One of the three children of Tar-Amandil, the third King of Númenor. Thus, Eärendur was a great-grandson of Elros Tar-Minyatur himself, but he was not heir to the throne: his elder brother inherited the Kingship, and ruled as Tar-Elendil (these two brothers also had a younger sister, named Mairen).
Eärendur is perhaps most relevant to history for something that might have happened, but ultimately did not. Long after his death, Tar-Elendil's grandson Tar-Aldarion failed to produce a male heir, and all the other lines of descent from Tar-Elendil were through daughters. Thus, according to the laws of inheritance of that time, the male descendants of Eärendur's line should have taken over the Kingship, with the honour probably falling on his grandson Malantur. Tar-Aldarion prevented this by changing the law, allowing his daughter to take the Sceptre as Númenor's first Ruling Queen, Tar-Ancalimë.
Notes
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We have only a date of birth for Eärendur, so his lifespan is unknown. However, we do know that his elder brother Tar-Elendil lived for 401 years (and indeed it was normal for the early generations of the Line of Elros to live for several centuries). So, we can probably assume that Eärendur himself lived for approximately four hundred years, or until about the year II 760.
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- Updated 19 November 2020
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