I'm not sure that Elendil usurped the role- he was after all the eldest surviving descendant of Elros. And if that was in the female line, well- that would apply to Tar-Miriel too. (Tolkien played his games with the succession law, I believe, as a way to make the Lords of Andunie the "real" true line).
I don't believe it was a usurpation of that high-priestly role when Cirion invoked the Name in his oath to Eorl. While such an oath was a matter of dreadful import and solemnity (nobody had forgotten Feanor and his sons!), it was an oath which in theory anyone could take, prince and pauper alike. (I have a notion some of the dockworkers down on the Harlond invoked the Name rather more than the official historians ever admitted in writing.)
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The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.
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