Elendili
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elendili or Elf-friends are, in the fictional universe of J. R. R. Tolkien, a faction of Númenóreans who advocated continued friendship with the Elves. They were also called the Faithful for their continued devotion and obedience to the Valar. Their most noted leader was Elendil, Lord of Andúnië, who later founded the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor in Middle-earth.
By the close of the Second Age Númenóreans had become split between the Elendili and the King's Men — a faction centred around the King that strove to assert Númenórean supremacy over other peoples, and to overcome the mortality placed on Men. With Númenor reaching the apex of its might, the King's Men eventually espoused open defiance of the Valar. This split would eventually precipitate the Fall of Númenor.
The Elendili, however, not only preserved their ancient friendship with the Elves, they also regarded the burgeoning arrogance of the King's Men as blasphemy. But the King's Men became more powerful and Númenor with them. By the end of the Second Age the King's Men had begun to persecute the Elendili as rebels and 'spies of the Valar.'
Fearing their influence early on, the King's Men secured the Faithful's deportation from their strongholds in the western regions, notably around the western port city of Andúnië, and relocated to them to the eastern port city of Rómenna. There many departed to the Hither Lands (Middle Earth) and founded settlements that would later become part of the faithful Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor. Many others would remain until the downfall of Númenor.
The Elendili enjoyed a brief respite when Elf-friend Tar-Palantir assumed kingship and began to turn Númenor back to the ways of the Faithful. But after Tar-Palantir died, his nephew Ar-Pharazôn usurped the throne and the Elendili were more vigorously oppressed, this time with the help of the Dark Lord Sauron, who had established an evil cult on the island to corrupt and eventually destroy Númenórean society.
The Eldar tongue was forbidden. When Sauron corrupted Ar-Pharazôn, the last King of Númenor, some of Elendili were murdered and burned sacrifice to Melkor. Burned too was Nimloth the Fair, the White Tree of the King that was the ancestor to the White Tree of Gondor, and the tree for which it was foretold to be bound to the fate of the Kings. Isildur, son of Elendil and one of the Elendili obtained perilously a seedling from Nimloth the Fair and thus bound the fate of the Tree to the fate of the Heirs of Elendil.
As Ar-Pharazôn led his grand armada to Aman to challenge the Ban of the Valar, Elendil and the remaining Elf-friends were warned by the divine powers to leave Númenor forever. They were thus spared the downfall of Númenor when, as punishment for an attempt to defy the Ban of the Valar, Ilúvatar sank the island kingdom into the sea.
The Elendili, under the leadership of Elendil and his sons, eventually made their way to refuge in Middle-earth where they were welcomed by the Elves. There they established the Dúnedain kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor.
