Everything about Mordor totally explained
In
J. R. R. Tolkien's
fictional universe of
Middle-earth,
Mordor (from
Sindarin Black Land and
Quenya Land of Shadow) is the dwelling place of
Sauron, in the southeast of Middle-earth to the East of
Anduin, the great river.
Orodruin, the sole mountain in Mordor, was the destination of the
Fellowship of the Ring (and later
Frodo Baggins and
Sam Gamgee) in the quest to destroy the
One Ring. Mordor was unique because of the three enormous mountain ridges surrounding it, from the North, from the West and from the South. The mountains both protected the land from an unexpected invasion by any of the people living in those directions and kept those living in Mordor from escaping. Tolkien is reported to have identified Mordor with the volcano of
Stromboli off Sicily.
Geography
Its walls, on three sides, were mountain ranges, arranged in a rough rectangle:
Ered Lithui in the north,
Ephel Dúath in the west, and an unnamed (or possibly still called Ephel Dúath) range in the south. In the northwest corner of Mordor, the deep valley of
Udûn formed the castle's gate and guard house. That was the only entrance for large armies, and that's where Sauron built the
Black Gate of Mordor, and later where
Gondor built the
Towers of the Teeth. Behind the Black Gate, these towers watched over Mordor during the time of peace between the Last Alliance and Sauron's return. In front of the
Morannon lay the
Dagorlad or the
Battle Plain.
Within this mountainous castle, Sauron's main fortress
Barad-dûr formed its tower, at the foothills of
Ered Lithui. To southwest of Barad-dûr lay the arid plateau of
Gorgoroth, forming the castle's keep, and
Mount Doom its forge. To the east lay the plain of
Lithlad.
A narrow pass led through Ephel Dúath and the fortress of
Minas Morgul (earlier
Minas Ithil) was guarding that; an even more difficult pass was guarded by the giant spider
Shelob in her lair of
Torech Ungol and the fortress of
Cirith Ungol. Another known fortress was
Durthang in the northern Ephel Dúath.
The southern part of Mordor,
Núrn, was slightly more fertile, and moist enough to carry the inland
sea of Núrnen. Núrn 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. Farming in this region supported the armies of
Sauron.
To the west of Mordor was the narrow land of
Ithilien with the city of
Osgiliath and the great river
Anduin, to the northeast
Rhûn, and to the southeast,
Khand. To the northwest lay the
Dead Marshes.
In the chapters in
The Lord of the Rings describing Frodo and Sam's journey in Mordor, the valleys in an area called the
Morgai, on the land's
"outer marges [...] under the westward mountains", are described as a
"dying land [but] not yet dead". The vegetation clinging to life in this area of Mordor included
"low scrubby trees",
"coarse grey grass-tussocks",
"withered mosses",
"great writhing, tangled brambles", and thickets of briars. This vegetation grew near water trickling down from higher up the valleys. Sam and Frodo sheltered under a curtain of these brambles, which had long stabbing thorns and hooked barbs. The briars also had thorns, and when Sam and Frodo fall into some briars, Sam says that the thorns feel
"a foot long". The fauna described in this area included maggots, midges and flies marked with
"a red eye-shaped blotch".
Formation
Mordor was a relic of the devastating works of
Morgoth, apparently formed by massive volcanic eruptions. It was given the name
Mordor already before Sauron settled there, because of its
volcano and its eruptions. However, only
Shelob had settled there before Sauron did.
History
Early history
Sauron settled in Mordor 1,000 years after the end of the First Age, and it remained the pivot of his evil contemplations for the whole of the
Second and Third Ages of Middle-earth. In the north-western corner of this land stood Mount Doom or
Orodruin, where Sauron had forged the
One Ring. Near Orodruin stood Sauron's stronghold
Barad-dûr. After this time, Sauron was known as the
Dark Lord of Mordor.
