The White Tree, by Ted Nasmith
The White Tree of Gondor was a symbol of Gondor in the Court of the Fountain in Minas Tirith. The White Tree also appeared as the motif of Gondor's flag.
Description
This iconic tree was in appearance a tall spacious tree of graceful form, white thin unwrinkled bark over white wood. In spring it bore numerous white flowers, but few of these ever fructified; what shape the fruit was is never described, nor is it considered to be edible. The leaves were laurel-like, dark green above and bright silver beneath. The wood when burned gives off a dense, choking, volumnious smoke that forms a fog capable of burying an entire country in darkness for several days.
It was fashioned in the image of Telperion, elder of the Two Trees of Valinor, originally. This image was given to the Elves of Kortirion in Valinor and named Galathilion. From it a sapling was taken to Tol Eressea, named Celeborn. This in turn sired the tree Nimloth of Númenor, felled by Sauron and burned on the altars.
History
First White Tree
The first White Tree of Gondor came from a fruit that Isildur, at great personal risk, managed to steal from Nimloth the Fair, the White Tree of Númenor, before that one was destroyed at Sauron's insistence. He suffered many wounds at this mission, and he came near death, but when the first leaf opened in the spring, Isildur was healed of his wounds.
This sapling was brought to Middle-earth on Isildur's ship, and it was eventually planted in Minas Ithil before the house of Isildur. But when Sauron returned to Middle-earth, he launched a sudden attack that captured Minas Ithil, and he destroyed the White Tree. Isildur escaped taking with him again a sapling.
Second White Tree
In the Year 2 of the Third Age, Isildur plants the seedling of the White Tree in Minas Anor.
This White Tree lasts until TA 1636, when the Great Plague hits Gondor, killing among many others King Telemnar and his children.
Third White Tree
A third sapling is planted in TA 1640 by King Tarondor. This one lasts until the year 2852 and the death of the Ruling Steward Belecthor II.
At this time no seedling of the tree could be found. As a result it was left standing after its death.
Fourth White Tree
When Aragorn becomes king he discovers (with Gandalf's help) a sapling of the White Tree upon the slopes of Mindolluin, high above the city, which he reverently plants in its place. The dead tree is removed from the court but is placed in the Tombs of the Kings with all the honour that would normally be accorded a fallen monarch. In June of TA 3019 the sapling blooms.
Line of the White Tree
|
|
|
|
|
| Telperion (destroyed) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| Galathilion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| Celeborn of Tol Eressëa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| Nimloth of Númenor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| First White Tree of Minas Ithil (planted by Isildur, c.SA 3320 - SA 3429) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| Second White Tree of Minas Anor (planted by Isildur, TA 2 - TA 1636) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| Third White Tree of Minas Tirith (planted by Tarondor, TA 1640 - TA 2872) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| Fourth White Tree of Minas Tirith (planted by Aragorn II Elessar, TA 3019) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Portrayal in adaptations
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The finding of the sapling is not seen in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). In the film, the previously dead tree is shown to be flowering again during the Siege of Gondor and the imminent arrival of Aragorn on the Black Ships.