Argonath

Where the Anduin narrowed between the cliffs of the Emyn Muil before opening into the lake of Nen Hithoel, two enormous figures stood on either bank, carved from the living rock. They were images of Isildur and Anárion, the founders of Gondor, each crowned and helmed, with an axe in the right hand and the left hand raised palm outward towards the north in a gesture of warning. The current ran fast and deep between them, and a boat passing beneath was dwarfed to insignificance.

The statues were weathered by centuries of rain and frost but still awesome, and it was under them that Aragorn, standing in the stern of his boat, seemed for a moment to the hobbits like a king returning to his own. For the Númenóreans they were a boundary marker: north of the Pillars the writ of Gondor did not run, and travellers from the north passing between them entered the realm.

The statues were made in the reign of Rómendacil II, who as Regent Minalcar had defeated the Easterlings in T.A. 1248 and fortified the western shore of Anduin as far as the Limlight. He set the Pillars at the entrance to Nen Hithoel and forbade any stranger to pass them without leave. In the following centuries Gondor's northern province of Calenardhon shrank and was given to Rohan, but the Argonath remained the mark of Gondor's ancient extent. On February 25, 3019 the Fellowship passed between them and came to the lake above Rauros, where the Company broke apart the following day.

The Argonath stood at the point where the Anduin left the northern Emyn Muil and entered Nen Hithoel, about a day's paddling above Rauros. Amon Hen and Amon Lhaw closed the southern end of the lake.