Amon Lhaw, also called the Hill of Hearing, was one of the three peaks above the Rauros-falls, where Nen Hithoel was drained.
Description
Amon Lhaw towered among the Emyn Muil on the eastern banks of the Anduin opposite Amon Hen, which lay upon the western bank. Between these two peaks was the island hill of Tol Brandir.
Amon Lhaw may possibly have been a little "over 1,000 feet" according to a 1959 letter that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote to a reader about the height of Amon Hen.
Amon Lhaw was first fortified "in the days of the great kings" according to Aragorn, though the precise dating is unspecified. The hill was fortified before the time of the Stewards, which meant that by the year T.A. 3019, the fortifications were at a minimum 969 years old. One likely possibility is that the hill was fortified at the same time as the Argonath, which was built after Minalcar defeated the Easterlings in the year T.A. 1248 but before the end of his reign in the year T.A. 1366.
At one time Amon Lhaw had been part of the North March of Gondor and a high seat was built there upon which Men kept watch. By the time of the War of the Ring however, it had long since fallen under the influence of Mordor, as spies often roamed there. Such spies may have been Orcs.
In the year 3019, following the Breaking of the Fellowship at Parth Galen, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee took a boat and paddled across Nen Hithoel. They landed upon the southern slopes of Amon Lhaw where there was a shelving shore.