The Lords of Andúnië
the faithful lords of the western haven of Númenor
Definition
The Lords of Andúnië were the hereditary heads of a lordly house of the west of Númenor, named for the haven of Andúnië upon the western coast. The lordship descended from Valandil, son of Silmariën (the elder child of Tar-Elendil), and was held in unbroken succession in his line. The house remained staunch to the friendship of the Elves and to the worship of the One, and as the kings turned from the Valar the Lords of Andúnië became the acknowledged leaders of the Faithful.
The Line in Brief
- The lordship, passing through many generations unrecorded in the annals, was held by the heads of the Faithful house of the West; its holders are remembered as lords of the western haven who received the ships of the Eldar of Eressëa and kept the old loyalty while the kings of Númenor fell into the shadow.
- It is told that Ar-Gimilzôr, the dissenting king, wed Inzilbêth of the house of Andúnië, from whose marriage came Tar-Palantir the repentant — so that the strand of the Faithful ran even into the kingship itself.
- The last two lords before the Drowning are remembered by name: Amandil, who by foresight gathered and prepared the remnant and at the last sailed into the West seeking pardon, and his son Elendil, lord of Andúnië at the Downfall, who led the Faithful in their ships through the Drowning to the shores of Middle-earth — where the lordship of the western haven passes into the kingship of the Realms in Exile.
Significance
The Lords of Andúnië are the countersign of Númenor’s fall: while the kingly line headed into pride and shadow, the western lords kept the old loyalty — and through Amandil and Elendil the blood of the Elf-friends, the heirloom of the White Tree and the memory of Valinor pass out of the Drowning to become the Dúnedain of the later ages.