: : Martin may be right, as a passage from ROTK suggests, in
: : describing the standard Aragorn unfurls on the Corsair
: : flagship:

: : "There flowered a White Tree, and that was for Gondor; but
: : Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs
: : of Elendil that no Lord had borne for years beyond count..."

: : It seems -- logically -- that the Seven Stars and the crown
: : were the common symbols of the House of Elendil, whether in its
: : Northern or Southern branches. Martin's suggestion that the
: : crown and stars were arrayed around his cypher is as likely as
: : any in the absence of better evidence, which I hope someone can
: : provide.

: In Letter 211 Tolkien says that Gondor had a crown and Arnor had a diadem (for the kings, as the ancient Egyptian kingdoms had similar ornaments). So I believe the emblems in Aragorn's banner stand for the following:

: 1) The Seven Stars = The House of Elendil

: 2) The White Tree = Gondor

: 3) The Crown = the King (in this case, the High King, rather
: than the King)

: Aragorn was basically claiming the throne as Elendil's Heir, not as either Isildur's (a claim which had been rejected) or Anarion's (which claim, apparently, he could not assert because Gondor recognized only candidates descended of a male line).

: : It also puts the political significance of Aragorn's act in a
: : better light. That he had the right to claim the kingship of
: : the defunct Kingdom of Arnor, and display its symbols, no one,
: : not even Denethor, could have challenged; but by displaying the
: : Tree, Stars and crown, he was specifically displaying only his
: : claim to Gondor's throne. It was indeed a bold act, and one
: : which could have generated great difficulties if Denethor had
: : not committed suicide. Not that there was much to lose -- the
: : Dunedain of the North had not the power or the base to
: : reconstitute the Kingdom of Arnor save as an adjunct to a
: : revived Gondor.

: Aragorn would have confronted Denethor with a Gondorian army and a great victory to back up his claim to the throne. It would have weakened the West's resolve for there to be conflict between Aragorn and the Steward, however, so Denethor's suicide averted what could have been total disaster. What would have happened if Sauron did not feel the need to empty Mordor of his soldiers, but rather concentrated on finding the "spies" who were slinking around his realm?

: : Of course, it appears that Aragorn intended Gondor's standard
: : to be the symbol of the entire Reunited Realm after assuming
: : the throne -- or at least there is no evidence to the contrary.

: I believe this would have been perfectly acceptable. It would have been Aragorn's standard, previously unused in history.

There seems to be a paradox here how can the "High crown" be described as being a symbol of Elendil when Arnor had a diadem? Surely, as the kings of Arnor were the senior branch of the heirs of Elendil they would have retained any artifacts connected with Elendil's high kingship.
However, as the Gondorian crown was originally a relatively plain winged Numenorian battle helmet with later jewelled additions, perhaps the symbol of Elendil's high kingship was originally a helmet. The confusion between helmet and crown being such that by Aragorn's time the distinction was blurred.

Also reference to Aragorn's standard does not suggest a national symbol for Arnor - the white tree was stated by Tolkien to be specifically Gondor's symbol.

Both the diadem (a narrow brow-band) and the sceptre of Annuminas, due to their lack of a shape recognisable at a distance, would be unsuitable for display on a standard.
Thus there seems to be no direct evidence for a national symbol for Arnor. One possible symbol is the L-ND-L cypher I discussed earlier; and here it's worth saying that Tolkien would have been familiar to the ancient Greek practice of using letters as shield devices - Athens had a capital alpha.

Another suggestion could be drawn from the star-shaped brooches that are described in the possession of the Dunedain of Halbarad's troop when they meet Aragorn in Rohan.
Thus a single star (of however many points) might be the national symbol of Arnor/Arthedain.

A possible, and I would emphasise possible, reconstruction of the Arnorian royal standard would be a winged helmet surmounting a large star surrounded by the seven stars of the House of Elendil.