Tolkien Gateway - User contributions [en]

Black Gate

2009-03-14T05:12:36Z

59.101.253.248:

The '''Black Gate''' of [[Mordor]], [[Morannon]] in [[Sindarin]], was originally a gate built by [[Sauron]], the Dark Lord of [[Mordor]], to prevent invasion at the gap between the [[Ered Lithui]] and the [[Ephel Duath]]. It was probably built with the power of the One Ring, like the [[Barad-dûr]]. After Sauron's fall, it became a [[Númenor]]ean garrison. Backed up on the other side by the [[Isenmouthe]], and protected by the castle of [[Durthang]] to the west, it was redesigned to keep all of Mordor's evil inside, shielding the outside from it - and it from the outside. The reconstruction of [[Minas Ithil]], Tower of the Rising Moon, as well as the construction of [[Cirith Ungol]] were also done for the same purpose.

The Black Gate's defences are so well equipped that only once has it's defences been breached. That was caused by the Last Alliance

However, during the aftermath of the [[Kin-strife]] in [[Gondor]] the watchfulness of the guards in these strongholds relaxed. Thus the [[Nazgûl|Ringwraiths]] and [[Orcs]] re-entered Mordor, eventually overrunning the garrisons and inhabiting them for themselves. It was at this time that the tower of Minas Ithil was taken by the Nazgul, having its name changed to [[Minas Morgul]], Tower of Sorcery.

During the [[War of the Ring]], the Army of the West, numbering some 7,000 men, arrived at the Black Gate with the intention of drawing the [[Eye of Sauron]] away from [[Mount Doom]], to allow [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]] the Ringbearer to cast the [[One Ring]] into the [[Crack of Doom]] within it. This they achieved, and the Ring was destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, following which the Black Gate and the Towers of Teeth immediately collapsed.

Other names: [[Gate of Mordor]], [[gates of Mordor]].

[[Category:Locations]]
[[Category:Gates]]
[[Category:Mordor]]
[[de:Morannon]]
[[fi:Musta Portti]]

Mordor

2009-03-14T05:06:47Z

59.101.253.248: /* Geography */

{{kingdom
| image = [[Image:Ted Nasmith - Across Gorgoroth.jpg|300px]]
| name = Mordor
| meaning = The Black Land
| type = Dictatorship
| headofstate = [[Sauron]]
| executive =
| legislative =
| judicial =
| capital = [[Barad-dûr]]
| language = [[Black Speech]]
| location = East of [[Gondor]], South of [[Rhûn]]
| populous= [[Orcs]], [[Trolls]], [[Nurn]] slaves
| currency =
| religious =
| holiday =
| anthem =
| formed =
| established = c. [[Second Age 1000|S.A. 1000]]
| fragmented = [[Second Age 3441|S.A. 3441]]
| reorganized = [[Third Age 2943|T.A. 2943]]
| dissolved = [[Third Age 3019|T.A. 3019]]
| restored =
}}
'''Mordor''' was the dwelling place of [[Sauron]], in the southeast of Middle-earth to the East of Anduin, the great river. [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]] and [[Samwise Gamgee|Sam]] went there 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, that protected this land from an unexpected invasion by any of the people living in those directions.

== Geography ==
Mordor was protected from three sides by mountain ranges, arranged roughly rectangularly: [[Ered Lithui]] in the north, [[Ephel Dúath]] in the west and Ered Glamoth in the south. Mordor was roughly 600 miles east to west and 400 north to south. In the northwest 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]] or the ''Battle Plain''. Sauron's main fortress [[Barad-dûr]] was at the foothills of [[Ered Lithui]]. To southwest of Barad-dûr lay the arid plateau of [[Gorgoroth]] and [[Mount Doom]]; 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]] and the fortress of [[Cirith Ungol]]. Another known fortress was [[Durthang]] in northern Ephel Dúath.

The southern part of Mordor, [[Nurn]], was slighly more fertile, and moist enough to carry the inland [[sea of Núrnen]]. The sea of Núrnen's water came from four separate rivers that run from the mountains in Mordor. The Gurthrant, the Caranduin, the Sirlith and the Culdiun. 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.

The most southern tip of [[Ephel Dùath]] is named Nan Ungol and is rumored to house the off spring of Shelob. Many who travel in do not return.

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]].

== 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 [[Orodruin]] and its eruptions. Sauron however was the first to settle there.

== History ==

'''See also:''' [[Timeline]]

=== 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 Age|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|Dark Lord of Mordor]].

For two and a half thousand years, Sauron ruled Mordor uninterruptedly. 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]]. He fought against the Men again, almost a thousand years later; that 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 and Elves failed, and they fought their way back to their foe's domain. After several years of siege, forces of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men came into Mordor. Sauron was defeated in a final battle on the slopes of Orodruin. For about a thousand years, Mordor was guarded by [[Gondor]] in order to prevent any evil forces from breaking out.

