Amon Obel

The hill of the Haladin

Amon Obel rose in the heart of Brethil, the highest ground in the forest, from which the woodmen could look out over the trees toward the Teiglin and Sirion. The House of Haleth, who wanted no walled cities and preferred to live scattered among the trees, nevertheless made a fenced place on its summit, Ephel Brandir, named after the chieftains' line, where their lord had his hall and where the people could gather in time of danger. The paths of the forest converged on it, and from it the road ran down west to the Crossings of Teiglin.

In the years of Brandir's rule the settlement was the home of Túrin, who had come to Brethil after the fall of Nargothrond and taken the name Turambar. It was to Ephel Brandir that the wanderer found on the Haudh-en-Elleth was carried, the woman without memory whom the woodmen called Níniel and who was, unknown to all, Túrin's sister Nienor. Brandir healed her there and loved her, but she married Túrin, and the feast of their wedding was held on Amon Obel. From the hill the woodmen watched the fires of Glaurung's approach, and it was from Ephel Brandir that Túrin set out for Cabed-en-Aras to kill the dragon. After the deaths of Nienor, Brandir and Túrin, the settlement had few years left before the whole of Beleriand was drowned. In Unfinished Tales the site is described in more detail, together with the moot-ring where the people of Brethil gathered to judge.