93-679: Ephel Duath may refer to: Ephel Dúath , mountain range in Middle-earth Ephel Duath (band) , Italian band Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Ephel Duath . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ephel_Duath&oldid=1041141421 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
186-498: A "bizarre" Middle-earth including a Mordor where one can meet beautiful women: "Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor / I met a girl so fair / But Gollum, and the evil one crept up / And slipped away with her". The 2014 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a third-person open world action-adventure video game set in Middle-earth. In the city of Warsaw , Poland , an area in the south-western district of Mokotów , in
279-733: A geologist explained, then flash to steam, causing an explosion. The name Barad-dûr is Sindarin , from barad "tower" and dûr "dark". It was called Lugbúrz in the Black Speech of Mordor, from lug "tower" and búrz "dark". The Black Speech (created by Sauron ) was one of the languages used in Barad-dûr. The soldiers there used a debased form of the tongue. In The Lord of the Rings "Barad-dûr," "Lugbúrz," and "the Dark Tower" are occasionally used as metonyms for Sauron. In
372-547: A mighty mountain-throne above immeasurable pits; great courts and dungeons, eyeless prisons sheer as cliffs, and gaping gates of steel and adamant..." Barad-dûr, along with the One Ring, Mordor, and Sauron himself, were destroyed on 25 March, a traditional Anglo-Saxon date for the crucifixion ; the quest to destroy the One Ring began in Rivendell on 25 December, the date of Christmas . In The Atlas of Middle-earth ,
465-449: A painting by Tolkien, however, the walls are of mainly grey stone and brick, and battlements, gates and towers are not visible. In The Two Towers Barad-dûr is described as "...that vast fortress, armoury, prison, furnace of great power..." The same paragraph goes on to say the Dark Tower had 'immeasurable strength'. The fortress was constructed with many towers and was hidden in clouds about it: "...rising black, blacker and darker than
558-707: A parallel with the history of Christian Europe from the Crusades against Islam onwards, and specifically with late 17th century history of Eastern Europe. The siege and relief of Minas Tirith, he proposed, resembled those of Vienna in 1683 , with the Turkish forces in the place of those of Mordor. The attack in both cases is from the East: over the Balkan hills or the Ephel Duath; across the plains of Hungary or Ithilien; over
651-505: A pit, a window into nothing. Later, Tolkien writes as if Frodo and Sam really glimpse the Eye directly. The mists surrounding Barad-dûr are briefly withdrawn, and: one moment only it stared out ... as from some great window immeasurably high there stabbed northward a flame of red, the flicker of a piercing Eye ... The Eye was not turned on them, it was gazing north ... but Frodo at that dreadful glimpse fell as one stricken mortally. This raises
744-463: A seeing stone from Númenor. The White Council of Wizards discovered Sauron, and drove him from Mirkwood. He returned to Mordor, openly declared himself, rebuilt Barad-dûr, and bred armies of large orcs, Uruks . The One Ring, lost in the Anduin, was found by the hobbit Sméagol. The Ring corrupted him. He shunned sunlight and took on the personality of Gollum . He retreated into caves, obsessed with
837-686: A shapeless evil. Sauron eventually reembodied. He concealed himself in Mirkwood as the Necromancer , in the stronghold of Dol Guldur , "Hill of Sorcery". The chief of the Nazgûl, the Witch-king of Angmar , destroyed the northern realm of Arnor. When attacked by Gondor, the Witch-king retreated to Mordor. The Nazgûl captured Minas Ithil, renamed Minas Morgul , and seized its palantír ,
930-728: A sleepless eye that watches and seeks the protagonists also influenced King's epic fantasy series The Dark Tower ; its villain, the Crimson King , is a similarly disembodied evil presence whose icon is also an eye. In the Marvel Comics Universe , the supervillain Sauron , an enemy of the X-Men created in 1969, names himself after the Tolkien character. In the comic series Fables , by Bill Willingham , one character
1023-632: A spirit and resumed his rule. Sauron's rule was interrupted again when his efforts to overthrow the surviving Men of Númenor and the Elves failed. The army of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men advanced on Mordor; in a great battle on the Dagorlad ("Battle Plain"), Sauron's forces were destroyed and the Black Gate was stormed. Barad-dûr was then besieged; after seven years, Sauron broke out and
SECTION 10
#17327808286751116-719: A variety of tongues, and Orcs and Trolls , who usually spoke a debased form of the Common Speech . Within Barad-dûr and among the captains of Mordor (the Ringwraiths and other high-ranking servants such as the Mouth of Sauron ), the Black Speech was still used, the language devised by Sauron during the Dark Years of the Second Age. In addition to ordinary Orcs and Trolls, Sauron had bred a more powerful strain of Orcs,
1209-612: A wholly evil will as was possible. Commentators have compared Sauron to the title character of Bram Stoker 's 1897 novel Dracula , and to Balor of the Evil Eye in Irish mythology . Sauron is briefly seen in a humanoid form in Peter Jackson 's film trilogy , which otherwise shows him as a disembodied, flaming Eye. The Ainulindalë explains how the supreme being Eru began the creation with good, immortal, angelic spirits,
