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Tar-Elendil

Meaning:
High Elf-friend or Star-lover

Other Names: Parmaitë

Location(s):
Númenor

Race/Species: Man

Type/Kind: 2nd age Numenoreans

Title(s):
4th King of Númenor

Dates: II 350~751

Parents:
father:
Tar-Amandil
— 3rd King of Númenor

Siblings:
Eärendur
Mairen

Children:
Silmariën
Isilmë
Tar-Meneldur (Írimon)
— 5th King of Númenor

Description:

Tar-Elendil, son of Tar-Amandil, was the 4th King of Númenor:
Tar-Elendil... was the son of Tar-Amandil, and he was born in the year 350. He ruled for 150 years, and surrendered the sceptre in 740; he died in 751. He was also called Parmaitë ['book-handed'], for with his own hand he made many books and legends of the lore gathered by his grandfather.1 He married late in his life, and his eldest child was a daughter, Silmarien,2 born in the year 521, whose son was Valandil. Of Valandil came the Lords of Andúnië.... In Tar-Elendil's reign the ships of the Númenóreans first came back to Middle-earth.3

Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 3, The Line of Elros, Kings of Númenor

Tar-Elendil, the fourth king, was succeeded by his son Tar-Meneldur, though his daughter Silmariën was the elder.4

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion, Footnote

Meneldur... was the King's third child, for he had two sisters, named Silmarien and Isilmë. The elder of these was wedded to Elatan of Andúnië, and their son was Valandil, Lord of Andúnië, from whom came long after the lines of the Kings of Gondor and Arnor in Middle-earth.

Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 2, Aldarion and Erendis

In the thirty-ninth year of his age Aldarion returned to Númenor, bringing gifts from Gil-galad to his father [Meneldur]; for in the following year [740], as he had long proclaimed, Tar-Elendil relinquished the Sceptre to his son, and Tar-Meneldur became the King.

Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 2, Aldarion and Erendis

Only the Ring of Barahir... survived the Downfall;5 for it was given by Tar-Elendil to his daughter Silmarien and was preserved in the House of the Lords of Andúnië, of whom the last was Elendil the Faithful who fled from the wrack of Númenor to Middle-earth. [Author's note.]

Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 1, Description of the Island of Númenor: Notes, Note 2


Etymology
tar-  'high' (Quenya tara 'lofty'), prefix of the Quenya names of the Númenórean Kings; also in Annatar. Feminine tari 'she that is high, Queen' in Elentári, Kementári....

The Silmarillion, Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names

êl, elen  'star'. According to Elvish legend, ele was a primitive exclamation 'behold!' made by the Elves when they first saw the stars. From this origin derived the ancient words êl and elen, meaning 'star', and the adjectives elda and elena, meaning 'of the stars'. These elements appear in a great many names.... The Sindarin equivalent of Elda was Edhel (plural Edhil), q.v.; but the strictly corresponding form was Eledh, which occurs in Eledhwen....

-(n)dil is a very frequent ending of personal names, Amandil, Eärendil (shortened Eärnil), Elendil, Mardil, etc.; it implies 'devotion', 'disinterested love'....

The Silmarillion, Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names

Parmaitë... Quenya parma 'book'; the second element is no doubt -maitë '-handed', cf. Tar-Telemmaitë ['silver-handed']....

Unfinished Tales, Index


Notes
1Vardamir... was called Nólimon for his chief love was for ancient lore, which he gathered from Elves and Men.

Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 3, The Line of Elros, Kings of Númenor

2This text is from one of Tolkien's early drafts; the name is an earlier version of the proper name as published in The Lord of the Rings. Silmarien in Unfinished Tales became Silmariën in the The Lord of the Rings.
3When six hundred years had passed from the beginning of the Second Age Vëantur, Captain of King's Ships under Tar-Elendil, first achieved the voyage to Middle-earth. He brought his ship Entulessë (which signifies "Return") into Mithlond on the spring winds blowing from the west; and he returned in the autumn of the following year. Thereafter seafaring became the chief enterprise for daring and hardihood among the men of Númenor....

Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 1, Description of the Island of Númenor

4At the time of Tar-Elendil's death, the law of royal succession in Númenor dictated male-only primogeniture (inheritance by the eldest surviving son). His grandson later changed the law to inheritance by the eldest surviving child, regardless of gender:

[According] to [the "old law"] the Ruler's eldest son inherited the Sceptre. It was understood that if there were no son the nearest male kinsman of male descent from Elros Tar-Minyatur would be the Heir. Thus if Tar-Meneldur had had no son the Heir would not have been Valandil his nephew (son of his sister Silmarien), but Malantur his cousin (grandson of Tar-Elendil's younger brother Eärendur).

Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 2, Aldarion and Erendis

That [new] law was made in Númenor... when Tar-Aldarion, the sixth king, left only one child, a daughter. She became the first Ruling Queen, Tar-Ancalimë.

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion, Footnote

5In fact, a number of heirlooms of the Lords of Andúnië survived the Downfall. In particular, the Elendilmir is also said to have descended from Silmariën, though it is not known whether Tar-Elendil gave it to her:

[In Orthanc was found]... the Elendilmir itself, the white star of Elvish crystal upon a fillet of mithril that had descended from Silmarien to Elendil, and had been taken by him as the token of royalty in the North Kingdom.

Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 1, The Disaster of the Gladden Fields: The Sources of the Legend of Isildur's Death

Contributors:
Loquacious 26Jul03
Elena Tiriel 3Nov05, 15Dec09

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