More than two thousand miles north of Aqualóndë the lands are empty and wild. Since the Valar raised the mountains of heaven, the Pelóri, as a fence against Melkor, these dark lands between Aman and the grinding ice of the Helcaraxë have been called the Wastes of Araman. No elves have ever dwelt there and not many creatures are sufficiently robust to endure the harsh climate of these northern wastelands.

When the connection of the Helcaraxë between Aman and Arda was sundered at the beginning of the second age, this wild country grew even lonelier. And it is said that the language of birds and beasts is strange there.

On an island close to the far shore of Haerast, a white tower can be found.

It is a graceful round tower built from white stones, which glow in the night and it has no door. At the very top of the tower there is perfectly round room, and from this room a door made of glass leads on a balcony, which looks to the East, where the sun rises.

It is said that on clear nights you can see the white tower from as far away as Aqualóndë or the island of Himling far to the East.

A white fire burns at the top of this white tower, calling out across the sea.

And sometimes – or at least that is the legend told by the fisher folk of Himling –, on starlit nights a white bird flies from the tower and up to the stars, singing of love and loss, and those who hear this song are never the same again.

The White Tower is home to Lady Elwing, and as a white bird she has flown out across the sea and up into the heavens to reach the very stars since the end of the first age.

But even though her gleaming white wings have taken her far above Arda and her seas, and her love and her pure heart have lifted her even higher, she has never reached the stars.

And the songs and legends do not tell, if she is still flying today.