Heir of Eärendil

A title of the descendants of the Mariner

Eärendil and Elwing had two sons: Elrond and Elros. Elros became the first King of Númenor, taking the name Tar-Minyatur, and he was followed by a line of twenty-four further Rulers. All of these Kings and Queens could claim descent from Eärendil the Mariner, and so 'Heir of Eärendil' became an occasional title for the members of Elros' line. Elrond and his own children (and thus Arwen's offspring, too) could also theoretically claim to be Heirs of Eärendil, but there is no record of members of Elrond's branch actually using the form.

For a genealogy and detailed list of the royal Heirs of Eärendil, see the entry for King of Númenor.

The precise number of Heirs of Eärendil across history depends on the definition used. As a formal title of the Rulers of Númenor, there were twenty-five Heirs of Eärendil from Elros Tar-Minyatur to Ar-Pharazôn. The line of the Heirs in Middle-earth descended through a lesser line from Silmariën daughter of King Tar-Elendil through the Lords of Andúnië, of whom there were eighteen, including Elendil, the last of the Lords. Elendil founded his own line in Middle-earth, and nine further Kings of this line ruled in Arnor. From the same line then came fifteen Kings of Arthedain and sixteen Chieftains of the Dúnedain down to Aragorn, who re-established the High Kingship. Counting rulers alone, this gives sixty-five generations in total, and the line of the Heirs then continued through Aragorn's son Eldarion into the Fourth Age.

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