Ilmarin

The house on the summit

Ilmarin stood on the very top of Taniquetil, above the everlasting snow, the dwelling of Manwë and Varda. Its halls were domed and open to the upper airs, for Manwë was lord of the winds and the sky, and from his seat there his eyes went out over the whole of Arda, across Valinor and the Pelóri and the sea to Middle-earth. Varda sat at his side, and when they were together each saw and heard further than alone. The Eagles that served Manwë came to Ilmarin with news, and his herald Eönwë and Varda's handmaid Ilmarë attended them there.

The Vanyar who dwelt on the mountain's slopes came up to the halls at need, and their king Ingwë had his place at Manwë's feet. The great feast of the harvest was held before Ilmarin, and it was there that Fëanor made his short-lived peace with Fingolfin at the moment the Trees died on the plain below. Later the Valar sat in Ilmarin while the Noldor marched north, and from its doors Manwë sent his final message to them. At the end of the First Age Eärendil was brought up to the halls to speak for the two kindreds, the only mortal-born mariner ever to stand there.

Ilmarin crowned Taniquetil, the highest peak of the Pelóri, on the southern side of the Calacirya. Both the plain of Valinor with Valmar and Ezellohar and the Bay of Eldamar with Tol Eressëa lay in sight below it.