The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Dates
Made during the Years of the Trees; survived into the Fourth Age1
Location
Origins
Made by Fëanor
Races
Made by an Elf, but used by Men
Division
Culture
Family
An heirloom of the House of Elendil
Pronunciation
Minas Tirith is pronounced 'mi'nas ti'rith' (all the 'i' sounds here are short, so Minas is pronounced like 'minnas')
Meaning
Other names

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About this entry:

  • Updated 21 December 2018
  • This entry is complete

One of the four original palantíri of Gondor, held in the tower of Minas Anor under the command of Elendil's son Anárion. When Anárion's descendants became Kings of Gondor, the use of the Anor-stone was theirs by right, and that right continued with the Stewards after them. As the Third Age wore on, the lore of the Seven Stones came to be forgotten, but it was remembered by Denethor II during his years as Steward.

Denethor was unaware that Sauron had a Stone of his own: the Ithil-stone captured by his Nazgûl more than a thousand years before. With that palantír Sauron was able to turn Denethor's mind to despair and madness, so that eventually the Steward took his own life, burning himself on a pyre with the Stone of Minas Tirith in his hands. Though the Stone survived that burning, it was said that afterward it would show nothing but the vision of Denethor's hands withering in flame, except to those with the most powerful of wills.


Notes

1

The Stone had existed from ancient times, and was made before the first rising of the Sun. It was held in Minas Anor after the building of that city (and so was commonly known as the Anor-stone) but it only gained the name of the 'Stone of Minas Tirith' after the city of Minas Anor was renamed as Minas Tirith in about the year III 2002.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 21 December 2018
  • This entry is complete

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