Amon Hen

At the southern end of Nen Hithoel, where the lake narrowed towards the falls of Rauros, two hills stood facing each other across the water with the island of Tol Brandir between them. The western hill was Amon Hen, the Hill of Sight, and the eastern was Amon Lhaw, the Hill of Hearing. On the summit of Amon Hen, reached by a stair and a paved path, the Númenóreans of Gondor had built a high seat on a platform ringed by a broken wall, from which the kings had watched their northern marches. Sitting there, a person could see far across Middle-earth, the vision reaching to the mountains and the distant lands as though the world were spread out beneath him.

At the foot of the hill, on the lake-shore, lay a green lawn called Parth Galen, sheltered by trees, where boats could be drawn up. The slopes were wooded and the paths overgrown, and Orcs were able to come through the trees unseen.

The hill's seat was made in the days of Gondor's strength, when the realm reached to the Emyn Muil. By the end of the Third Age it was unwatched. On February 25, 3019 the Fellowship landed at Parth Galen, and on the following day Frodo went apart to decide his course. Boromir followed him and tried to take the Ring; Frodo put it on to escape, climbed to the Seat of Seeing, and saw war on every side and the Eye searching for him, until a voice in his mind bade him take it off. He resolved to go to Mordor alone, and Sam caught him at the boats. Meanwhile Uruk-hai of Saruman and Orcs of Mordor attacked the others. Boromir, repentant, died defending Merry and Pippin, pierced by many arrows, and the hobbits were carried off. Aragorn sat for a moment in the Seat himself before hearing Boromir's horn. After committing Boromir's body to the river the three hunters set out west after the captives, and the Fellowship was ended.

Amon Hen stood on the western shore of Nen Hithoel immediately above the falls of Rauros, opposite Amon Lhaw, with Tol Brandir in the lake between them. The North Stair portage led down past the falls on the western side.