However Gondor had failed in the long run, and deprived of guard, Mordor began to fill with evil things again. [[Minas Ithil]] was conquered by the Nine [[Ringwraiths]]; other 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 [[The Hobbit|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 Teeth collapsed to ruin. Mount Doom exploded. 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 Mordor was given to the defeated foes of Gondor as a consolation, as well as to the freed slaves of Nurn who were formerly forced to farm there to feed the armies of Mordor.

== Etymology ==
The term ''Mordor'' translates to "The Black Land" or "The Dark Land" in [[Sindarin]]. [[mor]] = "dark, black", [[dôr]] = "land" ([[The Silmarillion]], Appendix - Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names).

===Inspiration of Name===
A proposed etymology out of the context of Middle-earth is [[Old English]] ''morthor'', which means "mortal sin" or "murder". (The latter are descended from the former.) It is not uncommon for names in Tolkien's fiction to have relevant meanings in several languages, both those invented by Tolkien, and "real" ones, but this of course happens with any two languages. ''Mordor'' is also a name cited in some [[Nordic mythology|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.

==Portrayals==
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.

==See also==
* [[Sauron]]
* [[Barad-dûr]]
* [[Orodruin]]
* [[Black Gate]]

[[Category:Realms]]
[[Category:Regions]]
[[Category:Mordor and Sauron]]

[[de:Mordor]]
[[fi:Mordor]]

Mordor

2009-03-14T05:05:42Z

59.101.253.248: /* Geography */

{{kingdom
| image = [[Image:Ted Nasmith - Across Gorgoroth.jpg|300px]]
| name = Mordor
| meaning = The Black Land
| type = Dictatorship
| headofstate = [[Sauron]]
| executive =
| legislative =
| judicial =
| capital = [[Barad-dûr]]
| language = [[Black Speech]]
| location = East of [[Gondor]], South of [[Rhûn]]
| populous= [[Orcs]], [[Trolls]], [[Nurn]] slaves
| currency =
| religious =
| holiday =
| anthem =
| formed =
| established = c. [[Second Age 1000|S.A. 1000]]
| fragmented = [[Second Age 3441|S.A. 3441]]
| reorganized = [[Third Age 2943|T.A. 2943]]
| dissolved = [[Third Age 3019|T.A. 3019]]
| restored =
}}
'''Mordor''' was the dwelling place of [[Sauron]], in the southeast of Middle-earth to the East of Anduin, the great river. [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]] and [[Samwise Gamgee|Sam]] went there 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, that protected this land from an unexpected invasion by any of the people living in those directions.

== Geography ==
Mordor was protected from three sides by mountain ranges, arranged roughly rectangularly: [[Ered Lithui]] in the north, [[Ephel Dúath]] in the west and Ered Glamoth in the south. Mordor was roughly 600 miles east to west and 400 north to south. In the northwest 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]] or the ''Battle Plain''. Sauron's main fortress [[Barad-dûr]] was at the foothills of [[Ered Lithui]]. To southwest of Barad-dûr lay the arid plateau of [[Gorgoroth]] and [[Mount Doom]]; 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]] and the fortress of [[Cirith Ungol]]. Another known fortress was [[Durthang]] in northern Ephel Dúath.

The southern part of Mordor, [[Nurn]], was slighly more fertile, and moist enough to carry the inland [[sea of Núrnen]]. The sea of Núrnen's water came from four separate rivers that run from the mountains in Mordor. The Gurthrant, the Caranduin, the Sirlith and the Culdiun. 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.

The most southern tip of [[Ephel Dùath]] is named Nan Ungol and is rumored to house the off spring of Shelob. many who travel in do not return.

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]].

== 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 [[Orodruin]] and its eruptions. Sauron however was the first to settle there.

== History ==

'''See also:''' [[Timeline]]

=== 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 Age|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|Dark Lord of Mordor]].

For two and a half thousand years, Sauron ruled Mordor uninterruptedly. 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]]. He fought against the Men again, almost a thousand years later; that 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 and Elves failed, and they fought their way back to their foe's domain. After several years of siege, forces of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men came into Mordor. Sauron was defeated in a final battle on the slopes of Orodruin. For about a thousand years, Mordor was guarded by [[Gondor]] in order to prevent any evil forces from breaking out.

However Gondor had failed in the long run, and deprived of guard, Mordor began to fill with evil things again. [[Minas Ithil]] was conquered by the Nine [[Ringwraiths]]; other 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 [[The Hobbit|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 Teeth collapsed to ruin. Mount Doom exploded. 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 Mordor was given to the defeated foes of Gondor as a consolation, as well as to the freed slaves of Nurn who were formerly forced to farm there to feed the armies of Mordor.

