In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional continent of Middle-earth, Mordor (; , ) is the realm of the Dark Lord Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, and to the south of Mirkwood. Within Mordor lies Mount Doom (Sindarin: Orodruin, "Fire Mountain"; also Amon Amarth, "Mount Doom"), the volcano central to the destruction of the One Ring. Mordor was surrounded by three mountain ranges, to the north, the west, and the south. These both protected the land from invasion and kept those living in Mordor from escaping.
Commentators have noted that Mordor was influenced by Tolkien's own experiences in the industrial Black Country of the English Midlands, and by his time fighting in the trenches of the Western Front in the First World War. Tolkien was also familiar with the account of the monster Grendel's unearthly landscapes in the Old English poem Beowulf. Others have observed that Tolkien depicts Mordor as specifically evil, and as a vision of industrial environmental degradation, contrasted with either the homely Shire or the beautiful elvish forest of Lothlórien.
Geography
Overview
Mordor was roughly rectangular in shape, with the longer sides on the north and south. Three sides were defended by mountain ranges: the Ered Lithui ("Ash Mountains") on the north, and the Ephel Dúath ("Mountains of Shadow") on the west and south. The lengths of these ranges are estimated to be respectively, which gives Mordor an area of roughly .
To the west lay the narrow land of Ithilien, a province of Gondor;, book 4, ch. 7 "Journey to the Cross-Roads" to the northwest, the Dead Marshes and Dagorlad, the Battle Plain; to the north, Wilderland; to the northeast and east, Rhûn; to the southeast, Khand; and to the south, Harad. Not far from the Dead Marshes is another dismal swamp, the Nindalf or Wetwang, beside the Emyn Muil hills.Wetwang is a place in Yorkshire; its name means "wet field", which is also the meaning of Nindalf in the elvish language Sindarin. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 779
The Black Gate
In the northwest, the pass of Cirith Gorgor led into the enclosed plain of Udûn. Sauron built the Black Gate of Mordor (the Morannon) across the pass. This added to the earlier fortifications, the Towers of the Teeth – Carchost to the east, Narchost to the west, 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, and the Dead Marshes., Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor
The Mountains of Shadow
The Ephel Dúath ("Fence of Shadow") defended Mordor on the west and south. The main pass was guarded by Minas Morgul, a city built by Gondor as Minas Ithil., book 4, ch. 8 "The Stairs of Cirith Ungol" The fortress Durthang lay in the northern Ephel Dúath above Udûn. A higher, more difficult pass, Cirith Ungol, lay just to the north of the Morgul pass. Its top was guarded by a tower, built by Gondor. The route traversed Torech Ungol, the lair of the giant spider Shelob., book 4, ch. 9 "Shelob's Lair", book 6, ch. 1 "The Tower of Cirith Ungol"
Inside the Ephel Dúath ran a lower parallel ridge, the Morgai, separated by a narrow valley, a "dying land not yet dead" with "low scrubby trees", "coarse grey grass-tussocks", "withered mosses", "great writhing, tangled brambles", and thickets of briars with long, stabbing thorns., book 6, ch. 2 "The Land of Shadow"
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 on the north side of Gorgoroth, at the end of a spur of the Ash Mountains. Gorgoroth was volcanic and inhospitable to life, but home to Mordor's mines, forges, and garrisons., book 6, ch. 2 "The Land of Shadow", book 4, ch. 3 "The Black Gate is Closed" Núrn, the southern part of Mordor, was less arid and more fertile; Sauron's slaves farmed this region to support his armies, and streams fed the salt Sea of Núrnen. To the east of Gorgoroth lay the dry plain of Lithlad.
Mount Doom
Mount Doom (in Sindarin: Amon Amarth, Index "Amon Amarth") or Orodruin ("Mountain of Blazing Fire", Index "Orodruin") is more than an ordinary volcano; it responds to Sauron's commands and his presence, lapsing into dormancy when he is away from Mordor, and becoming active again when he returns. It is the place where the One Ring was forged, and its magma heart is the only place where it can be destroyed., Book 1, ch. 2 "The Shadow of the Past" When Sauron is defeated at the end of the Third Age with the destruction of the One Ring, the volcano erupts violently.
Tolkien stated in his "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings", intended to assist translators, that the phrase "Crack of Doom" derives from William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Act 4 scene 1. Tolkien wrote that the phrase meant "the announcement of the Last Day" by a crack of thunder, or "the sound of the last trump[et]" (he cites the use of "crack" to mean a trumpet's sound in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight at lines 116 and 1166) at the Last Judgment as described in the Book of Revelation. He further states that "Doom" originally meant "judgement", and by its sound and its use in the word "doomsday" carries the "senses of death, finality, and fate". Another possible source of the name, mentioned by Tolkien and discussed by the Tolkien scholar Jared Lobdell, is a pair of tales of supernatural events by the English novelist Algernon Blackwood, "The Willows" and "The Glamour of the Snow". According to the fanzine Niekas, Tolkien "more or less found Mordor" on a Mediterranean cruise in September 1966. When sailing past the volcano of Stromboli at night, Tolkien said he had "never seen anything that looked so much like [Mount Doom]."
In Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, Mount Doom was represented by two active volcanoes in New Zealand: Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu, located in Tongariro National Park. In long shots, the mountain is either a large model or a CGI effect, or a combination. The production was not permitted to film the summit of Ngauruhoe because the Māori hold it to be sacred, but some scenes on the slopes of Mount Doom were filmed on the slopes of Ruapehu.Sibley, Brian. The Making of the Movie Trilogy The Lord of the Rings, Houghton Mifflin (2002).
Barad-dûr
The name Barad-dûr is Sindarin, from barad "tower" and dûr "dark". It was called Lugbúrz in the Black Speech of Mordor, from lug "tower" and búrz "dark". The Black Speech (created by Sauron) was one of the languages used in Barad-dûr. The soldiers there used a debased form of the tongue., Appendix F In The Lord of the Rings "Barad-dûr," "Lugbúrz," and "the Dark Tower" are occasionally used as metonyms for Sauron., Index: III "Persons, Places, and Things"
In the Second Age, Sauron began to stir again and chose Mordor as a stronghold in which to build his fortress. It was strengthened by the power of the One Ring, which had recently been forged; its foundations would survive as long as the Ring existed. Gandalf described the Ring as being the "...foundation of Barad-dûr...", "The Last Debate" The Dark Tower is described as being composed of iron, being black and having battlements and gates., Book 2, ch. 10 "The Breaking of the Fellowship" In a painting by Tolkien, however, the walls are of mainly grey stone and brick, and battlements, gates and towers are not visible.
In The Two Towers, Barad-dûr is described as "...that vast fortress, armoury, prison, furnace of great power...", "The Road to Isengard" The same paragraph goes on to say the Dark Tower had 'immeasurable strength'. The fortress was constructed with many towers and was hidden in clouds about it: "...rising black, blacker and darker than the vast shades amid which it stood, the cruel pinnacles and iron crown of the topmost tower of Barad-dûr." The structure could not be clearly seen because Sauron created shadows about himself that crept out from the tower., "Mount Doom" In Frodo's vision on Amon Hen, he perceived the immense tower as "...wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black, immeasurably strong, mountain of iron, gate of steel, tower of adamant... Barad-dûr, Fortress of Sauron." There was a look-out post, the "Window of the Eye", at the top of the tower. This window was visible from Mount Doom where Frodo and Sam had a terrible glimpse of the Eye of Sauron. Barad-dûr's west gate is described as "huge" and the west bridge as "a vast bridge of iron."
In The Return of the King, Sam Gamgee witnessed the destruction of Barad-dûr: "... towers and battlements, tall as hills, founded upon a mighty mountain-throne above immeasurable pits; great courts and dungeons, eyeless prisons sheer as cliffs, and gaping gates of steel and adamant..."
Barad-dûr, along with the One Ring, Mordor, and Sauron himself, were destroyed on 25 March, a traditional Anglo-Saxon date for the crucifixion; the quest to destroy the One Ring began in Rivendell on 25 December, the date of Christmas.
First Age
In The Atlas of Middle-earth, the cartographer 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 was based on 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, its western end being close to the head of the Great Gulf (later the Mouths of Anduin).
History
Early history
Sauron settled in Mordor in the Second Age of Middle-earth, and it remained the pivot of his evil contemplations. He built his great stronghold Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower, near the volcano Mount Doom (Orodruin), and became known as the Dark Lord of Mordor. Sauron aided the elves in the creation of the Rings of Power in Eregion in Eriador, and secretly forged the One Ring in Orodruin. He then set about conquering Middle-earth, launching an attack upon the Elves of Eregion, but was repelled by the Men of Númenor.
Over a thousand years later, the Númenóreans under Ar-Pharazôn sailed to Middle-earth to challenge Sauron's claim to be "King of Men". Sauron let them capture him and take him back to Númenor, where he caused its destruction. He at once returned to Mordor as a spirit and resumed his rule., Akallabêth
The Last Alliance and Third Age
Sauron's rule was interrupted again when his efforts to overthrow the surviving Men of Númenor and the Elves failed. The army of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men advanced on Mordor; in a great battle on the Dagorlad ("Battle Plain"), Sauron's forces were destroyed and the Black Gate was stormed. Barad-dûr was then besieged; after seven years, Sauron broke out and was defeated on the slopes of Orodruin. Sauron fled into Rhûn, and Barad-dûr was levelled. Gondor built fortresses at the entrances to Mordor to prevent his return, maintaining the "Watchful Peace" for over a thousand years., "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age"
The Great Plague in Gondor caused the fortifications guarding Mordor to be abandoned, and Mordor again filled with evil things. The Ringwraiths took advantage of Gondor's decline to re-enter Mordor, conquered Minas Ithil, and took over the fortresses. At the time of Bilbo Baggins's quest in The Hobbit, Sauron returned into Mordor from Dol Guldur, feigning defeat, but readying for war.
War of the Ring