Amon Hen was the westernmost of the three peaks in the Emyn Muil at the southern end of Nen Hithoel above the Falls of Rauros; the others being Tol Brandir and Amon Lhaw. Atop the summit of Amon Hen was the Seat of Seeing, a ruined structure by the late Third Age.[1]
Description[]
On the eastern side of the foot of the hill lay the lawn of Parth Galen, and the western portion of the Anduin that flowed past Tol Brandir. Above Parth Galen the hill rose in gentle slopes to its flattened summit. Just to the south of the hill was the North Stair.[1] The western face of the hill was steeper than on the east.[2]
Upon Amon Hen were the remains of an ancient road that had dwindled to little more than a path. In places where the hill grew steep, stairs had been hewn, although over time they had become cracked, worn, and split by tree roots. The path wound through rowan trees to the summit, where there was a wide flat circle paved with large stones and encircled with a ruined battlement. In the center of the circle was an ancient chair, the Seat of Seeing.[1]
The Seat of Seeing was an ancient chair built upon the summit of Amon Hen within a great circular stone-paved court surrounded by a battlement where it long served as a watchtower. By the time Frodo Baggins visited the Seat of Seeing, it lay in ruins. The high seat rested upon four carven pillars and could be reached by a stair of many steps.[1]
Responding to a question from a reader, Tolkien wrote in a 1959 letter that he was unsure of the exact height of Amon Hen, but stated, "I doubt if it was much over 1,000 feet".[3]
History[]
"Flight from Amon Hen", by Jay Johnstone
Amon Hen was first fortified "in the days of the great kings" according to Aragorn II, though the precise dating is unspecified.[4] The hill was fortified before the time of the Stewards, which meant that by the year 3019, the fortifications were at a minimum 969 years old. One likely possibility is that the hill was fortified at the same time as the Argonath, which was built after Minalcar defeated the Easterlings in the year 1248 but before the end of his reign in the year 1366.[5]
On February 26 of the year 3019, the Fellowship of the Ring stopped and camped at Amon Hen after having travelled down the Anduin. It was here that, Frodo, after fleeing from Boromir, came to the summit of the hill and, while still wearing the One Ring, sat in the Seat of Seeing. At first he saw little but mist and shadows, but soon he perceived many visions, soundless but filled with bright living images. The visions he saw stretched far beyond the normal range of sight and he saw signs of war everywhere. It was at this point that Frodo made his choice to go to Mordor. The Fellowship soon broke apart, with Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee crossing the river on their way east to Mordor. This was also the place where Boromir died in battle.[1][4]
Etymology[]
Amon Hen is a Sindarin name meaning "Hill of Sight" or "Hill of the Eye", derived from amon ("hill, lump, clump, mass") and hen(d) ("eye").[6]
In his drafts, Tolkien gave the ruins upon Amon Hen the Quenya name Tirmindon ("Watchtower").[7]
Gallery[]
In adaptations[]
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring[]
In the Peter Jackson's 2001 film adaptation of Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, the scene at the Seat of Seeing is altered and condensed. Frodo, wearing the Ring, ran up a platform (no chair is seen) and the only vision he experienced was of Barad-dûr and the Eye of Sauron. Confronted by the Eye and voice of Sauron, Frodo yanked off the Ring and fell off the platform. Unlike the book, he then met Aragorn and told Aragorn he must leave. The force of Uruk-hai from Saruman then arrived and Frodo fled while Aragorn, later joined by Legolas and Gimli, fought the orcs on the hilltop.
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Амон Хен |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Амон Хен |
| Chinese (Hong Kong) | 阿摩漢 |
| Danish | Amon Hen ("Den Skuende Bakke") |
| Georgian | ამონ ჰენი |
| Hebrew | אמון הן |
| Persian | آمون-هن |
| Russian | Амон Хэн |
| Thai | อะมอนเฮน |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Lord of the Rings, vol. I: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Ch. X: "The Breaking of the Fellowship"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, vol. II: The Two Towers, Book Three, Ch. II: "The Riders of Rohan"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, pg. 350 (entry "the summit of Amon Hen"). From Waterfield's Catalogue 157, Modern Literature, 1995, item 427.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Lord of the Rings, vol. I: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Ch. IX: "The Great River"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A,
- ↑ Parma Eldalamberon 17, "Words, Phrases, and Passages in Various Tongues in ''The Lord of the Rings''", "Eldarin Roots and Stems", pgs. 15, 77, 93
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, vol. VII: The Treason of Isengard, XVII: "The Great River", pg. 364