The Rings of Power: These hidden meanings have the names of Elendil’s children

The literary basis of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”, like all of Tolkien’s works, is highly complex and full of hidden clues, meanings and allusions. This also applies to the character names of the children of Elendil, which we are already familiar with after the first 4 episodes of the Amazon series.

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Anarion

Elendil’s youngest son is Anárion. We haven’t seen him in The Rings of Power, but there seems to be an unresolved conflict between the two.

So far it is only known that he resides in Elendil’s homeland of Andúnië in western Númenor. Like his father and brother, Anárion is one of the “Faithful Ones” according to the books. The Númenoreans, still loyal to the Valar and Elves.

The name Anárion is Quenya, one of the Elvish languages. It means “Son of the Sun” or “Son of the Sun”. The sun has a significant role in Tolkien’s world. Created by the Valar from the tree Laurelin, the sun was meant to bring hope to the peoples of Middle-earth. The girl chosen by the Valar among the Maiar to steer the Ship of the Sun in the firmament was named Arien. A significant resemblance to Anárion.

Called “The Fiery Golden One” in Quenya Anar, the sun has been a symbol of terror to Morgoth and his minions ever since. In honor of his brother, Isildur named the great Gondorian city at the foot of the Mindolluin Mountains Minas Anor, “Tower of the Sun”.

Isildur

Elendil’s eldest son and future heir is Isildur. In “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” we meet him as a dreamy but bold aspirant to the Sea Watch. But his destiny has even more in store for him in the East, in Middle-earth.

It will be he who will cut the One Ring from Sauron’s finger and rule over Gondor and Arnor after the death of his brother and father.

Almost poetically opposed to Anárion, Isildur’s name is associated with the moon. In Quenya, Isildur means “servant of the moon,” for moon is called Ithil in Elvish.

The moon was created by the Valar before the sun as the first source of light after the destruction of the Two Trees of Valinor. He was the last blossom of the Telperion tree and was carried across the sky by the silver Maia Tilion.

A seedling of the same tree is later to become the White Tree of Gondor. Isildur saved this to Middle-earth after the fall of Númenor and planted it in Minas Anor (later Minas Tirith). As a result, he literally became a “servant of the moon”.

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Eärien, or in the alternative German spelling Earien, is the daughter of Elendil. She is also an original character from the Amazon series and does not appear as such in the Tolkien books. Her future role in “The Rings of Power” makes it all the more exciting.

Translated from Elvish, Earien means “daughter of the sea”. So far, no connection has been seen between her and seafaring and the sea. Instead, she is accepted into the Builders’ Guild and dreams of erecting monumental structures on Númenor. Is she perhaps the one who will save her family when Númenor is threatened by a huge wave?

The connection and the great similarity of their name to that of the Maia arias are also extremely interesting. The latter was supreme among the spirits created by the Valar and was responsible for the orbit of the sun.

Accordingly, as the “sun maiden” she is associated with fire, but also with plants. Unlike the Balrogs, Morgoth could never enslave Arien and hated and feared her in equal measure.

The names of the main characters of Númenor give us the first clues about their nature, their destiny and other things that affect Middle-earth. It remains to be seen how exactly this will be fulfilled.