Elendil

Elendil the Tall, son of Amandil, was the last lord of the Faithful in Númenor and the founder of the great Númenórean kingdoms in exile after the Downfall. As High King of both Arnor and Gondor, he led the Last Alliance of Elves and Men against Sauron, and his death in that war—and the sword he left behind—shaped the fate of Middle-earth for the entire Third Age.

Origins and Flight from Númenor

Elendil was the son of Amandil, the last Lord of Andúnië, and a descendant of the line of Elros Tar-Minyatur, the first King of Númenor. When the usurper Ar-Pharazôn the Golden, seduced by Sauron, broke the Ban of the Valar and assailed Valinor, the world was changed and Númenor was swallowed by the Sea. Elendil, with his sons Isildur and Anárion, escaped the Downfall with nine ships, bearing a seedling of the White Tree Nimloth, the Seven Seeing-stones (palantíri), and the shards of the sword Narsil. They were cast upon the shores of Middle-earth, where Elendil established the Númenórean realms in exile: Arnor in the North, with its capital at Annúminas, and Gondor in the South, where his sons ruled jointly from Osgiliath. Elendil himself was the High King, dwelling in the North.

The Last Alliance and the War against Sauron

Sauron, though his bodily form had perished in the Downfall, fled back to Middle-earth as a spirit of hatred and re-entered Mordor. He made war upon the Exiles before they could take root, and Orodruin burst once more into flame. Elendil and Gil-galad, the High King of the Elves, formed the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, mustering their hosts in Arnor. Elrond, who marched with the host as Gil-galad's herald, recalled the splendour of their banners, which reminded him of the glory of the Elder Days. The Alliance crossed the Misty Mountains and fought the Battle of Dagorlad before the Black Gate of Mordor, where they had the mastery, for the Spear of Gil-galad, Aeglos, and the Sword of Elendil, Narsil, none could withstand.

The Fall of Elendil and the Taking of the Ring

After the victory at Dagorlad, the Alliance laid siege to Barad-dûr. The siege lasted seven years, and in the final combat on the slopes of Orodruin, Gil-galad and Elendil both perished. Elendil fell, and Narsil broke beneath him. But Sauron himself was overthrown, and Isildur, Elendil's son, cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand with the hilt-shard of his father's sword. Elrond and Círdan, who alone stood by Gil-galad in that last contest, counselled Isildur to cast the Ring into the fire of Orodruin, but Isildur refused, taking it as a weregild for his father and his brother Anárion, who had been slain earlier in the war. Thus the Ring was not destroyed, and the victory of the Last Alliance was not wholly achieved.

Legacy and the Sword that was Broken

Narsil, the sword of Elendil, was broken beneath him when he fell. Its shards were brought to Rivendell by Ohtar, the esquire of Isildur, and were treasured by the heirs of Elendil for many generations. It was spoken of among them that the sword should be made again when the Ring, Isildur's Bane, was found. In the War of the Ring, the sword was reforged by Elvish smiths in Rivendell and renamed Andúril, Flame of the West. Aragorn, the heir of Isildur and Elendil, bore it to war, and when he came to the Stone of Erech, he summoned the Oathbreakers, declaring himself Elessar, Isildur's heir of Gondor. The line of Elendil, preserved through the long years of the Third Age by the Chieftains of the Dúnedain in the North, was thus restored, and Aragorn became King of the Reunited Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor.