The Heirlooms of Arnor

[Gordis]

This thread is inspired by the question in the Appendix trivia.

As you know, there were four heirlooms of the Kings of Arnor that were kept at Rivendell:
ring of Barahir, the shards of Narsil, the star of Elendil, and the sceptre of Annúminas.

Now we know the story, how the Ring of Barahir was saved from the shipwreck of Forochel.

‘But the Snowmen were uneasy; for they said that they smelled danger in the wind. And the chief of the Lossoth said to Arvedui: "Do not mount on this sea-monster! If they have them, let the seamen bring us food and other things that we need, and you may stay here till the Witch-king goes home. For in summer his power wanes; but now his breath is deadly, and his cold arm is long."
‘But Arvedui did not take his counsel. He thanked him, and at parting gave him his ring, saying: "This is a thing of worth beyond your reckoning. For its ancientry alone. It has no power, save the esteem in which those hold it who love my house. It will not help you, but if ever you are in need, my kin will ransom it with great store of all that you desire.�
'Yet the counsel of the Lossoth was good, by chance or by foresight; for the ship had not reached the open sea when a great storm of wind arose, and came with blinding snow out of the North; and it drove the ship back upon the ice and piled ice up against it. Even the mariners of CÃ*rdan were helpless, and in the night the ice crushed the hull, and the ship foundered. So perished Arvedui Last-king, and with him the palantÃ*ri were buried in the sea.' LOTR, Appendix A

So, the Ring of Barahir was with Arvedui during his flight from Fornost, and was saved only by pure chance. But what about the other Heirlooms? How come they were not with Arvedui? Were they held safe in Rivendell before the Witch-King attacked Arthedain? But why then wasn't the Ring of Barahir kept there as well?
And there is this quote from UT

Every king and the chieftains that followed them in Arnor had borne the Elendilmir down even to Elessar himself; but though it was a jewel of great beauty, made by Elven-smiths in Imladris for Valandil Isildur's son, it had not the ancientry nor potency of the one that had been lost when Isildur fled into the dark and came back no more.

So why wasn't this Elendilmir no 2. with Arvedui?

[Snowdog]

I'm not sure if anything further is written on this, but I always considered the fact that King Arvedui and his sons were fighting the forces of the Witch-King and hoping that a somewhat orderly retreat was made by the people of Fornost. I don't think a King going into battle would carry all his heirlooms. He took the ring which in itself showed that he was King and could be managed easily in battle gear. The Septre of Annúminas and Valandil's Elendilmir may have gone with the evacuation of Queen Firiel? Also, the shards of Narsil may have already been in keeping in Imladris, but if not, they too would have been packed out during the evacuation. Since King Arvedui and his guard battled in rearguard, allowing his sons and the rest of the people of Arnor to gain the Elven lands to the west. The heirlooms would have been kept safe there, and after the defeat of the Witch King, Aranarth and his brothers in choosing the way of the rangers, committed the heirlooms to the safekeeping in Imladris. That is my theory anyway.

[Gordis]

Originally Posted by Snowdog

I'm not sure if anything further is written on this, but I always considered the fact that King Arvedui and his sons were fighting the forces of the Witch-King and hoping that a somewhat orderly retreat was made by the people of Fornost. I don't think a King going into battle would carry all his heirlooms. He took the ring which in itself showed that he was King and could be managed easily in battle gear. The Septre of Annúminas and Valandil's Elendilmir may have gone with the evacuation of Queen Firiel? Also, the shards of Narsil may have already been in keeping in Imladris, but if not, they too would have been packed out during the evacuation. Since King Arvedui and his guard battled in rearguard, allowing his sons and the rest of the people of Arnor to gain the Elven lands to the west. The heirlooms would have been kept safe there, and after the defeat of the Witch King, Aranarth and his brothers in choosing the way of the rangers, committed the heirlooms to the safekeeping in Imladris. That is my theory anyway.

Yes it is a sound theory, but it doesn't explain why Arvedui had to evacuate the two Palantiri himself. If there was some sorting of objects, wasn't it possible to sent at least the heavy Amon-Sul stone directly to Lindon? And why hadn't Arvediu taken the light Elendilmir with him? It was a token of royalty, fit only for the King himself. Isildur carried the previous one with him, wore it always, actually.

[Snowdog]

Well, maybe Arvedui saw a need to use the Palantiri? Or surely there would have been some chaos in the retreat from Fornost, so possibly they were overlooked in the initial rush to get out of the city and Arvedui and his guardsmen collected them before finally abandoning the city. As for the Elendilmir of Valandil, Surely Arvedui knew the history of his forefather Isildur, and wished not to repeat it with the loss of the Elendilmir in battle.

Its hard to put reason in behind why one heirloom was worn by the king and another not in a part of the Middle Earth story that surely was not fully written out by Tolkien. We know that the ring of Barahir and the Palantiri went with the King, and the others were saved by other means. We can only propose theories as to how it may have taken place.

Anybody else have any thoughts on this? Valandil, surely you have something to say about this.

[Gordis]

Originally Posted by Snowdog

Its hard to put reason in behind why one heirloom was worn by the king and another not in a part of the Middle Earth story that surely was not fully written out by Tolkien. We know that the ring of Barahir and the Palantiri went with the King, and the others were saved by other means. We can only propose theories as to how it may have taken place.

Anybody else have any thoughts on this? Valandil, surely you have something to say about this.

I know that there are no more Tolkien's writings on the subject, so everything is pure conjecture. That makes it so interesting.

I am really looking forward to Val's explanations, I know he has a lot of thoughts on the Fornost battle .

[Snowdog]

Yeah, Valandil's conjecture on the whole subject should be interesting especially outside his fanfic stories.

I was glad to see a good new Tolkien book topic appear and I thank you for that!
So Gordis, what are your thoughts on "the Fornost battle"?
It was really wider in scope than just Fornost. I will add that if Fornost was attacked totally and completely without warning then more likely than not the place would have been surrounded beseiged, and ended in destruction of all that remained. The fact that the heirlooms got out with no matter who, and the fact the King was able to do rearguard battle to allow his sons and many other folk to escape west says that it was otherwise. This is why I see that despite the armies of Angmar coming down on Fornost in force, there had to be a watch that was initially overrun, but got some warning to the city before their arrival at the gates.