The Lord of the Rings

Mordor was a land in the south-east of the Westlands east of Gondor.

During most of the Second and Third Ages it was ruled by Sauron and it was his dwelling and base from which he attempted to conquer Middle-earth. Mordor was surrounded by three enormous mountain ridges from the North, from the West and from the South, protecting it from an unexpected invasion by any of the Free peoples. Only a few times in history did the free peoples have anything to do with Mordor; the Last Alliance broke into the land to fight Sauron, and millennia later Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee infiltrated that land to destroy the One Ring.

Mordor was protected from three sides by mountain ranges, arranged roughly rectangularly: Ered Lithui in the north, and Ephel Dúath in the west until turned to the east, forming a southern range. A narrow pass led through Ephel Dúath and the city of Minas Morgul (earlier Minas Ithil) was guarding that; an even more difficult pass was guarded by the giant spider Shelob and the fortress of Cirith Ungol. Another known fortress was Durthang in northern Ephel Dúath. In the north-west corner of Mordor the deep valley of Udûn was the only entrance for large armies, and that is where Sauron built the Black Gate of Mordor. In front of the Morannon lay the Dagorlad. Sauron's main fortress Barad-dûr was at the foothills of Ered Lithui. To south-west of Barad-dûr lay the arid Plateau of Gorgoroth and the volcanic Mount Doom (also called Orodruin); to the east lay the plain of Lithlad. The land in the western parts of Mordor were largely infertile, producing only sparse brambles. The southern part of Mordor, Nurn, was slighly more fertile, and moist enough to carry the inland sea of Núrnen. Nurn was made somewhat fertile because the ash blown from Mount Doom left its soil nutrient rich, thus allowing dry-land farming. Unfortunately, the inland sea of Núrn was salty, not freshwater. To the west of Mordor was the narrow land of Ithilien with the great river Anduin, to the east Rhûn, and to the south-east, Khand.

BARAD-DÛR

Barad-dûr, also known as the Dark Tower, was the chief fortress of Sauron, on the Plateau of Gorgoroth in Mordor. Known in Black Speech as Lugbúrz, the Eye of Sauron kept watch over Middle-earth from its highest tower.

Barad-Dûr was built upon the end of a long southern spur of the Ered Lithui in the northern part of the Plateau of Gorgoroth. It stood about 30 miles east of Mount Doom and about 100 miles southeast of the Black Gate. There was both a road leading north to the Black Gate and Sauron's road to the Sammath Naur leading west to Mount Doom. The latter ran from the Dark Tower's western gate over a deep abyss, the plain and around the mountain to the dark entrance of the Chambers of Fire. Barad-Dûr was the greatest fortress ever built since the Fall of Angband. It was founded upon a mighty iron mountain throne above immeasurable pits and appeared even blacker and darker than the mantling clouds and shades in which it stood. It was immeasurably strong with its countless gargantuan towers, walls and battlements and was made of very hard and unbreakable substances. Usually it was described as made of steel, iron or adamant. It had gaping gates, great courts and dungeons with deep and terrible prisons. The topmost tower contained the Window of the Eye.

MOUNT DOOM

Mount Doom, or Orodruin, was a volcano in Mordor.

Melkor created Mount Doom in the First Age, and the name "Mordor" may have been given to the surrounding land before Sauron settled there because of its eruptions. When Sauron chose the land of Mordor as his dwelling-place in the Second Age, Orodruin was the reason for his choice. He "used the fire that welled there from the heart of the earth in his sorceries and his forging." The most famous result of his forging, and in fact the only one we know of for sure, was the One Ring. The mountain erupted in S.A. 3429, signalling Sauron's attack to Gondor and it took the name Amon Amarth, "Mount Doom".

It stood alone in an empty plain, the Plateau of Gorgoroth and was connected to the Dark Tower with Sauron's Road, rising about 4500 feet with its base about 3000 feet tall. The Road approached the east side of the base at a causeway and then wound up like a snake; at that point the Road seemed damaged by the lava and re-repaired several times. Inside its cone, were the Sammath Naur leading to the Crack of Doom, a fiery chasm where the One Ring was forged.

THE BLACK GATE

The Black Gate (Sindarin: Morannon) was the main entrance into the land of Mordor. It blocked the pass of Cirith Gorgor, the gap between the Ephel Dúath and the Ered Lithui. The pass of Cirith Gorgor led to the valley of Udûn that led to the plain of Gorgoroth in Mordor. The Black Gate was a single gate of iron, which consisted of two vast iron doors under a frowning arch, in a rampart of stone with a battlement that stretched between the high cliffs on either side of the mouth of the pass. On two sheer, black-boned and bare hills that were thrust forward from the mouth of the pass stood two strong and tall towers, the Towers of the Teeth.