Also known as: Earendil The Blessed, The Bright
Earendil the Mariner, son of Tuor and Idril Celebrindal of Gondolin, was the great hero in whom the bloodlines of Elves and Men were joined. Surviving the fall of Gondolin as a child, he came at last to the Havens of Sirion, where he wedded Elwing, granddaughter of Beren and Luthien, who bore the Silmaril that had been cut from Morgoth's iron crown. Restless with the sea-longing set in him by Ulmo, Earendil built the ship Vingilot and sailed the western seas seeking the lost road to Valinor, that he might beg the pardon and the aid of the Valar for the peoples of Middle-earth.
When the sons of Feanor fell upon the Havens to seize the Silmaril, Elwing cast herself into the sea with the jewel, but was borne up by Ulmo in the form of a white bird and came to Earendil upon the waters. With the Silmaril bound upon his brow to light his way, Earendil passed the shadows and enchantments that guarded the Blessed Realm and stood at last before the Valar, the first of mortal blood to do so, and pleaded for both kindreds. His prayer was answered, and the Valar came forth in the War of Wrath and overthrew Morgoth. Earendil himself, hallowed and set apart from mortal lands, was sent to sail the airs of night with the Silmaril upon his brow as the brightest of stars -- the Evening and Morning Star, a sign of hope to the peoples of Middle-earth; and a glimmer of that light, caught in the Phial of Galadriel, came in the end to the aid of Frodo and Sam in the dark of Mordor.