Tower of Amon Sûl

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The Tower of Amon Sûl in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Tower of Amon Sûl is a fictional building in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy book, The Lord of the Rings.

The Tower of Amon Sûl is a watch-tower on Weathertop hill. Weathertop - which was also called Amon Sûl - was the southernmost of the Weather Hills. It was located near the Great East Road in Eriador. The Tower of Amon Sûl was once tall and fair, but by the end of the Third Age only ruins remained.The Tower of Amon Sûl was built in the first days of the North-kingdom of Arnor, which was founded in 3320 of the Second Age. At that time, the seven palantíri were divided and placed in different parts of Gondor and Arnor. The largest and most powerful palantír in the North was kept in the Tower of Amon Sûl. The Stone of Amon Sûl was the chief palantír used for communicating with Gondor. The palantír was kept on a round table of black marble with a curved depression in the surface where the seeing-stone was set.

It was said that Elendil watched from the Tower of Amon Sûl for the arrival of Gil-galad before the Last Alliance set out to wage war against Sauron.

When Arnor was divided into three kingdoms in 861 of the Third Age, the Tower of Amon Sûl was claimed by Arthedain and a special warden was posted there to guard and maintain the palantír. But Cardolan and Rhudaur also wanted possession of the Tower and its seeing-stone and there was strife among the three kingdoms.

In 1356, King Argeleb I of Arthedain was slain defending the Weather Hills against an assault from Rhudaur, which was then ruled by an evil lord of the Hillmen who had secretly joined forces with the Witch-king of Angmar. Arveleg, son of Argeleb, drove back the invaders and defended the Weather Hills for many years. But in 1409, Weathertop was surrounded by a great host from Angmar. Arveleg was killed and the Tower of Amon Sûl was burned and razed. The Stone of Amon Sûl was rescued by the forces of Arthedain, but it was later lost at sea.

Over time the ring of stones that had once been the foundation of the Tower of Amon Sûl crumbled and became overgrown with grass. When Gandalf came to Weathertop on October 3, 3018, he was besieged by the Nine Ringwraiths in the ruins. There was a great battle on the hilltop, and when he escaped Gandalf left a cairn of broken and burned stones in the centre of the ruins. Gandalf marked the topmost stone with the G rune and three strokes to indicate that he had been there on October 3. Aragorn interpreted the message when he came with the Hobbits to Weathertop on October 6. Later that night in a dell on the western side of Weathertop, five Ringwraiths attacked and Frodo Baggins was gravely wounded by the Witch-king before the Ringwraiths withdrew and Aragorn led the Hobbits away.