Of the Voyage of Eärendil
Eärendil the Mariner and the coming to Valinor
Nature
Of the Voyage of Eärendil is the tale of how Eärendil the Mariner — son of Tuor and Idril, husband of Elwing — sailed the great sea in the ship Vingilot until he came at last to the shores of Valinor, and there pleaded before the Valar for the two kindreds of the Elves and Men. In the published Silmarillion it is the chapter " and the War of Wrath"; in Unfinished Tales the matter is treated in the closing material of the Tuor-tale, of which this page is the record.
Contents
The story tells that when Eärendil wed Elwing, she kept the Silmaril won from Morgoth and defended at the havens; that, the sons of Fëanor pressing them, they resolved to seek the Valar and beg their mercy and aid for all the exiles; and that Eärendil, with the friendship and aid of Círdan and the shipwrights, built Vingilot and set sail across the Shadowy Seas, seeking Valinor long in vain, until the bright light of the jewel opened him the way into the Uttermost West. Landing in Aman, he brought his errand before the Valar, who at his prayer made the final war upon Morgoth — and, the jewel set upon his brow, Eärendil mounted with Vingilot into the sky as the Morning Star, a token of hope that from that day shone upon the deeps.
Composition
The voyage is among the oldest matter of the legendarium, from the poem and tale of “Eärendel” in the Book of Lost Tales; it reached its settled form in the chapter of the published Silmarillion. The epilogue in Unfinished Tales gives the companion account of Tuor and Idril’s fate and of the young Eärendil, and Christopher Tolkien’s notes record how the two versions diverge.