Taniquetil

The Holy Mountain

Taniquetil rose from the Pelóri beside the Calacirya, the tallest mountain of the whole world, its crown white with snow that never melted and so bright that the Eldar named it Oiolossë, Everwhite, and in the Grey-elven tongue Amon Uilos. On its summit stood Ilmarin, the domed halls of Manwë and Varda, and from that height Manwë's sight reached over the sea and the lands of Middle-earth further than any other eyes, while Varda beside him heard the cries of Elves and Men from the far east of the world. The Eagles of Manwë, greatest of all birds, nested on its crags and carried news to him, and Thorondor their king went out from there to watch over Beleriand.

When the Vanyar left Tirion to dwell closer to the Valar, many of them settled on the mountain's slopes and in the valleys beneath, and Ingwë, their king and High King of all the Eldar, had his seat at the feet of Manwë. The mountain was the holiest place in Aman, and to swear by it, or to name it in longing from Middle-earth, was to call on the West itself; the song of Galadriel in Lórien remembered it as the place her hopes turned to.

The festival and the Darkening

Manwë ordained a feast at the time of the harvest of Valinor, and once, seeking to heal the quarrel among the sons of Finwë, he commanded that all the Eldar come to it on Taniquetil. Fëanor came alone from Formenos and made peace with Fingolfin before the throne, but the Silmarils he left locked away and Finwë stayed with them. At the hour of the mingling of the lights, while the Vanyar and Noldor were dancing on the green slopes, Melkor and Ungoliant fell on the Trees below, and the watchers on the mountain saw the darkness spread across the plain from the summit before anything could be done.

After the Darkening

The Valar returned to Taniquetil in grief, and there Manwë later received the messengers of Fëanor's rebellion and sent his herald to the Noldor with a last warning. When the Trees were dead and the Noldor gone, it was on Taniquetil that Manwë took counsel and from there that the Sun and Moon were seen first rising. In the First Age Thorondor flew from the mountain to the aid of the exiles, and at the Age's end Eärendil, coming through the pass, was brought before Manwë; the Valar's decision to make war on Morgoth was taken there and at the Ring of Doom. After the Downfall of Númenor the mountain passed with all of Aman out of the world, and the Elves of the Third Age still sang of the snows of Oiolossë as the one sight they longed for beyond the sea.

The watch of the Eagles

The mountain was also the seat from which Manwë kept watch on Middle-earth. When the Noldor came to Beleriand he sent the Eagles from Taniquetil to the peaks of the Crissaegrim, so that Thorondor and his kin could observe Morgoth and carry tidings back to the West, and much of what the Valar knew of the wars of the First Age came by that road. The Vanyar for their part never left the mountain's shadow but once, when Ingwë led them east to the War of Wrath; they were the only kindred of the Eldar wholly untouched by exile, and their nearness to Manwë was the measure of their loyalty.

Taniquetil stood on the southern side of the Calacirya, so that from Tirion in the pass it was the dominant sight, and from its summit both the Trees in Valinor and the Bay of Eldamar with Tol Eressëa were in view. Its eastern face fell toward the coast; its western slopes ran down into the plain of Valinor near Valmar. In the Third Age it was said to be the first thing a mariner on the Straight Road would see, a white peak above the sea.