Amon Gwared was a rocky hill that sat in the middle of the fair Vale of Tumladen where Turgon built the Elven city of Gondolin during the First Age.[1]
On a drawing by Tolkien referenced in The Atlas of Middle-earth, Amon Gwared was depicted as being four hundred feet high.[2]
History[]
Amon Gwared was a tall[2] hill of rocks as hard as iron,[3] sitting in the middle of the fair Vale of Tumladen, which was itself located inside the Echoriad. After leveling the top of the hill and polishing the sides "to the smoothness of dark glass",[4] the great and beautiful city of Gondolin was built upon it, with the hill acting as its foundation. The white waters of the leaping[5] fountains in the city made music[5] and shimmered upon falling glistening down the slopes of Amon Gwared.[4] Built into the hill was a long stair with many winding stairways made of marble and stone.[3] This staircase was "bordered by slender balustrades" which were kept cool by the waters flowing down the hill.[3][6]
On the northern side of the hill near the northern gate was "a precipice of black rock" that was called the Caragdûr; it was where Eöl was cast off the walls of the city.[7]
During a "bitter winter", the fountains of Amon Gwared were unaffected by the snow and ice that came upon the Vale of Tumladen.[3]
During a council called by the king, Maeglin questioned whether Amon Gwared had "become as lowly as the deep vale" when convincing the king to defend the city.[3]
Anticipating the attack by the forces of Melkor, Idril had a secret way carved out beneath the city in the hard stone of Amon Gwared that proceeded northward.[3]
During the Fall of Gondolin in YS 510, the Dragons among the forces of Melkor led by Gothmog were unable to ascend Amon Gwared due to its steepness and glassiness in addition to the waters that flowed down the hill.[3] Later, when Maeglin was cast over the walls by Tuor, his body struck the sides of Amon Gwared three times before landing in the flames at the bottom.[8] Soon afterwards, Amon Gwared was trampled by many Dragons when they labored "mightily at beating a path up" the hill before breaching the city walls.[3]
As the surviving Gondolindrim made their way through the secret way that Idril had carved, the music made by the fountains upon Amon Gwared ceased and was never heard again,[5] as when the survivors emerged from the tunnel, Amon Gwared was "crowned with flames".[3]
Etymology[]
Amon Gwared is a Sindarin name meaning "Hill of Watching", being comprised of the words amon ("hill, mountain with steep sides; lump, clump, mass") and gwared, the gerund of the element gwar ("watch, guard, ward; vigilance").[9]
In other versions[]
In The Book of Lost Tales, Amon Gwared was originally named Amon Gwareth in Gnomish[3] meaning "Hill of Watch",[10] with its elements, amon and gwareth meaning "hill, mount, steep slope" and "watch, guard, ward; vigilance" respectively.[3]
The name in The Book of Lost Tales also has a lenited form written as Amon 'Wareth, which translates to "Hill of Ward".[11] A variation of this form, Amon 'wareth, has the alternative translation of "hill of Vigilance".[12]
In a fragment of a poem, the hill was referred to as "the mount of Gwareth".[5]
In the early 1930s, Tolkien experimented with having Amon Gwareth translate to "hill of watching"[13] or "Hill of Defence"[4] in Ñoldorin, though he also considered retaining the "Hill of Watch" translation.[14]
In an early draft of The Lost Road, the reference to Amon-ereb was originally to Amon Gwareth, then named Amon Thoros.[15]
The name Amon Gwareth appeared in The Silmarillion, but Christopher Tolkien noted in The War of the Jewels that the inclusion was a mistake and that Amon Gwared was Tolkien's latest form of the name.[1]
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Arabic | آمون غوارث |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Амон Гварэт |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Амон Гварет |
| Danish | Amon Gwareth ("Vagtbakken") |
| Georgian | ამონ გვარათ |
| Greek | Άμον Γβαρεθ |
| Hebrew | אמון גווארת |
| Russian | Амон Гварет |
| Serbian | Амон Гварет (Cyrillic) Amon Gvaret (Latin) |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Амон-Ґварет |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The History of Middle-earth, The War of the Jewels, "Part Two. The Later Quenta Silmarillion: Of Turgon and the Building of Gondolin", pg. 200
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Atlas of Middle-earth, The First Age: The Elder Days, "Gondolin", pg. 22-3
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, III. "The Fall of Gondolin", pgs. 158-64, 163, 166, 168, 171, 175-6, 178, 180, 189, 196
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth: The Quenta, The Ambarkanta, and The Annals, III. "The Quenta", pg. 139
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, II: "Poems Early Abandoned", (ii): "Fragment of an alliterative Lay of Eärendel", pg. 142
- ↑ The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter 15: "Of the Ñoldor in Beleriand", pg. 126
- ↑ The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter 16: "Of Maeglin"
- ↑ The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter 23: "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"
- ↑ The Silmarillion, "Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin names"
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales – Part I", pg. 268 (entry Tinfang)
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales – Part II", pgs. 207, 212 (entries Amon Gwareth and Gwarestrin)
- ↑ Parma Eldalamberon 15, "Sí Qente Feanor and Other Elvish Writings", pgs. 20, 27
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth: The Quenta, The Ambarkanta, and The Annals, II. "The Earliest 'Silmarillion'", pg. 34
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth: The Quenta, The Ambarkanta, and The Annals, III. "The Quenta", pg. 137
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth: The Quenta, The Ambarkanta, and The Annals, III. "The Quenta", pgs. 38, 56