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Star of Elendil
A white precious jewel, worn by Elendil and later by his heirs in an elf-like manner - on the forehead.
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| After Arvedui the NorthKingdom? ended, for the Dúnedain were now few and all the peoples of Eriador diminished. Yet the line of the kings was continued by the Chieftains of the Dúnedain, of whom Aranarth son of Arvedui was the first. Arahael his son was fostered in Rivendell, and so were all the sons of the chieftains after him and there also were kept the heirlooms of their house: the ring of Barahir, the shards of Narsil, the star of Elendil, and the sceptre of Annúminas.
and that was also so in Arnor, whose kings wore no crown, but bore a single white gem, the Elendilmir, Star of Elendil, bound on their bows with a silver fillet. | | LOTR Appentices |
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| Next to it lay a treasure without price, long mourned as lost for ever: the Elendilmir itself, the white star of Elvish crystal upon a fillet of mithril 31 that had descended from Silmarien to Elendil, and had been taken by him as the token of royalty in the NorthKingdom?.
Elessar took it up with reverence, and when he returned to the North and took up again the full kingship of Arnor Arwen bound it upon his brow, and men were silent in amaze to see its splendour. But Elessar did not again imperil it, and wore it only on high days in the North Kingdom. Otherwise, when in kingly raiment he bore the Elendilmir which had descended to him. "And this also is thing of reverence," he said, "and above my worth forty heads have worn it before." | | Unfinished Tales |
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In the Unfinished Tales Christopher Tolkien analyses:
| It is told in "Aldarion and Erendis" (p.193) that Erendis caused the diamond which Aldarion brought to her from Middle-earth "to be set as a star in a silver fillet and at her asking he bound it on her forehead." For this reason she was known as Tar-Elestirnë, the Lady of the Star-brow and thus came, it is said, the manner of the Kings and Queens afterward to wear as a star a white jewel upon the brow, and they had no crown." (p. 225, note 18) This tradition cannot be unconnected with that of the Elendilmir, a star-like gem borne on the brow as a token of royalty in Arnor but the original Elendilmir itself, since it belonged to Silmarien, was in existence in Númenor (whatever its origin may have been) before Aldarion brought Erendis jewel from Middle-earth, and they cannot be the same. | | UT p.368, note 32 |
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| But before all went Aragorn with the Flame of the West, Andúril like a new fire kindled, Narsil re-forged as deadly as of old: and upon his brow was the Star of Elendil. | | The ROTK |
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Chr.Tolkien's continues :
| The actual number was thirty-eight, since the second Elendilmir was made for Valandil (cf. note 26 above). – In the Tale of Years in Appendix B to The Lord of the Rings the entry for the year 16 of the Fourth Age (given under Shire Reckoning 1436) states that when King Elessar came to the Brandywine Bridge to greet his friends he gave the Star of the Dúnedain to Master Samwise, while his daughter Elanor was made a maid of honour to Queen Arwen.
On the basis of this record Mr. Robert Foster says in The Complete Guide to Middle-earth that "the Star [of Elendil] was worn on the brow of the Kings of the North-kingdom until Elessar gave it to Sam Gamgee in Fourth Age 16." The clear implication of the present passage is that King Elessar retained indefinitely the Elendilmir that was made for Valandil and it seems to me in any case out of the question that he would have made a gift of it to the Mayor of the Shire, however greatly he esteemed him.
- The Elendilmir is called by several names: the Star of Elendil, the Star of the North, the Star of the North Kingdom and the Star of the Dúnedain (occurring only in this entry in the Tale of Years) is assumed to be yet another both in Robert Foster's Guide and in J. E. A. Tyier's Tolkien Companion. I have found no other reference to it but it seems to me to be almost certain that it was not, and that Master Samwise received some different (and more suitable) distinction.
| | UT p.368 note 33 |
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The StudyTeam
It is said in Unfinished Tales that the light of the Elendilmir daunted the Orcs when Isildur wore it in battle. When he put the Ring on his finger and fled, he disappeared, but amazingly the brilliance of the Elendilmir was not affected by the power of the One Ring.
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