| “ | See! The beacons of Gondor are alight, calling for aid. War is kindled. See, there is the fire on Amon Dîn, and flame on Eilenach; and there they go speeding west: Nardol, Erelas, Min-Rimmon, Calenhad, and the Halifirien on the borders of Rohan. | ” |
–Gandalf in The Return of the King, Minas Tirith | ||
Beacons of Gondor serve as a sort of alarm system for the kingdom of Gondor. They are a new block that can be lit and used in sequence to send signals over long distances, or simply for decoration and dramatic effect. They are found naturally in beacon towers, Gondor obelisks, and Gondor watchforts, but can also be crafted using an inexpensive recipe on a Gondorian crafting table.
In the renewed version only, the beacons use the same long-range 'signal' smoke particles as the campfire, and they can be customised using the gamerules lotr:gondor_beacon_range and lotr:gondor_beacon_lighting_time to change how they communicate.
On successfully lighting a beacon (albeit only by physically lighting it, not with a flaming arrow), the player earns the achievement "The Beacons are Lit!"
Lore[]
The beacons were great fireplaces permanently manned by men of Gondor, and were placed on top of seven peaks in the range of the White Mountains. Note that contrary to what is show in the film adaptation of The Two Towers, the Beacons of Gondor did not serve to inform the king of Rohan of impending war; rather, they ran both north and south along the White Mountains and were used to warn the men of the more outlying fiefs of danger. From east to west the northern beacons were on Amon Dîn, Eilenach, Nardol, Erelas, Min-Rimmon, Calenhad and Amon Anwar (or Halifirien). In the mod, there are seven waypoints that correspond to the seven beacon hills.
Crafting[]
The recipe calls for six raw logs of wood and three cobblestone on a Gondorian crafting table. No matter what type of wood, or mix of different types of wood, the resultant beacon will have the texture of being made up of all oak logs.
Usage[]
The lighting of a beacon
A lit Beacon of Gondor in its tower
The range of a beacon is 80 blocks in all directions. Beacons will not be able to communicate with other beacons outside this distance. (In Renewed, this default distance can be changed with the gamerule described above.)
Lighting[]
Beacons can be lit with a flint and steel, torch, redstone torch, match or - more dramatically - by firing a flaming arrow at the beacon. They will start to smoke for a few seconds and then burst into flame.
As soon as the beacon lights up, it will begin signalling to all other unlit beacons within range, which will likewise smoke for a while, burst into flame, and send signals to unlit beacons within their range. Theoretically, a chain of beacons could continue lighting one another in this way forever, although in practice the length of the chain will be limited by the amount of chunks loaded in the world, as beacons in unloaded chunks will obviously not respond to any changes.
Using with Fellowships[]
Beacons can also be used to alert fellowships with chat messages. By right clicking a beacon, you can type in the fellowship name and a name for the beacon. When lit, a beacon will output a chat message to fellowship members, saying "The beacon of [Beacon Name] is lit!". This can be used to quickly alert members of your fellowship to anything from meetings to sieges.
Extinguishing[]
You can put out a lit beacon with a bucket of water. When extinguished in this way, the beacon will begin sending signals to other lit beacons within its range, which will extinguish themselves after a few seconds, signal to lit beacons within their range to extinguish themselves, and so on until all the beacons are unlit.
Destroying the beacon block or physically pouring liquid water onto it will also stop it burning. However, when extinguished in this way a beacon will not signal other beacons to put themselves out, and as soon as the beacon is replaced or the water is removed it will light up again provided there are other lit beacons nearby.
Beacons are not extinguished by rain.
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The One Wiki to Rule Them All has an article on:
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The Tolkien Gateway has an article on:
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 The Men of Gondor 
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Gondorian •
Levyman •
Soldier (Archer, Banner Bearer, Tower Guard)
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