The Pillar

A shortened name given to the great central peak of the island of Númenor, known more fully as the Pillar of Heaven, or in Elvish as the Meneltarma. The Pillar rose into the sky out of the central plains of Númenor, with sides so steep that its peak could only be reached by a road that spiralled around the mountain. So tall was the Pillar that, though it stood far inland, it could still be seen by mariners out on the Great Sea.

The Pillar was a sacred site to the Númenóreans, and indeed the only such site on their island. The Rulers of Númenor were entombed in the wide valley of Noirinan at its feet, while its summit was a hallow to the Elder King Manwë Súlimo. During the earlier history of Númenor, Three Prayers would be offered to Eru Ilúvatar each year from the heights of the Pillar by the King and his people, where they were attended by three Eagles known as the Witnesses of Manwë.

In later years, as the King's Men took power in Númenor, the ancient traditions were largely abandoned. In those times, the Kings would rarely visit the hallow of the Pillar, except for King Tar-Palantir, who briefly attempted to return to the old ways of his people. Our last account of the Pillar comes from the final days of Númenor, as King Ar-Pharazôn turned against his predecessor's policies: he rebelled against the Valar and suffered dreadful consequences. Tar-Palantir's daughter Míriel tried to make the climb to the Pillar's peak, but she was washed away by the waves of the Downfall. Even after the drowning of Númenor in the closing years of the Second Age, it was said that the height of the Pillar could still be seen, rising above the waves as the lonely Isle of Meneltarma.