It said that upon taking the Kingship of the Dúnedain Isildur journeyed to the borders of all his land. Finding Amon Anwar, the Hill of Awe, he had a small path built to the summit. There was found a green treeless place Isildur had leveled with a raised a mound on the far east end. In the mound Isildur placed a casket that had been taken along the journey and declared: "'This is a tomb and memorial of Elendil the Faithful. Here it shall stand at the mid-point of the Kingdom of the South in the keeping of the Valar, while the Kingdom endures; and this place shall be a hallow that none shall profane. Let no man disturb its silence and peace, unless he be an heir of Elendil'" (p. 308, Unfinished Tales).
After finishing the stone stair Isildur made those with him swear secrecy. None but the King, and those the King deemed, shall climb the summit of the stairs. Yet Isildur left instructions that the King should visit the hallow from time to time, once when the King's heir was grown to manhood and at anytime the King needed wisdom during times of distress. When the King took his heir to Amon Anwar it was then that all the secrets of the kingdom were revealed.
Nearly all the King's followed this instruction until the time of Romendacil I, when Gondor was first attacked by outside forces. At that time Romendacil had the Tradition of Isildur written on a scroll and sealed to be given to the new King should the current King die suddenly in battle. After the line of Kings ended the Tradition of Isildur was known only to the Stewards and here is what they decided:
"They judged that by the words 'an heir of Elendil' Isildur had meant one of the royal line descended from Elendil who had inherited the throne: but that he did not foresee the rule of the Stewards. If then Mardil had exercised the authority of the King in his absence, the heirs of Mardil who had inherited the Stewardship had the same right and duty until a King returned; each Steward therefore had the right to visit the hallow when he would and to admit to it those who came with him, as he thought fit. As for the words 'while the Kingdom endures', they said that Gondor remained a 'kingdom', ruled by a vice-regent, and that the words must therefore be held to mean 'as long as the state of Gondor endures'" (p. 309, Unfinished Tales).
But the Stewards went seldom to Amon Anwar, save taking their heir. "Sometimes it remained several years unvisited, and has Isildur had prayed it was in the keeping of the Valar; for though the woods might grow tangled and be avoided by men because of the silence, so that the upward path was lost, still when the way was re-opened the hallow was found unweathered and unprofaned, ever-green and at peace under the sky, until the Kingdom of Gondor was changed" (p. 309, Unfinished Tales). The Kingdom of Gondor was changed in the days of Cirion on Eorl. For in reward for the help given by the Rohirrim Cirion ceded a large portion of the kingdom of Gondor to Eorl. This, Cirion felt, wholly changed the Tradition of Isildur.
So after the great Oath Taking that forever sealed the allegiance of the two Kingdoms, Gondor and Rohan, Cirion had the tomb of Elendil removed. "For he judged that the 'Tradition of Isildur' was now made void. The hallow was no longer 'at the mid-point of the Kingdom in the South', but on the borders of another realm; and moreover the words, 'while the Kingdom endures' referred to the Kingdom as it was when Isildur spoke, after surveying its bounds and defining them" (p. 310, Unfinished Tales). Elendil's casket was taken to Minis Tirith but the green mound remained as a memorial. The hill was long held in reverence by both the people of Gondor and the people of Rohan who named it Halifirien in their tongue, meaning the Holy Mount.
In later days when the beacons of Gondor were set up this hill was included. "The Halifirien was the highest of the beacons, and like Eilenach, the next in height, appeared to stand up alone out of a great wood; for behind it there was a deep cleft, the dark Firien-dale, in the long northward spur of Ered Nimrais, of which it was the highest point" (p. 300, Unfinished Tales). There shifts of Beacon-wardens would stay keeping the path up the hill open. They were the only living men in the area and they were happy when their duty as warden was done. "Not because of the peril of the wild beasts, nor did any evil shadow out of the dark days lie upon the Wood; but beneath the sounds of the winds, the cries of birds and beasts, or at times the noises of horsemen riding in haste upon the Road, there lay a silence, and a man would find himself speaking to his comrades in a whisper, as if he expected to hear the echo of a great voice that called from far away and long ago" (p. 300, Unfinished Tales).
Middle-earth timeline: Third Age, 1-2510
Today's reading comes from: Unfinished Tales, pages 308-310 and 300-301
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