The Saga of Elendil, and its brethren card The Tale of Gil-Galad, is a unique, vitality-increasing condition. The first to cards to increase vitality in the trading card game, The Tale of Gil-Galad and The Saga of Elendil also offer a skirmish special action text to discard the condition for a strength +2 bonus. Endurance of Dwarves, the variant, is non-unique, but only provides a strength +1 boost.

The Saga of Elendil is often played on Aragorn, Ranger of the North, where the added vitality can result in an extra defender bonus (or, bearing Aragorn's Bow, an extra directed wound during the archery phase). That said, counting on The Tale of Gil-Galad, The Saga of Elendil, or Endurance of Dwarves for exertion based special abilities is a risky strategy. Discarding the condition on an exhausted companion means instant death, making cards like Hate and Orc Patrol potentially devastating.

• Best in concordance with characters with exertion special abilities, such as Legolas, Greenleaf or Aragorn, Ranger of the North
• Additional vitality helpful against grind or archery Shadow strategies

• Condition discarding, particularly in concert with directed wounding/exhausting
• Directed wounding