Erech

From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.

Erech was the name of a hill or hill-top, in Gondor situated in the far north of the province of Lamedon.

In the Second Age Isildur brought with him, out of the ruin of Númenor, a three meter tall round stone. He set it on a hill in Erech, as a symbol of his lineage and Gondor. The King of the Mountains swore an oath of loyalty on the stone at the beginning of the realm of Gondor. When the time came the Men of the Mountains broke their oath and would not fight against Sauron for they had worshipped him before in the Dark Years. Isildur put a curse on them that they would never rest until they fulfilled this oath.

The hill appears to have been desolate at the end of the Third Age due to the terror of the Sleepless Dead when the heir of Isildur, Aragorn, came to Erech to hold them to their oath again. This time they held true to their oath and formed the host of the Dead and helped Aragorn fight the Corsairs of Umbar at Pelargir.

After the battle at Pelargir Aragorn released them from their oath and they were allowed to rest.