1302-541: Is a sort of " damnation -on-earth". Edward Lense, also writing in Mythlore , identifies a figure from Celtic mythology , Balor of the Evil Eye , as a possible source for the Eye of Sauron. Balor's evil eye, in the middle of his forehead, was able to overcome a whole army. He was a leader of the supernatural Fomorians . Lense further compares Mordor to "a Celtic hell ", just as the Undying Lands of Aman resemble
1395-469: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Mordor#Geography In J. R. R. Tolkien 's fictional world of Middle-earth , Mordor ( pronounced [ˈmɔrdɔr] ; from Sindarin Black Land and Quenya Land of Shadow ) is the realm and base of the evil lord Sauron . It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin , and to
1488-470: Is the title character and the main antagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings , where he rules the land of Mordor . He has the ambition of ruling the whole of Middle-earth , using the power of the One Ring , which he has lost and seeks to recapture. In the same work, he is identified as the " Necromancer " of Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit . The Silmarillion describes him as
1581-625: Is the place where the One Ring was forged, and its magma heart is the only place where it can be destroyed. When Sauron is defeated at the end of the Third Age with the destruction of the One Ring, the volcano erupts violently. Tolkien stated in his " Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings ", intended to assist translators, that the phrase "Crack of Doom" derives from William Shakespeare 's play Macbeth , Act 4 scene 1. Tolkien wrote that
1674-726: Is voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch . Sauron appears in the form of his eye in the 2017 The Lego Batman Movie voiced by Jemaine Clement . He is one of the many classic villains the Joker frees from the Phantom Zone to run amok in Gotham City . Sauron appears in the merchandise of the Jackson films, including computer and video games. These include The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (where he
1767-619: The Ainur . These were the lesser Maiar including Sauron, and the greater Valar . Sauron perceived Eru directly. He was "far higher" than the Maiar who later came to Middle-earth as Wizards . The Vala Melkor rebelled against Eru, starting the evils which Sauron continued. Sauron served Aulë , the smith of the Valar, acquiring much knowledge; he was at first called Mairon ( Quenya : "The Admirable") until he joined Melkor. In Beleriand , he
1860-556: The Arthurian names like Morgana, Morgause, and Mordred; the Mor- element here does not mean "dark", possibly being connected to Welsh mawr "big", but Tolkien could have picked up the association with Arthurian evil. Tolkien, a scholar of Old English , was an expert on Beowulf , calling it one of his "most valued sources" for Middle-earth. The medievalists Stuart D. Lee and Elizabeth Solopova compare Tolkien's account of Mordor and
1953-770: The Battle of the Morannon , the One Ring was destroyed in Mount Doom, along with Sauron's power, Barad-dur, and the morale of his armies. This ultimate defeat of Sauron ended the Third Age. Gorgoroth became empty as its Orcs fled or were killed. The land of Núrn was given to Sauron's freed slaves. At the time of the War of the Ring, Sauron had gathered great armies to serve him. These included Easterlings and Haradrim , who spoke
SECTION 20
#17327808286752046-642: The One Ring in Orodruin. He then set about conquering Middle-earth, launching an attack upon the Elves of Eregion, but was repelled by the Men of Númenor . Over a thousand years later, the Númenóreans under Ar-Pharazôn sailed to Middle-earth to challenge Sauron's claim to be "King of Men". Sauron let them capture him and take him back to Númenor, where he caused its destruction . He at once returned to Mordor as
2139-727: The One Ring , to rule all the others, in Mordor 's volcanic Mount Doom . The Elves detected his influence when he put on the One Ring, and removed their Rings. Enraged, Sauron made war and overran Eregion, killed Celebrimbor, and seized the Seven and the Nine Rings of Power. The Three Rings were secretly entrusted to the Elves Gil-galad , Círdan , and Galadriel . Sauron attacked them. The Elves were saved by an army from Númenor , defeating Sauron. Sauron fortified Mordor and completed
2232-489: The Second Age , Sauron began to stir again and chose Mordor as a stronghold in which to build his fortress. It was strengthened by the power of the One Ring, which had recently been forged; its foundations would survive as long as the Ring existed. Gandalf described the Ring as being the "...foundation of Barad-dûr..." The Dark Tower is described as being composed of iron, being black and having battlements and gates. In
2325-566: The War of the Ring , Sauron attempted to storm Minas Tirith , the capital of Gondor, but was defeated by Gondor and Rohan in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields . The victors sent an army to the Black Gate to distract Sauron from the Ring. He responded by emptying Mordor of its armies, sending them to the Black Gate. As a result, the plain of Gorgoroth was left almost deserted and Frodo and Sam were able to travel across it to Mount Doom. During
