Henneth Annûn: A Window on Eru?
- Miriam Ellis
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Window on the West is one of the last glimpses of beauty vouchsafed to Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee on their darkening Road. Curiously, they arrive at the precise moment to see the setting sun transform the curtain of water into a glorious spectacle of splintered light. Mere chance, or "more than chance", we might wonder.
I think it's the latter. Through my work as an artist, I've realized that a hidden cave with falling water offering moments of enchantment and rest is actually a repeated theme in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Two Towers. Where have we seen this before? Faramir brings the hobbits out of the midst of a battle in Ithilien to Henneth Annûn on March 7th. Just a week before, on February 29th, a second pair of weary hobbits escaped a different battle on the plains of Rohan and were brought to another water-guarded recess filled with sparkling light.
The near-mirror images are of sanctuaries filled with refreshment. Indeed, one might almost call these grottos "shrines", each one housing a kind of holy being. Behind the curtain of Wellinghall stands Treebeard, guardian of the forest. Behind the curtain of Henneth Annûn stands Faramir, guardian of his followers from the evil that would surely have befallen them had he seized the Ring. Both are venerable figures.
Frodo is destined to become filled with light, we know, and I have suggested this theme by merging him with the spectrum of the rainbow in this painting. What is it that the four hobbits get out of these moments of being miraculously brought to safety and bathed in the living light?
If we recall that the sun, the seas, and the plants of Middle-earth were brought into being by sub-created divinity, we might hesitate to dismiss them as mere light, liquid, or flora. They become astonishing blessings. Both pairs of hobbits are in extreme need of consolation when they step into these places of water and light, and I would like to think that the hand of Eru is at work here.
Time and again, in his mercy, he appears to put just the right folk into the hobbits' paths, just when they need it, from Gildor Inglorion wandering above Woodhall to a host of eagles winging over Mount Doom.
Shortly after Frodo and Sam's sojourn at Henneth Annûn, they encounter the fallen stone head of the king, twined with a crown of flowers. There is the graven pebble on Weathertop and the elf-stone on the Last Bridge. I've come to suppose that Professor Tolkien took interest in signs, and this heartens me, because I believe in them. Here and there, my own path has been curiously scattered with things of beauty that have given me a sudden, unlooked-for sense of being cared for.
In showing Frodo and Sam, and Merry and Pippin, a glimpse of beautiful light, perhaps Eru is signaling his love for them. I'd like to think Tolkien meant it so.
I don't know of any other author with Tolkien's gift of making hearts soar with the splendor of his descriptions. Treat yourself to a read of the Wellinghall and Window on the West prose, and notice if they fill you with a kind of sublime lightening of the spirit.
And please come stand in wonder with the hobbits amid the beauty of Henneth Annûn in this video short. May it give you a glimpse of something very special.