Andúnië

The haven of the West

Andúnië lay on the western coast of Númenor in the Andustar, on the great bay that bore its name and faced the sunset, from which it took its name. In the early centuries it was the largest of the island's harbours, a city of quays and gardens on a sheltered shore, and it was there and at Eldalondë further south that the white ships of the Eldar came from Tol Eressëa, bringing seedlings, birds and gifts, and carrying home the songs and the friendship of the Númenóreans. The people of Andúnië were the most Elf-friendly in the realm; Sindarin was their daily speech, and the traditions of the Edain and their alliance with the Eldar were kept there more faithfully than anywhere else on the island.

The Lords of Andúnië

The lords of the city descended from Silmariën, eldest child of the fourth king Tar-Elendil, who under the law of that time could not inherit the sceptre. Her son Valandil became the first Lord of Andúnië, and his house was the noblest in Númenor after the royal line itself and always its closest kin. From Silmariën's day the lords held the Ring of Barahir and other heirlooms of the Elder Days, and it was to them that the Eldar gave the seven palantíri, the Seeing-stones, which were kept at Andúnië until the Faithful removed to Rómenna. The Lords were loyal to the kings through every reign, but when the Shadow fell on Númenor they became the leaders of the Faithful, walking a narrow path between service to the crown and fidelity to the Valar.

The years of the Shadow

As the kings turned against the Elves, Andúnië's ties to the West made it suspect. The ships of Eressëa ceased to come, and the Elf-friends of the western coast were watched. Ar-Gimilzôr, who hated the Eldar and the Valar, forbade the Elvish tongues, punished those who welcomed the Elves, and ordered the Faithful out of the west to Rómenna. The Lords of Andúnië left their haven with them, though they kept their title, and the city passed under the rule of the King's Men. His son Tar-Palantir restored what he could, and the old hopes revived briefly, but the division of the people had gone too deep.

Amandil and Elendil

Amandil, the last Lord, was the boyhood friend of Ar-Pharazôn and one of his counsellors until Sauron came and he was dismissed from the court. He withdrew to Rómenna, and there he and his son Elendil gathered the Faithful. When the Temple was built and men were burned, Amandil resolved to sail into the West as Eärendil had, to plead for pity on Men, and told Elendil to make ready the ships. He was never seen again, and no one knows whether he came to Aman. But his counsel saved the Faithful: Elendil's ships escaped the Downfall, and with them went the palantíri of Andúnië, a seedling of the White Tree, and the lineage of Silmariën, from which came the kings of Arnor and Gondor and, at the end of the Third Age, Aragorn. The haven itself, emptied of its lords, went down with the island.

Andúnië stood at the head of the Bay of Andúnië on the north-western coast of the Andustar, north of the Bay of Eldanna and the haven of Eldalondë. Rocky uplands and fir-woods rose behind it to the north; the fertile lands of the south-western Andustar lay beyond the bay to the south, and the road east crossed the Mittalmar to Armenelos.