The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Dates
Probably constructed in III 1900;1 survived into the Fourth Age
Location
Within the White Tower in the Citadel of Gondor on the highest tier of Minas Tirith
Race
Division
Culture
Family
Used by Kings of the House of Anárion, and later by Stewards of the House of Húrin
Settlements
Meaning
Known as the 'Hall of the Kings' because this was originally the throne room of the Kings of Gondor
Other names

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About this entry:

  • Updated 23 May 2023
  • Updates planned: 1

Hall of the Kings

The throne room of Minas Tirith

A chamber in the Citadel of Minas Tirith, from which the Kings of Gondor ruled their kingdom, and after them the Ruling Stewards. The long hall had a high ceiling, decorated with gold and many colours, upheld by rows of great black marble columns. Between those columns stood stone statues of the ancient Kings of Gondor, going back to Elendil and Isildur.

At the end of the hall was a tall dais, on which the throne of Gondor stood, beneath an image of the Crown of Gondor carved from marble, and behind it on the wall was an image of a tree in flower. This throne was used only by the Kings: after Eärnur was lost, the Ruling Stewards installed a black stone chair at the base of the royal dais, to symbolise the idea that they ruled only in the name of the King. When the Kingship was restored under Aragorn Elessar, the great throne of the Hall of the Kings was used again for the first time in nearly a thousand years.


Notes

1

The Hall of the Kings lay within the White Tower, and that tower was first raised in III 1900 by King Calimehtar, so this is the earliest date that the Hall could have existed. Nearly eight centuries later, in III 2698, the White Tower was rebuilt by Steward Ecthelion I. It is at least possible, then, that the Hall of the Kings was made at this later date, but there are reasons to think that it in fact it survived through this rebuilding in its original form.

Notably, the Hall of the Kings contained a royal throne, which was not used by the Stewards, implying that it dated back to the days of when Gondor was ruled by a King. At the time that Ecthelion rebuilt the White Tower, the line of Kings had ended long ago, and so it seems implausible that the Steward would have reconstructed such an elaborate throne. Nonetheless, there was a hope among the people of Gondor that a King would one day return, so it is not perhaps absolutely impossible that Ecthelion might have made such a royal throne despite the fact that, so far as he could know, it would never be used.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 23 May 2023
  • Updates planned: 1

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