Mordor

The shape of the land

Mordor was a vast natural fortress. Two mountain ranges fenced it: the Ephel Dúath, the Mountains of Shadow, ran along its western and southern sides, and the Ered Lithui, the Ash Mountains, along its north. Where the two ranges met at the north-western corner they left a single narrow gap, the pass of Cirith Gorgor, which Sauron closed with the Black Gate and behind which lay the deep valley of Udûn, a second inner gate at the Isenmouthe leading out onto the plateau. The only other ways in from the west were the Morgul Pass above Minas Morgul and the secret pass of Cirith Ungol, both guarded.

Within the mountains the northern part of the land was the plateau of Gorgoroth, an arid waste of ash, slag and broken rock, waterless and lifeless, in the midst of which Mount Doom stood alone and smoking. East of the mountain, on a spur of the Ered Lithui, stood Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower, joined to the fire-mountain by Sauron's road. Beyond the plateau, to the south, the land fell away to Nurn and the bitter inland Sea of Núrnen, where great slave-worked fields fed the armies. The rivers of Mordor were few and foul; the western valleys behind the Ephel Dúath, below the inner ridge called the Morgai, held only thorn and brier.

The people of the Black Land

Mordor's population was Sauron's army: Orcs of many breeds in barracks and holds along the mountains, Trolls including the Olog-hai that he bred to endure the sun, wolves and fell beasts, and the Nazgûl who commanded his forces from Minas Morgul and Barad-dûr. The slaves who tilled Nurn were Men taken from the East and South, and the tributary Easterlings and Haradrim marched through the Black Gate to his wars. Over all lay the will of the Dark Lord, and the Eye that watched from the Tower.

Sauron's first occupation

Around S.A. 1000 Sauron, having decided to make himself lord of Middle-earth, chose the land behind the mountains as his stronghold because of its natural defences and the fire-mountain within it. He built Barad-dûr in the following six centuries and, in about 1600, forged the One Ring in the fires of Orodruin. From Mordor he waged the War of the Elves and Sauron, conquered most of Middle-earth beyond the Númenórean coasts, and corrupted the Men of the East and South. In 3262 Ar-Pharazôn of Númenor landed with a fleet so great that Sauron's servants deserted him, and he surrendered and was carried to Númenor, where he brought about its downfall. His spirit returned to Mordor in 3319 and took up the Ring again.

The Last Alliance

In 3429 Sauron struck at the new realm of Gondor and took Minas Ithil, but Elendil and Gil-galad formed the Last Alliance, defeated him on Dagorlad in 3434, entered Mordor, and besieged Barad-dûr for seven years. In 3441 Sauron came out and was overthrown; Elendil and Gil-galad died, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand. Barad-dûr was thrown down to its foundations, which the Ring's power preserved, and Sauron's spirit fled.

The watch of Gondor

Gondor built fortresses to keep Mordor empty: the Towers of the Teeth at the Black Gate, the tower of Cirith Ungol, and Durthang above Udûn. For a thousand years Orcs did not dare to return. But the watch was neglected under Atanatar Alcarin, and after the Great Plague of T.A. 1636 the forts were abandoned for want of men. Evil things crept back over the mountains.

The return

The Witch-king, driven out of the north, came to Mordor in 1980 and gathered the Nazgûl to prepare the land for their master; they took Minas Ithil in 2002 and turned it into Minas Morgul. Sauron himself, having brooded as the Necromancer of Dol Guldur, returned openly to Mordor in 2942 and declared himself in 2951. He rebuilt Barad-dûr, woke Mount Doom, and gathered his armies; in 2954 the mountain's eruption drove the last people from Ithilien. Through the palantír of Minas Ithil he ensnared Saruman and tormented Denethor.

The War of the Ring

Sauron's war began with the assault on Osgiliath in June 3018 and the sending out of the Nine to hunt the Ring. In March 3019 his armies from Morgul, from the Black Gate and from the allied lands of the East and South attacked Gondor and Lórien and Dale together; the host of Morgul was destroyed at the Pelennor Fields, but Mordor's strength was far from spent. Meanwhile Frodo and Sam, with Gollum as guide, came to the Black Gate on March 5, turned south to Cirith Ungol, and crossed into Mordor on March 15 after Frodo's capture and rescue. They walked north along the Morgai, were swept up in an Orc-column through Udûn, and crossed Gorgoroth on foot while Aragorn's Host of the West drew Sauron's attention to the Black Gate. On March 25 Frodo claimed the Ring at the Sammath Naur, Gollum bit it from his hand and fell into the fire, and the Ring was unmade.

The fall

With the Ring destroyed, Barad-dûr collapsed, the Black Gate and the Towers of the Teeth fell, Mount Doom erupted, and the Nazgûl were consumed flying into its fire. Sauron's spirit rose as a vast shadow and was blown away on the wind. His armies broke; the Orcs fled or died, and the Men of the East and South surrendered or ran. King Elessar afterwards freed the slaves of Nurn and gave them the land around the Sea of Núrnen as their own, made peace with the Easterlings and Haradrim, and left the Black Land empty of any lord.

Mordor lay east of the Anduin and Ithilien and south-east of the Dead Marshes and Dagorlad, walled on three sides by mountains and open on the east and south-east towards Khand and the lands of the Easterlings. It was roughly square, some three hundred miles across, with Gorgoroth in the north-west, Barad-dûr in the north, Nurn in the south, and Mount Doom near the centre of the northern plateau. Its neighbours were Gondor to the west, Rhûn to the north-east, Khand to the south-east and Harad to the south.