Rangers of the North Smial - Designing the Ranger's Badge

“nor did their riders bear any badge or token, save only that each cloak was pinned upon the left shoulder by a brooch of silver shaped like a  rayed star.” 

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Book Five  Chapter 2: The Passing of the Grey Company 

Author’s note: This blog was originally written as a poster booklet. You can see the original pages here: Cover | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

Whilst designing a symbol to be used on the marketing for the Rangers of the North Smial (Facebook group page) I had two goals:

⛭ A symbol/logo that works for the Rangers/Dúnedain and the smial name

⛭ The idea that the image is an archaeological sketch of a lost item once drawn by someone from the fictional Notion Club.

Descriptions of Ranger symbols, from the marks they made on the landscape  as messages to each other or items they wore on their bodies, were pretty  sparse in Tolkien’s works, but one does stand out: the star-shaped cloak brooch.

Dúnedain have two special star symbols associated with their culture:

⛭  The Star of the Dúnedain

Gifted by King Elessar to Sam. Possibly the same as the brooches worn as cloak-clasps by the Dúnedain. 

⛭ The Star of Elendi (Elendilmir)

Worn by Aragorn as King. There were two jems with this name, one lost with Isildur and the other crafted by smiths in Rivendell. This was also known as the Star of the North (or North Kingdom).

In the index of The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien), the Elendilmir is thus described:

“Elendilmir (Star of Elendil, Star of the North Kingdom, Star of the North)  [of diamond, had five rays, represented the Star of Eärendil] 146, 848, 861, 966, 967,1043”

“emblems of [Seven Stars of Elendil and his captains, had five rays, originally  represented the single stars on the banners of each of seven ships (of 9) that  bore a palantír; in Gondor the seven stars were set about a white-flowered  tree, over which the Kings set a winged crown] 276, 597, 753, 847, 861, 953,  968, 1053;”  

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: Index, entry for Elendil   

Tolkien describes Elendilmir (the Star of Elendil) as having five rays. The captains  leaving Númenor, before its destruction, had emblems with five rays too.  The island of Númenor itself is described as a five-pointed star, each peninsula region having a name:

⛭  Forostar      ⛭  Andustar      ⛭  Hyarnustar      ⛭  Hyarrostar      ⛭  Orrostar

The central region was Mittalmar with the holy mountain of Meneltarma at its centre.

The Dúnedain continued the tradition of five-rayed stars in the use of a brooch to pin  their cloaks. The brooch was “silver shaped like a rayed star” and possibly the same as the Star of the Dúnedain gifted to Sam by Aragorn. It’s quite fitting that the descendants of the survivors of Númenor, the men of the Dúnedain, would have as their only known symbol a five-rayed star reminding them of the lost island.

Image source: Tolkien Gateway.

The design for the emblem of the Rangers of the North Smial was pretty much  decided with this knowledge. I went with the idea that it would be done in the style of an archaeological sketch of an item discovered at a dig site. I also liked the idea that this sketch was created by a member of Tolkien’s fictional “Notion Club” and that the item the sketch was based on is now lost. 

I embellished the object with smaller rays between five core points. The idea behind the runes was that some unknown person, at a later date, had (clumsily) added  them to the original artefact.

The Rangers’ badge was created to use as an easily-identifiable logo to help the Rangers of the North Smial to advertise themselves to the Tolkien fan community and wider fandom. It’s the first step in growing our local branch within the North West region of England  and perhaps further afield.

This version of the badge was designed by Rangers of the North member Tim Bolton, we may yet get other versions in the future if other members want to lend their creative and artistic skills.

The idea is to use the badge for marketing purposes across a range media - print and digital. This could include: 

⛭ A poster (below) and web campaign across universities, libraries, cafes and other in-person/online social spaces.

⛭ Fashion and accessory line: T-shirts, pin badges (Wee Badgers, based in Glasgow).

(Click image for full size)