This highly speculative map follows various textual descriptions that place the Halls of
Mandos to the north of
Valinor, on the shores of the
Outer Sea.
This highly speculative map follows various textual descriptions that place the Halls of
Mandos to the north of
Valinor, on the shores of the
Outer Sea.
The dwellings of the Doomsman of the Valar, who was properly called Námo, though he was more often given the name Mandos from his own halls. The name comes from two Elvish words meaning 'prison' and 'fortress', and the Halls stood on the western shores of Valinor, looking out across the Encircling Sea. They were said to grow in size as the world aged, and their walls were hung with the tapestries of Námo's spouse Vairë, depicting all the events of unfolding history.
It was to the Halls of Mandos that the spirits of Elves and Men1 were gathered to await their different fates, and so Mandos was given its common name of the Halls of Waiting. After a time, the near-immortal Elves could be re-embodied, and return from the Halls to their kin in Aman. Men had a different fate, a fate which, even among the Lords of Valinor, only Mandos and Manwë truly understood.
Notes
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It may be that the spirits of the Dwarves were also gathered in the Halls of Mandos. At least, their own belief was that their maker Aulë brought them there to their own halls, apart from those of Elves and Men. This tradition was said to come from Aulë himself.
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See also...
Aman, Angainor, Balrogs, Black Foe of the World, Black King, Dagor Dagorath, Dark Enemy, Dark Lord, Doomsman of the Valar, Dwarves of the Blue Mountains, Ekkaia, Elu Thingol, Elves, Everlasting Darkness, Fëanor, [See the full list...]Ghosts, Gift of Men, Great Enemy, Halls of Awaiting, Hells of Iron, High Ones of Arda, Houses of the Dead, Lúthien Tinúviel, Mahal, Máhanaxar, Masters of Spirits, Noontide of Valinor, Nurufantur, Peace of Arda, ‘Release from Bondage’, Seven Rivers of Ossir, Spirit of Fire, Spirits, Strangers, The Dead, The Deathless, The Weaver, Timeless Halls, Timeless Halls, Unchaining of Melkor, Unrest of the Noldor, Vairë, Valier, Valmar, War of the Powers, World’s End, Years of the Trees
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About this entry:
- Updated 3 March 2013
- This entry is complete
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