien and wedding Elwing, daughter of Dior, who bore him Elrond and Elros.

4. Eärendil's desire for the sea, however, was too great... he set sail, alone, in the ship "Vingilot" or "Rothinzil" [the Foam-flower, built with Círdan's help], in search of his parents and of Valinor (to address the Valar).

"Eärendil could not rest, and his voyages about the shores of the Hither Lands eased not his unquiet." [S]
"The Foam-flower, fairest of the ships of song; golden were its oars and white its timbers, hewn in the birchwoods of Nimbrethil, and its sails were as the argent moon." [S]

5. Meanwhile, the sons of Féanor, searching for Lúthien's Silmaril, attacked the survivors of the siege of Gondolin. Elwing, to save the jewel, took it and threw herself into the sea. Ulmo took pity on her, and turned her into a great white bird and, thus, with the Silmaril upon her breast, she flew to "Vingilot"... and Eärendil.

"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 course, a pale flame on wings of storm." [S]
"In the morning with marvelling eyes he beheld his wife in her own form beside him with her hair upon his face, and she slept." [S]

6. Carrying the Silmaril, and through its powers, Eärendil found the way to the Blessed Realm, where he faced the Valar and asked for their forgiveness and their support in the fight against Morgoth in Middle-Earth.

"Silmaril was bound upon his brow; and ever its light grew greater as they drew into the West. And the wise have said that it was by reason of the power of that holy jewel that they came in time to waters that no vessels save those of the Teleri had known." [S]
"Eärendil stood before their faces, and delivered the errand of the Two Kindreds. Pardon he asked for the Noldor and pity for their great sorrows, and mercy upon Men and Elves and succour in their need." [S]

7. It was decreed that the Half-elven were to be given the choice of their fate. Elwing chose to be counted among the Elves. Eärendil, though closer to the Secondborn, chose identically, to share her fate. Elrond opted to be counted among the Firstborn, but Elros chose the fate of Men and, thus, mortality.

"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.'" [S]

8. Eärendil now sails through the firmament in his ship, with the Silmaril upon his brow, shining as the Elves' brightest star - Gil-Estel [star of hope], the Morning and Evening Star, The Flammifer of Westernesse, or Venus - giving hope to Middle-Earth.

9. Note that, in the War of Wrath, Eärendil would also come to play a part, slaying Ancalagon, the Black - one of the winged dragons set by the Morgoth in Angband - helping defeat the Dark Lord.

"But Eärendil came, shining with white flame, and about Vingilot were gathered all the great birds of heaven and Thorondor was their captain, and there was battle in the air all the day and through a dark night of doubt." [S]

10. It should also be noted that in "The Unfinished Tales" there is a sub-chapter on "The Elessar". As it is - as the title implies! - unfinished, we will simply quote the following (one of several alternate versions):

"The Elessar was made in Gondolin by Celebrimbor, and so came to Idril and so to Eärendil. But that passed away." [UT]

"By Elves and Men he is called Eärendil the Blessed, for he achieved his quest after long labours and many perils, and from Valinor there came the host of the Lords of the West." [UT]

"And in the glory and beauty of the Elves, and in their fate, full share had the offspring of elf and mortal, Eärendil, and Elwing, and Elrond their child." [S]

Thumbnails

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Please Note:

1 - Unknown Author

2 - Roger Garland, "Eärendil and Elwing"

3, 4 - Ted Nasmith, "Eärendil, the Mariner"

The Encyclopedia of Arda - Eärendil Page.

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