Ilmarin

Map of Ilmarin on Taniquetil (conjectural)

The mansions of the Elder King, Manwë, and his spouse Varda Elentári, on the peak of Taniquetil. Ilmarin is translated as 'mansion of the high airs', an appropriate name for a dwelling-place built on the tallest peak of all the mountains in the world. The birds, servants and allies of Manwë, were said to travel to and from Ilmarin bringing news from the outer world.

Though the name Ilmarin properly refers to the dwellings of Manwë and Varda, it seems at times to be used as a poetic name for Taniquetil itself. For example, in The Fellowship of the Ring II 8 (Farewell to Lórien), Galadriel sings of the 'strand of Ilmarin'. A 'strand' is a shoreline, so she cannot mean this literally - instead, she seems to be describing the seaward lands beneath the mountain on which Ilmarin stood.

We have little detail about the appearance of the halls of Ilmarin, but in The Road Goes Ever On, they are at least given a brief description as 'domed halls'. That comment connects to a footnote, which reads simply, 'Oromardi, tellumar'. That might be taken as giving us the names of the halls, but the lack of a capital on tellumar, and the meanings of the words, suggest otherwise. That footnote translates as 'Lofty halls, domes', so this seems to be giving us the words the Elves would have used when speaking of the halls, rather than their specific names.