Title: Halls of Manwe on the Mountains of the World above Faerie
Artist: J.R.R. Tolkien

1928

The mountain of Taniquetil, situated in Valinor (the Land of the Gods), was the highest in the world. Manwë, the lord of Gods and Elves and Men, lived on the summit, and his vision extended across the Great Sea as far as Middle-earth. The mountain was both a watchtower and a defence against the corrupting evil of Melkor (later Morgoth).

Watercolour illustration for The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. MS. Tolkien Drawings 89, fol.13.

Reproduced with kind permission of The Tolkien Estate Limited for the Bodleian Libraries exhibition Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth.

© The Tolkien Trust 1973.