Mordor

Overview

Three sides of Mordor were bounded by great mountain ranges, arranged in a rough rectangle: the Ered Lithui (translated as 'Ash Mountains') on the north, and the Ephel Dúath on the west and the south.

Adjacent to Mordor were: to the west, the narrow land of Ithilien (a province of Gondor); to the northwest, the Dead Marshes and Dagorlad; to the north, Wilderland; to the northeast and east, Rhûn; to the southeast, Khand; and to the south, Harad.

The Black Gate

In the northwest, where Mordor's two ranges met, the pass of Cirith Gorgor led into the enclosed plain of Udûn. Sauron built the Black Gate of Mordor (the Morannon) across the pass, adding to earlier fortifications: the Towers of the Teeth, guard towers which had been built by Gondor to keep a watch on this entrance. The passage through the inner side of Udûn into the interior of Mordor was guarded by another gate, the Isenmouthe.

Outside the Morannon lay the Dagorlad or Battle Plain.

The Mountains of Shadow

The Ephel Dúath (literally, "Fence of Shadow") defended Mordor on the west and south. The main pass led through the Ephel Dúath; its western entrance was guarded by Minas Morgul (earlier Minas Ithil), a city originally built by Gondor.

A higher, more difficult pass, Cirith Ungol, lay just to the north of the Morgul pass. It was guarded by a tower at the top of the pass; this tower too had been originally built by Gondor. This pass, "the pass of the spider", was also guarded by Torech Ungol, the lair of the giant spider Shelob.

Inside the Ephel Dúath ran a lower parallel ridge, the Morgai, separated from the Ephel Dúath by a narrow valley that Frodo and Sam followed northward after escaping from Cirith Ungol. Water trickled into this vale from the Ephel Dúath, and the text describes it as a "dying land not yet dead". The vegetation included "low scrubby trees", "coarse grey grass-tussocks", "withered mosses", "great writhing, tangled brambles", and thickets of briars with long, stabbing thorns. The fauna included maggots, midges, and flies marked with "a red eye-shaped blotch".

The fortress Durthang lay in the northern Ephel Dúath above Udûn.

Interior

The interior of Mordor was composed of three large regions. The core of Sauron's realm was in the northwest: the arid plateau of Gorgoroth, with the active volcano Mount Doom located in the middle. Sauron's main fortress Barad-dûr was located on the center of the north side of Gorgoroth, at the end of a spur extending from the Ash Mountains. Gorgoroth's volcanic nature was inhospitable to life: Mordor's mines, forges, and garrisons were located there. Núrn, the southern part of Mordor, was less arid and more fertile. Streams here fed the salt Sea of Núrnen. While somewhat dry, its fields were rich in volcanic nutrients, and Sauron's slaves farmed this region to support his armies. To the east of Gorgoroth lay the dry plain of Lithlad.

First Age

In The Atlas of Middle-earth, Karen Wynn Fonstad assumed that the lands of Mordor, Khand, and Rhûn lay where the inland Sea of Helcar had been, and that the Sea of Rhûn and Sea of Núrnen were its remnants. This assumption stemmed from a First Age world-map drawn by Tolkien in the Ambarkanta, where the Inland Sea of Helcar occupied a large area of Middle-earth between the Ered Luin and Orocarni, with the western end being close to the head of the Great Gulf (later the Mouths of Anduin).^[2] The atlas was however published before The Peoples of Middle-earth, in which the Sea of Rhûn and Mordor exist already in the First Age.

Early history

Sauron settled in Mordor 1,000 years after the end of the First Age of Middle-earth, and it remained the pivot of his evil contemplations for the rest of the Second Age (and throughout the Third Age). In the northwestern corner of this land, near the volcano Mount Doom (Orodruin), Sauron built his great stronghold Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower. After this time, Sauron was known as the Dark Lord of Mordor.

In about S.A. 1600 Sauron forged the One Ring in Orodruin. He then set about conquering Middle-earth. In 1697 he launched an attack upon Eriador (a region far to the west of Mordor), and in particular the Elves of Eregion. Initially he conquered most of Eriador, but in S.A. 1700 he was eventually repelled by the Men of Númenor, an island kingdom far to the west of Middle-earth. Sauron returned to Mordor, which continued to dominate the surrounding lands.

Almost a thousand years later, in S.A. 3261, the Númenóreans under Ar-Pharazôn sailed to Middle-earth to challenge Sauron's claim to the title of "King of Men". Sauron realized that they would overthrow him if he decided to fight, so he let them capture him and take him back to Númenor, where he eventually caused its destruction in S.A. 3319 (see Akallabêth). Immediately after Númenor's destruction, Sauron returned to Mordor as a spirit (the last of his living being having been bound to the One Ring) and resumed his rule.

The Last Alliance and Third Age

Sauron's rule was interrupted yet again when his efforts to overthrow the surviving Men of Númenor and the Elves failed, and they formed a Last Alliance of Elves and Men whose army advanced on Sauron's land. A great battle took place on the Dagorlad in which Sauron's forces were destroyed and the Black Gate was stormed. Barad-dûr was then besieged by the Alliance's forces. After seven years of siege, Sauron broke out and was defeated in a final battle on the slopes of Orodruin. Sauron fled into the far East, Barad-dûr was leveled, and the Kingdom of Gondor built great fortresses at the entrances to Mordor to prevent Sauron's return.

Sauron's defeat initiated the Third Age. For over a thousand years, Mordor was guarded by Gondor and remained desolate, although the watch gradually lessened.

Casualties from the Great Plague, during the reign of King Telemnar, were so high that the fortifications guarding Mordor were abandoned as the troops were called back to Gondor's cities. As the guard slackened, Mordor began to fill with evil things again. The Ringwraiths took advantage of Gondor's defeat in T.A. 1856 to re-enter Mordor and the final fortresses held by Gondor were abandoned and fell into ruin sometime after T.A. 1944. In 2002 Minas Ithil was conquered by the Nine Ringwraiths; and the fortifications that were supposed to defend Gondor from the menace inside Mordor were turned into a means of shielding Mordor.

By the time Sauron returned into Mordor after his false defeat in Dol Guldur (in the events that took place at the time of Bilbo Baggins's quest in T.A. 2941), Mordor was protected too well to be captured by any military might that was available in Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age. In the north of Mordor were the great garrisons and forges of war, while surrounding the bitter inland Sea of Núrnen to the south lay the vast fields tended for the provision of the armies by hordes of slaves brought in from lands to the east and south. Mordor was thus well positioned when Sauron commenced the War of the Ring in earnest in T.A. 3019.

War of the Ring

In the War of the Rings, Sauron's forces attacked the Free Peoples on a number of fronts. His main army besieged Minas Tirith, the capital of Gondor, but was defeated in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. The victors, the Men of Gondor and Rohan, then sent their Host of the West to the Black Gate. In the Battle of the Morannon, Sauron sent forth another army to destroy the Host of the West, but then Frodo Baggins destroyed the One Ring and Mordor fell. The Dark Tower, the Black Gate and the Towers of the Teeth were destroyed. Mount Doom exploded, clearing the sky over Mordor. Both Sauron and his Ringwraiths were apparently destroyed.

This ultimate defeat of Sauron heralded the Fourth Age. Much of Mordor, especially Gorgoroth, became empty again as the Orcs inside it fled or were killed. However although crippled by thousands of years of abuse and neglect, the land of Núrn was capable of sustaining life, and was given to Sauron's freed slaves.