View source for Halls of Mandos

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{{location infobox
| name=Halls of Mandos
| image=Ralph Damiani - The Halls of Mandos.jpg
| caption="The Halls of Mandos" by Ralph Damiani
| pronun=
| othernames=''The Halls of Awaiting''
| location=Northern shores of [[Aman]]
| type=
| description=
| regions=
| towns=
| inhabitants=[[Námo]]<br />[[Vairë]]<br />The souls of the dead [[Elves]], [[Dwarves]] and [[Men]]
| created=
| destroyed=
| events=[[Lúthien]]'s pleading for [[Beren]] before [[Mandos]]
| gallery=the Halls of Mandos
}}
The '''Halls of Mandos''' were the dwellings of [[Námo]], the Doomsman of the [[Valar]]; he was more often given the name Mandos from his own halls. 

==Description==
The Halls of Mandos stood on the northern shores of [[Valinor]],<ref>{{LT1|IIIn}}; cf. [[#Other versions of the legendarium]]</ref> looking out across the [[Ekkaia|Encircling Sea]]. They were said to be great cavernous delvings, growing in size as the World aged, and their walls were lined with the tapestries of Námo's spouse [[Vairë]], depicting all the events of unfolding history. 

It was to the Halls of Mandos that the [[fëar]] of [[Elves]] were gathered to await their respective afterlives, and so Mandos was given its name of the '''Halls of Awaiting'''.<ref>{{S|7}}</ref> After brief respite in the Halls, the immortal Elves would be re-embodied, and return from the Halls to their kin in [[Aman]]. 

For fëar of Men, it is known to the Eldar that they (many or all, they do not know) go also to Halls of Waiting, but what their fate is after Námo releases them, the Eldar have no sure knowledge. Men, knowing little, say many different things, some of which are fantasies of their own devising and are darkened by the [[Shadow]]. The wisest of Men, and those least under the Shadow, believe that they are surrendered to Eru and pass out of Eä; for this reason many of the Elves in later days under the burden of their years envied the Death of Men, and called it the [[Gift of Ilúvatar]].<ref>{{NM|Death}}</ref>

Little is known of the [[Dwarves]], though on his deathbed [[Thorin|Thorin's]] last words were "Farewell, good thief. I go now to the ''halls of waiting'' to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed."<ref>{{H|18}}</ref>

No one, not even [[Morgoth]], could escape the Halls without Mandos' permission.<ref>{{S|3}}</ref>

==Etymology==
:''See [[Mandos#Etymology|Mandos: Etymology]]''

==Other versions of the legendarium==
[[File:Jonathan Guzi - Halls of Mandos.png|thumb|''Halls of Mandos'' by Jonathan Guzi]]
In the earliest form of the legendarium (''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]''), [[Christopher Tolkien]] notes that there is a distinction between the wider region of [[Aman]], and the Halls which doesn't appear in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'';<ref name=lt3n>{{LT1|IIIn}}</ref> both share the name with the Vala, who is called Ve, Vefantur Mandos ([[Qenya]]) Bannoth Gwi, Gwi-fanthor ([[Gnomish]]).<ref name=app>{{LT1|Appendix}}</ref>

'''Mandos''' (Gnomish: '''Bannoth''') is the name of a region of vast caverns in northern Aman, full of gloom and echoes, that went down under the [[Shadowy Seas]]. [[Aulë]] built them for Vefántur and [[Nienna]] far from the beautiful houses of the other Valar.<ref name=lt3>{{LT1|III}}</ref> Mandos is also occupied by [[spirits]] older than the world, that were with [[Ilúvatar]].<ref name=app/><ref>{{LT1|IV}}</ref>

The region of Mandos contain the Halls proper, that are called after the Vala's own name, '''Ve''' (Gnomish: '''Gwi''' or '''Ingwi'''). The sable Hall has floors and columns of jet and is draped with dark vapours. It is lit only with a single vessel containing some gleaming drops from the pale dew of [[Telperion|Silpion]], placed in the centre. The [[Elves]] who die fare for days in Mandos until Vefantur spoke their doom, and they wait in the darkness, dreaming of their past deeds, until reincarnated.<ref name=lt3/> In [[Gnomish]], the Halls are also "improperly" (according to the [[Gnomish Lexicon]]) named ''Bannoth'', after the Vala and the region. The [[Qenya Lexicon]] also refers to ''Mandos'' as "the Halls of Ve and Fui" without commenting whether it's proper usage.<ref name=app/>

After the [[Hiding of Valinor]], Mandos and Fui made [[Qalvanda]], the Road of Death, which however leads directly and only to their Halls.<ref>{{LT1|IX}}</ref>

In the later ''[[Etymologies]]'', ''Mando'' or ''Mandos(se)'' is the proper name of the Vala, being a personal noun meaning "Imprisoner".<ref>{{LR|Etymologies}}</ref>

Tolkien originally intended the Halls to be in northern Aman, on the edge of the [[Ekkaia|Outer Sea]]. [[Christopher Tolkien]], erroneously seeing a discrepancy, changed this to western Aman, on the edge of the Outer Sea for the published ''Silmarillion''.<ref>{{S|Valaquenta}}</ref> In ''[[The Book of Lost Tales Part One]]'' he referred to this change as a "piece of unwarranted editorial meddling."<ref name="lt3n"/>
{{References|Note}}
{{Valardwellings}}
[[Category:Buildings]]
[[Category:Regions]]
[[Category:Valinor]]
[[de:Hallen von Mandos]]
[[fi:Mandosin Salit]]
[[fr:encyclo:geographie:villes tours et forteresses:aman:cavernes de mandos]]