[cellurdur]

Originally Posted by Ivriniel

Hey there Celludur

Yeah, could be--or perhaps Gandalf was (present) when the seed was planted? I'm imagining he had his eye on that ole tree? And maybe chatted to the then realmsmen to plant the seed for a rainy day. I wonder if he knew about when/why Galathilion bore a fruit. He was, after all, around when Telperion made a seed, and no doubt, this would have been one of those 'dinner table conversations' for Valinor. Some appreciation of the when, where and why the tree propagates may have been known to him, as the Maia he is.

Possible, but we hear that Gandalf did not go to Gondor much in that time. The Sea Kings were too proud and too strong to listen to his council.

Didn't Alatáriel give the Elessar directly to Aragorn?

Yes, but Arwen was constantly travelling between Imladris and Lothlorien. It's not that surprising for her to have left it for Aragorn there or even sent it with Elronds sons (when they travelled there before the Fellowship left). Even at Rivendell Aragorn seemed aware he was going to be given the Elessar, since he request that Bilbo put a line about the stone in his song.

What about the magic of Adunaic language users (the Blades of the Westernesse--barrow wights), Orthanc Stone etc, seemed to be free of 'taint' (but I get that generally, 'sorcery' was considered a black art and of Morgoth)....

The Numenoreans are a special case, because they live on a Blessed Island apart from the world Morogth had tainted. They also are masters of science and much of what we call 'magic' is just an example of how sophisticated they were. They also were blessed by the Valar with gifts that man seemed to have enjoyed before they fell such as telepathic communication and a freedom from illness. That apart the nobles in Numenor were descendants of Melian and therefore could perform magic. The truly magical artifacts we see could be that divine power still shining through.

and

Pukel Men magic (there are some citations I have that refer to untainted protective 'stone magic' of Pukel Men).

The Pukel Men is a strange one. We really don't know and there are some dark suggestions that they were originally captured by Morgoth and experimented on. Really it's impossible for us to know and we can only speculate.

This is pretty interesting. I wonder what it did about lifespan matters. I also wonder how old Aragorn's kids lived. I imagine their lifespan was restored to that of, nigh, Elros (five hundred and something)

No I don't think any of Aragorn's descendants would have a lifespan even approaching his 210 years. Aragorn firmly states he is the Last Numenorean King. The long life Numenor had was not just due to the purity of their blood, but the way they adapted the Elvish lifestyle.

However, the biggest and main factor was that Numenor was free from the taint of Morgoth.The Numnoreans were living in a virtually Morgoth free environment unlike those of Gondor. This is something they could never get back.

That being said I think you are right in some part and for a little one while the people of Gondor may have enjoyed a small renaissance in longevity. We know that Faramir is the longest lived Steward since Mardil, but this is still only 120 and a far cry from the days of Elros. I would imagine that other noble families may have started reaching 100 on a regular basis, but nothing close to the Gondorians of old let alone those of Elros' day. Eomer for instance only reached 90.