Stone of Erech

The Stone of Erech, also known as the Black Stone, was a large unearthly stone upon which the king of the mountains swore an oath to Isildur. It was some six feet in radius (about 3–4 meters in diameter) and seemed to be spherical in shape—half of it was underground at the time of the oath. The other half that was visible/above ground was made out to be as tall as a man. It was located on the Hill of Erech, south of the White Mountains in Gondor., The Lord of the Rings, "Dunharrow to the Morannon"
== History ==
In the Second Age, Isildur brought with him, out of the ruin of Númenor, a three meter tall round stone. He set it upon the Hill of Erech, as a symbol of his lineage and Gondor. The Hill of Erech was located in Gondor, at the beginning of the Blackroot Vale in the White Mountains. The head of the Blackroot Vale was where the entrance to the Paths of the Dead was located. The stone was brought to the Hill of Erech by Isildur, who rescued it from the sinking of Númenor.
In the very early days of Gondor, the king of the men who lived in the White Mountains swore an oath of allegiance to Isildur on the Stone of Erech. This oath was betrayed when Isildur called upon them to fight Sauron in the War of the Last Alliance. That caused Isildur to curse them to remain undead until they had fulfilled their oath. They haunted the Paths of the Dead for more than 3000 years.
It was on the Stone of Erech that Aragorn called on the King of the Dead, and the other accursed, to fulfill their oaths so that they could rest in peace. This occurred at midnight. The Oathbreakers then followed Aragorn to Pelargir, where they helped him take over the ships of the Corsairs of Umbar. They were finally put to rest by Aragorn, for finally fulfilling their oath., , Book Five, Chapter II: "The Passing of the Grey Company"
== In adaptations ==
In , the Stone of Erech is named Orossar and is reimagined as one of the seven Vandassari ("Oath-stones" in Quenya) brought from Númenor. They are the "seven stones" from the rhyme spoken by Gandalf, while the Palantíri are revealed to be the "seven stars". The stones had in them the power that made the oaths sworn in their presence more potent, and thus they were divided much like the palantíri (three to Arnor and four to Gondor) to make pacts friendship with the non-Dúnedain peoples of Middle-earth.
== Translations ==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Steen van Erech
Albanian 	Guri i Erech
Amharic 	የኢሬቻ ድንጋይ
Arabic 	حجر ىريچه
Armenian 	Էրեչ Քարը
Azerbaijani 	Erech Daşı
Basque 	Erech harria
Belarusian Cyrillic	Камень Эрэха
Bengali 	এরেক প্রস্তর
Bosnian 	Kamen Erecha
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Ерехски камък
Catalan 	Pedra de Erech
Cebuano 	Bato sa Erech
Chinese 	埃雷奇石
Cornish 	Men Erech
Croatian 	Kamen iz Erech
Czech 	Kámen Erech
Danish 	Erechsten
Dutch 	Steen van Erech
Esperanto 	Ŝtono de Erech
Estonian 	Erechi kivi
Filipino 	Bato ng Erech
Finnish 	Erechin kivi
French 	Pierre d'Erech
Frisian 	Stien fan Erech (Western)
Galician 	Pedra de Erech
Georgian 	ერეკ ქვა
German 	Stein von Erech
Greek 	Πέτρα του Έρεχ
Gujarati 	એરેચના પથ્થર
Haitian Creole 	Ròc de Erech
Hebrew 	אבן ארך
Hindi 	एरेच का पत्थर
Hungarian 	Erech-i kő
Icelandic 	Erech-steinninn
Indonesian 	Batu Erech
Irish Gaelic 	Cloch Erech
Italian 	Pietra d'Erech
Japanese 	エレクの石
Kannada 	ಎರೆಕ್ನ ಕಲ್ಲು
Konkani 	एरेच हाचो फातर
Korean 	에레 크 돌
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Эрэц таш
Latvian 	Erech Akmens
Lithuanian 	Erech Akmuo
Lombard 	Pietra d'Erech
Luxembourgish 	Steen vun Erech
Macedonian Cyrillic	Камен на Ерех
Maithili 	एरेच के पत्थर
Malagasy 	Vatolampin'i Erech
Malaysian 	Batu Erech
Marathi 	एरेकचा दगड
Maltese 	Ġebla tal-Erech
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Эреч чулуу
Norwegian 	Sconesteinen
Occitan 	Pèira d'Erech
Pashto 	د ایرچ ډبره
Persian 	سنگ هرهچه
Polish 	Głaz na Erech
Portuguese 	Pedra da Erech
Punjabi 	ਈਰੇਚ ਦਾ ਪੱਥਰ
Romanian 	Piatră Erechului
Russian 	Камень Эреха
Sardinian 	Pedra de Erech
Scots 	Stane o Erech
Scottish Gaelic 	Clach na Erech
Serbian 	Камен из Ерек (Cyrillic) Kamen iz Erek (Latin)
Sicilian 	Pietra di Erech
Sinhalese 	එරෙක්හි ගල
Slovak 	Kameň Erech
Slovenian 	Kamen Erech
Somali 	Dhagaxa Erech
Spanish 	Piedra de Erech
Swahili 	Jiwe la Erech
Swedish 	Erechstenen
Tamil 	எரிச் கல்
Tatar 	Эрех ташы
Telugu 	ఎరేచ్ రాయి
Thai 	หินเอเรค
Turkish 	Erech Taşı
Turkmen 	Erech Daşy
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Ерекий камінь
Urdu 	ایریک پتھر
Uzbek 	Ереч Тош (Cyrillic) Erech Tosh (Latin)
Venetian 	Piera de Erech
Vietnamese 	Hòn đá Erech
Welsh 	Maen Erech
Yiddish 	שטיין פון ערעך
Yoruba 	Òkúta Eréch
== References ==
Category:Gondor
Category:Objects
Category:Symbols
de:Stein von Erech
pl:Głaz na Erech
ru:Камень Эреха