For 2500 years, Sauron ruled Mordor uninterrupted. Having wrought the Ring, it was from there that he launched the attack upon the Elves of
Eregion. He was repelled by the Men of
Númenor. Almost a thousand years later he fought the Númenóreans again; this time, he was captured by the Númenóreans and brought to their island kingdom, eventually causing its destruction (see
Akallabêth). Immediately after Númenor's destruction, Sauron returned to Mordor as a spirit 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. The 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. After his defeat the Barad-dûr was levelled and great fortresses were built at the entrances to Mordor to prevent Sauron's return. For over a thousand years, Mordor was guarded by
Gondor and remained desolate, although the watch was lessened somewhat during the reigns of some of the Kings.
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 TA 1856 to reenter Mordor and the final fortresses held by Gondor were abandoned and fell into ruin sometime after TA 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), 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 during the War of the Ring 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.
War of the Ring
During the War of the Ring, Sauron gathered all his forces to Mordor. After the
Battle of the Pelennor Fields, a Host of the West went to the Black Gate. Sauron sent his army to destroy the Men of Gondor and Rohan, but then
Frodo Baggins destroyed the One Ring and Mordor fell. The Dark Tower, the Black Gate and the Towers of the Teeth collapsed to ruin. Mount Doom exploded, clearing the sky over Mordor. Both Sauron and his Ringwraiths were apparently destroyed.
After the ultimate defeat of Sauron, Mordor became mostly empty again as the
Orcs inside it fled or were killed. Crippled by thousands of years of abuse and neglect, but capable of sustaining life, the land of
Núrn was given to Sauron's freed slaves. Gorgoroth remained desolate in the early part of the Fourth Age.
Naming
Mordor actually has two meanings: "Black Land" in
Sindarin, and "Land of Shadow" in
Quenya. The root
mor ("dark", "black") also appears in
Moria, which means "Black Pit".
Dor ("land") also appears in
Gondor ("stone-land"),
Eriador, and
Doriath ("fenced land"). The Quenya word for Shadow is "mordo".
A proposed etymology out of the context of Middle-earth is
Old English morðor, which means "mortal sin" or "murder". (The latter meaning is descended from the former.) It isn't uncommon for names in Tolkien's fiction to have relevant meanings in several languages, both languages invented by Tolkien, and actual historical languages. Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon, so his word roots tend to be Anglo-Saxon/Nordic/Germanic.
Mordor is also a name cited in some
Nordic mythologies referring to a land where its citizens practise evil without knowing it, imposed on themselves by the society long created for that purpose. This quite fits with Tolkien's Mordor.
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. The atlas was however published before
The Peoples of Middle-earth, where it turned out that the
Sea of Rhûn and Mordor existed already in the First Age.
Usage outside Tolkien
- "The Mordor National Anthem" is an instrumental by Tupper Saussy and The Neon Philharmonic, appearing on the group's eponymous second album.
- It is the name of a computer game: .
- It is the name of a series of MUDs, originally inspired by Scepter of Goth.
- The Guitarist of the Dutch death metal band Satans Massacre is named after Mordor.
- Mentioned in Ramble On by Led Zeppelin
- Norwegian Black Metal band Gorgoroth takes its name from the arid plateau near Mt. Doom
- MordorBBS.com is a loosely Mordor themed, web based, Bulletin Board System with a similarly themed online text based RPG.
- A popular meme on the internet involves variations of Boromir's statement, "One doesn't simply walk into Mordor." These include "One doesn't simply ROCK into Mordor" and "One doesn't simply Walken to Mordor." and, from The Lord of the Rings Online forums "One doesn't simply walk into Mordor... One waits for the update"
- Fort McMordor is a nickname for Fort McMurray used to describe its landscape, ridden with open pit mines and toxic tailing ponds so large that the dam that holds one back is exceeded in size only by the Three Gorges Dam, part of the Tar Sands project there.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Mordor'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://mordor.totallyexplained.com">Mordor Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
