Silver Swan

The emblem and banner of the Princes of Dol Amroth, which was more fully described as the Ship and the Silver Swan. On a blue field, a silver ship appeared with the head of a swan emerging from its prow, a design common among Elven-ships. The symbol was commonly described simply as the 'Silver Swan' (implying that the swan motif was dominant in its design).

The use of the Silver Swan by the Princes of Dol Amroth seems to be connected with Amroth, a historical Lord of Lórien who was lost when he cast himself from a swan-ship into the Bay of Belfalas. This took place near the headland that later took his name, Dol Amroth, and was the seat of the Princes.²

The Silver Swan appeared on the banners and the shields of the Swan-knights of Dol Amroth, who made their way to defend Minas Tirith during the War of the Ring. After the loss of Denethor, Prince Imrahil briefly took control of that city, and his blue banner emblazoned with the Ship and the Silver Swan flew above the Citadel of Gondor. Later, at the final battle before the Gates of Mordor, the Silver Swan was raised beside Rohan's White Horse upon Green as the Captains of the West faced the forces of the Black Land.

Long, long before the founding of Dol Amroth, during the later years of the First Age, Turgon made a set of arms that would later be recovered and borne by Tuor. Their shield was blue, and emblazoned with a white swan's wing. While not identical, that ancient design recalls the Silver Swan of Dol Amroth so vividly that it is tempting to wonder whether it helped to inspire the emblem of the Princes of Dol Amroth. Tuor was, after all, an ancestor of the Kings of Númenor, and therefore also the Kings of Gondor, and so some kind of influence is not beyond the bounds of possibility.