Thaurband is a place in Mordor that appears in several adaptations.
Chronology and Creation
The name was originally created by cartographer and calligrapher Daniel Reeve while working on licensed map assets for the film trilogy and related merchandise.
Its first appearance is in the Maps of Middle-earth map set for Decipher's The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game, where it appears as a minor label below what seems to be a fortress near the western shore of the Sea of Nurnen without further exposition.[1] Reeve subsequently used the Decipher map as a template when tasked with designing the expanded merchandise map for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.[2][3]
Further adaptations
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Thaurband is mentioned in a coded journal entry in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor:[4]
I was going to scout Thaurband, the slave city. The Orcs got a prison there, and enough people in chains to run the mines and the mills and make the city go.
The Lord of the Rings Online
While the location is not visited in The Lord of the Rings Online, Thaurband is mentioned during a quest to fight the Gloom of Nurn, the Nazgûl who dwelt there:[5]
He dwelt in Thaurband, a fortress in southern Mordor, not far from the inland Sea. It was from that keep that the fear of him spread, giving him a new title to replace the name he no longer needed. He became the Gloom of Núrn, though he did not stay there, and roved far and wide at Sauron's command.
Fan works
The fansite Thelandofshadow.com took on several of the names introduced by Reeve, and expanded on them. Thaurband was described as follows:[6]
A fortress along the Sea of Nurnen. Thaurband is one of the largest of the southern guard posts of Mordor. Raised along the banks of the Sea of Nurnen, it was a logical outpost for troops, slaves and goods coming into Northern Mordor. [...] Many ships moved goods across the sea landing at Thaurband and then moving north along the Nurn road.
The information from The Land of Shadow was incorporated in a slightly modified form into the fan made Mordor Gazetteer of the Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP) fan modules group.
Etymology
Thaurband seems to be a Sindarin name, which means "Horrbile Prison". It seems to contain the elements thaur ("abominable", "horrible")[7] and band ("prison", "custody", "duress")[8].
Gallery
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Thaurband as it first appeared on the 2002 Decipher RPG map.
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The expanded 2003 merchandise map layout.
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References
- ↑ John Rateliff, The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game: Maps of Middle-earth (Decipher, 2002)
- ↑ . "The Lord of the Rings: Maps". Daniel Reeve, artist
- ↑ Daniel Reeve, personal correspondence (June 2026):
the Decipher maps pre-dated the ROTK merchandising map (Mordor). I created the set of maps for Decipher in 2002, and the ROTK merchandising map in 2003. So the Decipher Mordor map served as a kind of template when I later made the merchandising map of Mordor – at which time I expanded upon it, adding a lot more invented detail and names. […] I created the places and names myself.
- ↑ . "Guide and Walkthrough". gamefaqs.gamespot.com
- ↑ "Quest:The Gloom of Nurn, Scourge of Mordor". The Lord of the Rings Online Wiki
- ↑ "Thaurband", archived from the original. Thelandofshadow.com
- ↑ . "S. thaur adj.". Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon. Retrieved 25 June 2026
- ↑ . "S. band n.". Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon. Retrieved 25 June 2026