The Houses of the Dead[1] was the name given to the tombs of the Kings, Stewards and selected heroes of Gondor in the city of Minas Tirith.[2][3]
Description
The Houses of the Dead were located in the Hallows,[3][4] the Sacred Places of the tombs,[5] on the western side of Minas Tirith along the Rath Dínen (the "Silent Street" in Sindarin)[2] at the height of the fifth wall of the city on a mountain shoulder that connected Mount Mindolluin with the Hill of Guard[6] on which Minas Tirith was built[7]. The mountain shoulder was hedged with great ramparts that extended back to the mountain wall of Mount Mindolluin that overhung its westend end.[6] Among these tombs were the House of the Kings[8] (the tombs of the Kings of Gondor) and the House of the Stewards[9] (the tombs of the Stewards of Gondor)[2].
They were accessed through the Fen Hollen (the "Closed Door" in Sindarin) on the western side of the sixth wall of the city and then descending on a winding road that went down in many curves to the narrow land under the shadow of Mount Mindolluin's precipice at the height of the fifth wall. Fen Hollen was kept closed except during funerals. Only the Lord of the City and the employees who tended the Houses of the Dead were allowed to enter through it.[2]
The Houses of the Dead were pale domes with empty halls and images of the deceased men. The House of the Stewards contained a wide vaulted chamber and many rows of tables that were carved from marble. On each table lay the seemingly sleeping statue of a dead person with its hands folded and its head pillowed on the stone.[2]
History
During the time of the Ruling Stewards[10] from T.A. 2050[11] to T.A. 3019[12], the crown of Elendil lay in the lap of King Eärnil II in the Houses of the Dead [1]. It was placed there by Eärnil's son, Eärnur, the last king of the line of Anárion[13], when he accepted the challenge of the Witch-king of Angmar to single combat, after which he rode to Minas Morgul and was never seen again.[1]
After he had succeeded in obtaining the help of an army of the Éothéod of King Eorl in a daring ride north to their land in the Vales of Anduin and died defending his lord Steward Cirion of Gondor, in the Battle of the Field of Celebrant[14] in T.A. 2510[15] the Gondorian messenger Borondir was buried in the Houses of the Dead[16]. After Eorl had sworn the Oath of Eorl at the tomb of Elendil on Amon Anwar, Cirion had the casket of Elendil moved to the Houses of the Dead in Minas Tirith.[17]
On 15 March T.A. 3019, as the Battle of the Pelennor Fields took place,[18] Pippin followed the steward Denethor into the Houses of the Dead[2]. Despairing at the siege, the death of his son Boromir, and the wounding of his son Faramir, Denethor laid on a table beside the still alive (though unconscious) Faramir and asked Pippin to gather oil and dry wood and set them aflame. Pippin fled the house in terror to seek the aid of Gandalf.[2] On his way to find the Wizard, he came upon the Gondorian soldier Beregond, who he asked to stop anything dreadful from happening.[19]
Pippin later returned with Gandalf to find that Beregond had slain two servants of Denethor in order to stop them from lighting the funeral pyre. Gandalf, Pippin, and Beregond were able to save Faramir, but Denethor set flame to the pyre and was consumed in the ensuing fire.[20]
After the defeat of Sauron, Faramir, who had been appointed as the last Ruling Steward, retrieved the crown of Gondor from its resting place in the Houses of the Dead for the coronation of Aragorn as King Elessar Telcontar[21] on 1 May T.A. 3019[12].
After his death in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, King Théoden of Rohan was placed in a tomb in the Houses of the Dead among the Kings of Gondor,[4] but on 22 July T.A. 3019[22] his body was taken back to Rohan to be buried in a mound among the Kings of Rohan[23].
Merry and Pippin were buried in the Houses of the Dead after Fo.A. 63.[24] Their beds were placed beside the bed of King Elessar when he died on 1 March Fo.A. 120.[25]
Portrayal in adaptations
2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- In Peter Jackson's second film in his The Lord of the Rings film series, the tomb of Aragorn in the Houses of the Dead is depicted in a vision of Arwen's when her father Elrond is warning her of Aragorn's mortal nature and the grief that will arise from it.
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- In Jackson's third film, Denethor perishes after setting flame to the funeral pyre he had created for Faramir in the Houses of the Dead.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion", entry for King Eärnur, p. 1052
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Siege of Gondor", p. 826
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Pyre of Denethor", p. 852
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Steward and the King", p. 969
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, entry Hallows, The, p. 771
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Minas Tirith", p. 752
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, entry Hill of Guard, p. 772
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen", p. 1062
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Pyre of Denethor", p. 851
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "The Realms in Exile", "The Southern Line: Heirs of Anarion", Ruling Stewards, p. 1039
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for the year 2050, p. 1087
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Great Years", entry for the year 3019, May 1, p. 1095
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "The Realms in Exile", "The Southern Line: Heirs of Anarion", Kings of Gondor, Eärnur, p. 1039
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan", "(ii) The Ride of Eorl"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for the year 2510, p. 1087
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan", "Notes", note 27
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan", "(iv) The Tradition of Isildur"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Great Years", entry for the year 3019, March 15, p. 1093
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Siege of Gondor", p. 827
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Pyre of Denethor", pp. 851-5
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Steward and the King", p. 967
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Chief Days from the Fall of Barad-dûr to the End of the Third Age", entry for the year 3019, July 22, p. 1095
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Many Partings", pp. 975-6
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "Later Events Concerning the Members of the Fellowship of the Ring", entry for the year 1484, p. 1098
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "Later Events Concerning the Members of the Fellowship of the Ring", entry for the year 1541, p. 1098