How the Beacons of Gondor Really Worked

Seven fires on seven hills. Gandalf saw them burning from the saddle and named every one, and the film gave the job to a hobbit with a lighter. The book did something stranger and better. This episode reads the beacon line of Gondor the way a historian reads a lost signal system: how far apart the hills had to be, why a fire can only say one thing, why the real summons was an arrow carried by a rider, and what the same problem looked like in Byzantium, on the Great Wall, and in a Greek play Tolkien taught for a living. Then the last beacon: the hill where the promise it calls in was sworn. If you've ever wondered how anyone got a message 150 miles before the telegraph, this one is for you. Which link in the chain would you have got wrong? Tell me in the comments. Sources: The Return of the King, Book V ch. 1 "Minas Tirith", ch. 3 "The Muster of Rohan"; Appendix B Unfinished Tales, "Cirion and Eorl" (the beacon notes, the Oath, the Red Arrow) Karen Wynn Fonstad, The Atlas of Middle-earth Byzantine beacon system: Wikipedia, "Byzantine beacon system"; "Leo the Mathematician" Ming beacon regulations: China Highlights, Travel China Guide (Great Wall beacon towers) Aeschylus, Agamemnon 281-316 Illustrations are original ink-and-wash artwork made for this channel. Narration is a synthetic voice. Not affiliated with the Tolkien Estate, Middle-earth Enterprises, Warner Bros. or Amazon. #LordOfTheRings #MiddleEarth #LOTRLore #Tolkien #Gondor