Beacon-hills of Gondor

"See! The beacons of Gondor are alight, calling for aid. War is kindled. See, there is the fire on Amon Dîn, and flame on Eilenach; and there they go speeding west: Nardol, Erelas, Min-Rimmon, Calenhad, and the Halifirien on the borders of Rohan."

—Gandalf, in The Return of the King

A fire on a Beacon-hill as depicted in Peter Jackson's The Return of the King

The Beacon-hills of Gondor were a group of foot-hills which the Gondorians placed great fireplaces on to act as an alarm system to warn the Kingdom of Gondor in the event of an attack.

History

The Beacon-hills of Gondor were seven foot-hills in the range of the White Mountains on which were placed great beacons. These Beacon-hills were permanently manned by Gondorians. From east to west they were; Amon Dîn, Eilenach, Nardol, Erelas, Min-Rimmon, Calenhad, and Amon Anwar (or Halifirien). Amon Dîn, Eilenach, and Min-Rimmon were the oldest of the Beacon-hills of Gondor. The Beacon-wardens who manned the beacon on Halifirien dwelt in the Firien Wood.

In the late Second Age and early Third Age, the Beacon-hills of Gondor mainly served to warn southern Gondor of a danger to the northern province of Calenardhon, or vice versa, but after the Steward of Gondor Cirion granted Calenardhon to the Éothéod, they were used mainly to warn the people in Anórien of danger. Calls for aid between Gondor and Rohan were exchanged by a messenger carrying the Red Arrow instead.

During the War of the Ring, the beacon system on the Beacon-hills was utilized on March 9 3019, two days before the Siege of Gondor by Sauron's army began.

In adaptations

The beacon on Eilenach as seen in The Return of the King film

One of the major changes made to the story by Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is that when Gandalf and Pippin ride to Minas Tirith, the beacons were not lit, since the despairing Denethor has decided not to send for help. In the movie there is a beacon just above the city, and to summon the Rohirrim, Gandalf asks Pippin to evade the guards and light it. Once he has done so, the film depicts the other beacons being lit one by one until the last is sighted by Aragorn who is in Edoras, and it is this (and not the Red Arrow, which is not mentioned in the film) which finally helps him to persuade Théoden to muster the Rohirrim to Gondor's aid.

In the films, there can appear more beacons than the seven described in the book - however, the filmmakers actually displayed each beacon being lit from several angles, such that beacons shown up-close are seen again in the distance of the next shot. The film does differ from Tolkien's writings in placing the first beacon directly above Minas Tirith, instead of atop the separate hill of Amon Dîn. The beacons are seen situated at considerable altitudes that would make permanent manning impractical, and generating sufficient flame very difficult. The last beacon, Halifirien, is not within view of Edoras in the books.

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Baken-heuwels van Gondor
Albanian	Kodrat e fenerit të Gondorit
Arabic	تلال بيكون في غوندور
Armenian	Գոնդորի փարոս բլուրներ
Azerbaijani	Gondorun Mayak Təpələri
Basque	Gondorreko Baliza muinoak
Belarusian Cyrillic	Маяковыя пагоркі Гондара
Bengali	গন্ডোরের বীকন পাহাড়
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Бийкън хълмове на Гондор
Catalan	Turons de balises de Góndor
Chinese	刚铎的灯塔山
Croatian	Svjetionik brežuljci Gondora
Czech	Majákové kopce Gondoru
Danish	Gondors Ledestjerne-bakker
Dutch	Bakenheuvels van Gondor
Esperanto	Signostangomontetoj de Gondor
Estonian	Gondori majakamäed
Faroese	Gondors Ljósmerkifjøllunum
Finnish	Gondorin kokkovaarat
French	Collines balisedu du Gondor
Frisian	Beaken heuvels fan Gondor (Western)
Galician	Baliza-outeiros de Gondor
German	Leuchtfeuerberge von Gondor
Greek	Υφαλοδείκτης λόφοι του Γκόντορ
Hebrew	גבעות הביקון של גונדור
Hindi	गोंडोर की बीकन पहाड़ियाँ
Hungarian	Gondor Jeladó Dombjai
Icelandic	Vegvitar hæðirnar í Gondor
Indonesian	Bukit-bikit Rambu suar Gondor
Italian	Colline di Segnalazione di Gondor
Japanese	ゴンドールのビーコンヒルズ
Kannada	ಗೊಂಡೋರ್ನ ಬೀಕನ್ ಬೆಟ್ಟಗಳು
Kazakh	Гондордың Маяк төбелері (Cyrillic) Gondordıñ Mayak töbeleri (Latin)
Korean	곤도르의 등대 언덕
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Гондордун Маяк адырлары
Latvian	Gondoras Bākukalni
Lithuanian	Gondoro Švyturių kalvos
Luxembourgish	Beaken hiwwele vu Gondor
Macedonian Cyrillic	Ридовите на светилникот на Гондор
Malayalam	ഗോണ്ടോറിലെ ബീക്കൺ കുന്നുകൾ
Malaysian	Bukit-bukit suar Gondor
Maltese	Għoljiet xempju ta' Gondor
Maori	Nga Puke rama rama o Gondor
Marathi	गोंडोरच्या बीकन टेकड्या
Nepalese	गोन्डोरको बीकन पहाडहरू
Norwegian	Gondors Fyrtårn-bakker
Pashto	د ګونډور د بیکن غونډۍ
Persian	تپه های فانوس دریایی گوندور
Polish	Wzgórza latarniane Gondoru
Portuguese	Colinas Baliza de Gondor
Punjabi	ਗੋਂਡੋਰ ਦੀਆਂ ਬੀਕਨ ਪਹਾੜੀਆਂ
Romanian	Dealurile Far din Gondor
Russian	Сигнальные холмы Гондора
Sanskrit	गोण्डोरस्य बीकनपर्वताः
Sardinian	Colinas de su farru de Gondor
Serbian	Светионик брда Гондора (Cyrillic) Svetionik brda Gondora (Latin)
Sicilian	Collini di faro di Gondor
Sinhalese	ගොන්ඩෝර් වල බීකන් කඳු
Slovak	Majákové kopce Gondoru
Slovenian	Svetilnik griči Gondorja
Spanish	Almenaras colinas de Gondor
Swahili	Vilima ya Mwangaza ya Gondor
Swedish	Gondors Fyrbåk kullar
Tajik Cyrillic	Теппаҳои машъали Гондор
Tamil	கோண்டோர் பெக்கான் மலைகள்
Tatar	Гондорның Маяк калкулыклары
Telugu	గోండోర్ యొక్క బెకన్ కొండలు
Thai	เนินเขาบีคอนแห่งกอนดอร์
Turkish	Gondor'un Işaret Tepeleri
Turkmen	Gondoryň Maýak Depeleri
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Маякові Гори Гондору
Urdu	گونڈور کی بیکن ہلز
Uzbek	Гондорнинг Маёқли тепаликлари (Cyrillic) Gondorning Mayoqli tepaliklari (Latin)
Venetian	Colline de faro de Gondor
Vietnamese	Đồi Đèn hiệu của Gondor
Yiddish	ביקאַן היללס פון גאָנדאָר
Yoruba	Beakoni Òke ti Gondor