20 Questions on ME

[The Laurenendorian]

For what it's worth, I think the Sceptre of Annúminas is more likely to be correct, but are you sure that the Elendilmir was made by an elf, Telchar (the first one - the second one certainly was). The most definite that I can find is "the white star of Elvish crystal upon a fillet of mithril*" with the * indicating an author's note: "For that metal was found in Númenor". The implication here seems to me to be that while the crystal was in origin Elvish, the item as a whole was put together in Númenor, and so presumably by men.

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Edit: I thought of an argument against the Elendilmir being made by men - Silmarien had it, which would make it nearly 6000 years old by the time of the War of the Ring, which might contradict the footnote in Appendix A of LotR: "[The Sceptre] of Annúminas was the silver rod of the Lords of Andúnië, and is now perhaps the most ancient work of Men's hands preserved in Middle-earth. It was already more than five thousand years old when Elrond surrendered it to Aragorn."

Is this the basis of your claim, Telchar? I would imagine that whoever wrote the footnote would have been aware that the original Elendilmir was still in existence and of its history (given the use of "already", the implication is that this is written some time after Elessar's succession, and so after Orthanc had been searched), but as it was not so prominent (we are told that Aragorn 'did not again emperil it', and wore it only on high-days), perhaps they could have overlooked it, or perhaps they did not know its exact history, or perhaps it was in fact unknown which of the two objects was older (and the footnote does say "perhaps")? Then again, perhaps the Elendilmir was made by elves, which would be a neater resolution of the problem. [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]

Sorry for going so off-topic.

[ November 25, 2003: Message edited by: The Laurenendorian ]