== Etymology ==
The term ''Mordor'' translates to "The Black Land" or "The Dark Land" in [[Sindarin]]. [[mor]] = "dark, black", [[dôr]] = "land" ([[The Silmarillion]], Appendix - Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names).

===Inspiration of Name===
A proposed etymology out of the context of Middle-earth is [[Old English]] ''morthor'', which means "mortal sin" or "murder". (The latter are descended from the former.) It is not uncommon for names in Tolkien's fiction to have relevant meanings in several languages, both those invented by Tolkien, and "real" ones, but this of course happens with any two languages. ''Mordor'' is also a name cited in some [[Nordic mythology|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.

==Portrayals==
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.

==See also==
* [[Sauron]]
* [[Barad-dûr]]
* [[Orodruin]]
* [[Black Gate]]

[[Category:Realms]]
[[Category:Regions]]
[[Category:Mordor and Sauron]]

[[de:Mordor]]
[[fi:Mordor]]

Barad-dûr

2009-03-14T04:49:41Z

59.101.253.248: /* History */

{{expansion}}
[[Image:John Howe - The Dark Tower.jpg|thumb|250px|Image of ''Barad-dûr'' by [[John Howe]].]]
{{Pronounce|Barad-dur.mp3|Ardamir}}
'''Barad-dûr''', the '''Dark Tower''', was the chief fortress of [[Sauron]]. Known in [[Black Speech]] as '''[[Lugburz]]''', the [[Eye of Sauron]] kept watch over [[Middle-earth]] from its highest tower.

==History==
Barad-dûr was built by Sauron with the power of the [[One Ring]] during the [[Second Age]]. The building took six hundred years to complete; it was the greatest fortress ever built since the Fall of [[Angband]], and much of Sauron's personal power went into it.

Sauron's slaves built a trench named Naur trench that ran in between Mount Doom and Barad-dûr. It supplied the dark tower with unlimted molten rock to forge weaponary. The molten rock from Naur trench flowed into a pool at the bottom of Barad-dûr and when acted as a line of defence for the only way across was a iron bridge. Naur trench ran alongside Saruon's road.

Barad-dûr was besieged for seven years by the [[Last Alliance of Elves and Men]], and was leveled after Sauron's defeat at the end of the [[Second Age]], but because it was created using the power of the One Ring its foundations could not be destroyed completely unless the Ring itself should be destroyed. [[Isildur]] failed to destroy the Ring, and so the tower was re-built when Sauron returned to Mordor thousands of years later.

Only when the One Ring was destroyed did the Tower finally fall; without Sauron's power to sustain it, it could not stand. Barad-dûr collapsed to ruin and Sauron was finally defeated.

==Appearance==
The Dark Tower was described as existing on a massive scale so large it was almost surreal, although Tolkien does not provide much detail beyond its size and immense strength. Since it had a "topmost tower" (the location of the Window of the Eye, from which the Eye of Sauron gazed out over Middle-earth), it presumably had multiple towers. It is otherwise described as dark and surrounded in shadow, so that it could not be clearly seen.

==Portrayal in adaptations==
[[Image:Barad-dur collapsing.jpg|thumb|left|Barad-dûr collapsing from [[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King]].]]
In the [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings|''Lord of the Rings'' movies]] by [[Peter Jackson]], [[Richard Taylor]] and his design team built a 9 foot high miniature ("[[Bigatures|big-ature]]") of Barad-dûr for use in the film. Using the size scale for the model implemented for the films, the Dark Tower is depicted as being over 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) tall, over two and a half times as tall as the CN Tower.

''[[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King|The Return of the King]]'' film also shows Barad-dûr as clearly visible from the [[Black Gate]] of Mordor. Even granting its enormous size, it was located one hundred miles away and to the east of the Gate¹, not to mention being behind the inner [[Mountains|mountain]] ridges of [[Udûn]] so [[Aragorn]]'s army would probably not have been able to see it. In the film version, the geography of Mordor seems generally to have been compressed somewhat, perhaps for artistic reasons related to rendering such complex stories in a visual medium. In the case of the Black Gate scene, having Barad-dûr visible from the Gate means that the army can see the Eye of Sauron staring at them.

==See also==
* [[:Category:Images of Barad-dûr|Images of Barad-dûr]]

[[Category:Fortresses]]
[[Category:Pronounced articles]]
[[Category:Sindarin words]]
[[Category:Mordor]]

[[de:Barad-dûr]]
[[fr:encyclo:geographie:villes_tours_et_forteresses:mordor:barad-dur]]
[[fi:Barad-dûr]]