On the Great West Road, where a rider from Minas Tirith would pass from Anórien into Calenardhon, stood an outlying height of the White Mountains known as Amon Anwar, the Hill of Awe. Around the feet of this hill grew a wide wood through which the Road ran for several miles, and the awe of the hill also fell on this forest. It was said that a Man entering the wood would feel an urge to whisper rather than speak aloud, and hence it gained the common name of the Whispering Wood.

At the time of the foundation of Rohan, when Steward Cirion gifted the province of Calenardhon to the Rohrrim, the reason for this sense of awe was revealed: Amon Anwar held the Tomb of Elendil within a secret hallow said to be protected by the Valar. At that time Elendil's mortal remains were taken to the Hallows of Minas Tirith, but the Rohirrim maintained the tradition, naming Amon Anwar in their own tongue as the Halifirien, the holy mountain. The Whispering Wood also gained a new name at that time, and came to be known as the Firienholt, or the Firien Wood.