32 days to the release of
Return of the King!
28 week anniversary of the Countdown Calendar!
Bonus Fact:
As has been told before (July 24th), the White Tree of Gondor was decended from the White Tree of Numenor called Nimloth the Fair, which was descended from trees in Valinor that had been made by the Valar in the image of one of the Two Trees of Valinor*, which had been destroyed by Morgoth. On Numenor, Nimloth was treated as sacred for thousands of years, but as the Kings of Numenor began to gradually turn from their regard for the Valar, and began to desire immortality and ever-increasing power, the care of Nimloth was neglected, to the great concern of the Faithful in Numenor. Tar-Palantir, the last loyal king, whose mother was one of the Faithful, tried to reverse this trend, and he prophesied that "when the Tree perished, then also would the line of Kings come to it's end." Tar-Palantir's daughter, Miriel, should have been a ruling Queen, but she was usurped and forcibly married by her first cousin, Ar-Pharazon, who was the most greedy and power hungry king yet. He went to Middle Earth and captured Sauron, and brought him back to Numenor. There, over time, he was seduced by Sauron to completely repudiate the Valar and worship Morgoth instead, and Sauron began to try to convince Ar Pharazon to destroy Nimloth. The Faithful, including Elendil and his sons, were very distressed by this, but seemed little they could do, as they were by now banned from the courts of the king. However, Isildur, telling no one, adopted a disguise and managed to evade the kings guards long enough to reach the tree and pluck a fruit from it. He was then discovered, and was greviously wounded, though his disguise was not penetrated. He made it back to Elendil before his strength failed him, and Elendil planted the fruit in secret, and in the spring when the first shoot opened Isildur, who had lain near death all winter, "arose and was troubled no more by his wounds". This seedling of Nimloth was brought by Elendil and his sons when they escaped the distruction of Numenor, and it was planted in Minas Tirith, where it became an emblem of the Kings of Gondor (hence all the white trees on the livery of Gondor).
(Source: the Akallabeth, from the Silmarillion)
*By the way, in the Two Towers film, in the scenes where Arwen speaks to Elrond in Rivendell (scenes which do not exist in the books, the purist in me is compelled to note), there is a hanging on the wall which shows a stylized image of the Two Trees of Valinor.
3:11:51 PM 
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