Mordor

by Boddah

The history of Mordor is one of my favorites as it is quite interesting. Let us begin with Mordor’s geography. It is located in the southeastern corner of Middle-Earth, and is uniquely guarded by three mountain ranges: Ered Lithui in the north, Ephel Dúath in the west and in the south a range that could be an extension of Ephel Dúath or an unnamed mountain chain. There was a great valley in Mordor that was called Udûn; it was the only viable entrance for large armies. It is also the site of the infamous Black Gate. The two mountain ranges meet at Udûn, so the valley had the mountains on the northeast and north west, the Black Gate at the entrance, so what was to the back of the valley? The Isenmouthe guarded the back of the valley it was a narrow path overlooked by two cliffs. The cliffs were armed with watchtowers and sorts. Therefore, we have covered Udûn and Isenmouthe so let us walk past the Isenmouthe and where do we end up? The Plateau of Gorgoroth. The Plateau is the heart of Mordor and the evil lands. It is home to the great volcano Orodruin and the infamous tower Barad-dûr. All together Mordor was a creation of Morgoth even though Sauron settled it first.

Mordor was first inhabited 1,000 years after the end of the First Age by Sauron, and it remained his evil lair (if you will) for the whole Second and Third Ages of Middle-Earth. In the northwestern area of Mordor stood Mount Doom (Orodruin) where he created the One Ring, and near the mountain stood Barad-dûr, his fortress.

For 2,000 some years Sauron ruled Mordor unbothered, and after he created the Ring, he attacked the Elves of Eregion who had created the other Rings of Power. However, the Men of Númenor stepped in and repelled him. About a thousand years later, Ar-Pharazôn, the last king of Númenór, made war upon Sauron again. This time Sauron was captured, and the men of Númenór took him to their island where he eventually convinced them to go against the Valar and sail to Aman. This resulted in the destruction of Númenor for acting against the Valar. After the destruction of Númenór, Sauron returned to Mordor.

Again, Sauron tried to overthrow the surviving Men and Elves at the end of the Second Age (Gil-galad’s Elves and Elendil’s Men). This time they fought their way to Mordor in an effort to stop him for good. After years of siege, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men entered Mordor and Sauron was defeated on the foothills of Orodruin. After his defeat, Gondor guarded Mordor to prevent any more evil outbreaks.

Time passed and Gondor slackened its guard on Mordor due to several reasons, the major one being the Great Plague. Mordor was left unguarded, and evil things began to stir once more. Minas Ithil was captured by the Ringwraiths, and other means of guarding Mordor that were created by Gondor were converted to aid Mordor. After Sauron’s false defeat at Dol Guldur, he returned once more to Mordor. At the time, Mordor was the most well protected regions on Middle-Earth.

Then the War of the Ring broke out, and Sauron displayed his true force, and gathered his troops in Mordor. After the Battle of Pelennor Fields, the Host of the West made its way to the Black Gate. Sauron focused on the Host, allowing Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee to near Orodruin, where Gollum bit the Ring off Frodo’s finger, and fell with the Ring into the Cracks of Mount Doom. All of Sauron’s defenses and most of his army was destroyed when Mount Doom exploded. After his defeat all that was left were few creatures as most were killed. Mordor was scarred by thousands of years of neglect, but was still capable of sustaining life.

Before we end our article let us look at Barad-dûr, Sauron’s fortress. It was created in the Second Age with the power of the Ring, and took six hundred years to complete; much of Sauron’s personal power went into the citadel. After years of siege, it was destroyed by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. However because it was built with the power of the Ring, the foundations were not destroyed, and due to Isildur’s fall to temptation the Ring was not destroyed, so the foundations remained. The tower was rebuilt when Sauron returned thousands of years later. At the top of Barad-dûr was the Window of the Eye. This is the infamous place where the Eye of Sauron gazed out upon all of Middle-Earth.

References
Wikipedia