Quote:
Originally Posted by Belegorn
As we can see his house was undoubtedly pretty pure, but purity does not remain exclusive to the house of the Kings. Pure Númenóreans can be outside the house of the Kings. However, it seems not only were they a pure house of Dúnedain, they were at some point in time attached to the line of Anárion. Faramir does contradict the other text it would seem in claiming to not be of Elendil's line, but perhaps this is meant only in the sense of not in any line of succession, rather than in descent.
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Unless no King of Gondor ever had more than a single son, or any daughters- which seems very unlikely, low birthrate or not- I think we can assume they (and, therefore, Elendil) had descendants outside the direct line. That's how it works in the real world, anyway.
I believe Tolkien understood this- c.f. the passage about how "no male descendants of clear title (or nearly pure blood) of Elendil could be found". Note the qualifications: he's not saying they couldn't find any at all, just none with a good enough claim.