Firien Wood

Firien Wood
Type:	Forest
Region:	Far Anórien
Area:	Beacon Hills
Location:	[43.6S, 45.0W]

Location

Firien Wood is a landmark forest on the border between Gondor and Rohan. Straddling the Mering Stream it lies within the Beacon Hills and the Eastfold in Far Anórien and West Rohan respectively.

The Firien Wood, a shortening of Halifirien Wood, is an oak forest below the Halifirien, the last and highest of the Warning beacons of Gondor.

At the end of the War of the Last Alliance, it was known as Eryn Fuir. Following the Battle of the Field of Celebrant, and the ceeding of Calenardhon (Rohan) to Eorl, the wood became known as Firienholt (in Rohorric). It was also called the Whispering Wood (in Common Speech), and the Wood of Anwar.

In West Rohan, the forest is now called the Everholt.

The wood was about twenty or twenty-five miles from west to east, spanning the Mering Stream from Anórien into the Eastfold of Rohan.

From south to north, it stretched from Firien-Dale at the foot of the White Mountains in Anórien to the Fenmarch in the north at the Mouths of Entwash.

Lore

The road to the Tomb of Elendil and the Beacon atop Halifirien

At some point in ancient times, the Great West Road, that great Númenórean road running from east to west, was cut through the wood to facilitate travel - linking the Two Kingdoms, Gondor and Arnor - to avoid the wet lands of the Fenmarch, that lie on the northern edge of the forrest. No one was known to have shown interest in the wood, until the days of the Dúnedain living in the Realms in Exile. It is known that after the departure of Isildur no tree was ever felled here again, except only by the Beacon-wardens whose task it was to keep open the Great Road and the path towards the summit of the hill. This path turned from the Road near to its entrance into the Wood, and wound its way up to the end of the trees, beyond which there was an ancient stairway of stone leading to the Beacon-site, a wide circle levelled by those who had made the stair.

Much later the Kingdom of Gondor built the seven Beacons of Gondor for the calling of aid from the Rohirrim who were living in Calenardhon, now called Rohan.

Save for beast and bird, the only inhabitants of the forest were the Beacon-wardens at Halifirien.

Halifirien was known in Sindarin as Amon Anwar, "Hill of Awe;" for reason unknown in Gondor. For the few men who ever ventured to leave the Road and wander under the trees and to the Beacon-wardens, who built lodges in the trees not far from the summit of Halifirien, not because of the peril of the wild beasts, nor did any evil shadow out of dark day slime upon the Wood; but beneath the sounds of the winds, the cries of birds and beasts, or at times the noise 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 ... the Wood itself seemed reason enough: in the Common Speech it was called "the Whispering Wood.

The wood is the location of the Tomb of Elendil.

West Rohan

The ancient forest of Everholt is a landmark in the Eastfold of West Rohan. ^{[70.9S, 60.0W]}

The famed Great Boar of Everholt in the Frien Wood was rumoured to haunt this place during the time of King Folca of Rohan.

Beaconwatch is a settlement located within the area of Eastfold in West Rohan. ^{[69.6S, 57.4W]}

It sits adjacent to the Mering Stream, the border with Gondor; the beacon being watched is at Halifirien (or Amon Anwar).

1. [89] The Legend of Folca
   • [89] Instance: The Legend of Folca - Session Play
   • [90] Call of the Beacon
   • [90] The Little Things