The Star of Earendil

But on him mighty doom was laid, till Moon should fade, and orbéd star to pass, and tarry never more on Hither Shores where mortals are; for ever still a herald on an errand that should never rest to bear his shining lamp afar, the Flammifer of Westernesse.

—Bilbo Baggins, reciting verses on Eärendil

Eärendil was a great Half-elven mariner who sailed to Valinor, pleaded with the Valar on behalf of Men and Elves, and bore a star across the sky at the end of The First Age. The star carried by Earendil was in fact one of the three Silmarils, rescued from Morgoth’s Iron Crown by Beren and Luthien and passed down to their descendant, Elwing. In Aman, the Valar decided to raise the Silmaril as a new star.

The Edain, the ancestors of all men on Middle-earth, were guided to Númenor by a star in the early Second Age. In reference to this event, one of the names that they gave their home was Ellena—”Starward”.

The star motif was thereafter closely associated with Númenor, and the heirs to Elendil’s kingdom employed stars in their heraldry.

During the Third Age, Eärendil’s star became especially important to the Elves. Galadriel captured some of its light in a phial and gave it to Frodo.

Although Frodo unconsciously cried out an appeal to the Star of Eärendil when he used the phial against Shelob, its light was effective in repelling the spider only briefly; continual use would have been more powerful.

But when Sam made his way to Mount Doom, the intensity of Sauron’s might at that place almost extinguished even the light of Eärendil.