2418-736: The Wolverhampton Art Gallery (2014) claims that the steelworks and blast furnaces of the West Midlands near Tolkien's childhood home inspired his vision of, and his name Mordor . This industrialized area has long been known as "the Black Country ". Philip Womack, writing in The Independent , likens Tolkien's move from rural Warwickshire to urban Birmingham as "exile from a rural idyll to Mordor-like forges and fires". The critic Chris Baratta notes
2511-797: The wholly evil will as is possible ." He explained that, like "all tyrants", Sauron had started out with good intentions but was corrupted by power, and that he "went further than human tyrants in pride and the lust for domination", being in origin an immortal (angelic) spirit. He began as Morgoth's servant; became his representative, in his absence in the Second Age; and at the end of the Third Age actually claimed to be 'Morgoth returned ' ". The classicist J. K. Newman comments that "Sauron's Greek name" makes him "the Lizard", from Ancient Greek σαῦρος (sauros) 'lizard or reptile', and that in turn places Frodo (whose quest destroys Sauron) as "a version of Praxiteles ' Apollo Sauroktonos ", Apollo
2604-515: The "Eye" because he did not allow his name to be written or spoken, according to Aragorn. The Lord of the Nazgûl threatened Éowyn with torture before the "Lidless Eye" at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Frodo had a vision of the Eye in the Mirror of Galadriel: The Eye was rimmed with fire, but was itself glazed, yellow as a cat's, watchful and intent, and the black slit of its pupil opened on
2697-593: The "senses of death, finality, and fate". Another possible source of the name, mentioned by Tolkien and discussed by the Tolkien scholar Jared Lobdell , is a pair of tales of supernatural events by the English novelist Algernon Blackwood , "The Willows" and "The Glamour of the Snow". According to the fanzine Niekas , Tolkien "more or less found Mordor" on a Mediterranean cruise in September 1966. When sailing past
2790-692: The Amazon series. The prequel adopts Tolkien's use of both Augustinian and Manichean attitudes to evil. The Eye of Sauron is mentioned in The Stand , a 1978 post-apocalyptic novel written by Stephen King . The villain Randall Flagg possesses an astral body in the form of an "Eye" akin to the Lidless Eye. The novel itself was conceived by King as a "fantasy epic like The Lord of the Rings , only with an American setting". The idea of Sauron as
2883-557: The Celtic Earthly Paradise of Tír na nÓg in the furthest (Atlantic) West; and Balor "ruled the dead from a tower of glass". The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger writes that if there was an opposite to Sauron in The Lord of the Rings , it would not be Aragorn, his political opponent, nor Gandalf, his spiritual enemy, but Tom Bombadil , the earthly Master who is entirely free of the desire to dominate and hence cannot be dominated. In film versions of The Lord of
Ephel Duath - Misplaced Pages Continue
2976-494: The Dark Tower of Barad-dûr . He distributed the Seven and the Nine Rings to lords of Dwarves and Men. Dwarves would not submit, but he enslaved Men as the feared Nazgûl . Orcs, Trolls , Easterlings and men of Harad became his servants. Toward the end of the Second Age, Númenor sought to colonize Middle-earth. Led by Ar-Pharazôn, a massive army sailed to Middle-earth to battle Sauron. Dismayed by Númenor's might, Sauron surrendered, hoping to corrupt Númenor from within. With
3069-653: The Downfall ; they founded the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor in Middle-earth. Sauron returned to Mordor and made war on these Exiles. He captured Minas Ithil; Elendil's son Isildur escaped down the Anduin. Anárion defended Osgiliath and drove Sauron's forces back to the mountains. Elendil, Isildur and Anárion formed the Last Alliance with the Elves and defeated Sauron at Dagorlad . They invaded Mordor and besieged Barad-dûr for seven years. Finally, Sauron came out to fight face-to-face, killing Elendil and Gil-galad; Elendil's sword Narsil broke beneath him. Isildur took up
3162-556: The Downfall of Númenor was hideous, "an image of malice and hatred made visible". Isildur recorded that Sauron's hand "was black, and yet burned like fire". Throughout The Lord of the Rings , "the Eye" (known by other names, including the Red Eye, the Evil Eye, the Lidless Eye, the Great Eye) is the image most often associated with Sauron. Sauron's Orcs bore the symbol of the Eye on their helmets and shields, and referred to him as
3255-537: The Lizard-killer. Gwenyth Hood, writing in Mythlore , compares Sauron to Count Dracula from Bram Stoker 's 1897 novel Dracula . In her view, both of these monstrous antagonists seek to destroy, are linked to powers of darkness, are parasitical on created life, and are undead . Both control others psychologically and have "hypnotic eyes". Control by either of them represents "high spiritual terror" as it
3348-513: The Morannon lay the Dagorlad or Battle Plain, and the Dead Marshes. The Ephel Dúath ("Fence of Shadow") defended Mordor on the west and south. The main pass was guarded by Minas Morgul , a city built by Gondor as Minas Ithil. The fortress Durthang lay in the northern Ephel Dúath above Udûn. A higher, more difficult pass, Cirith Ungol, lay just to the north of the Morgul pass. Its top
3441-620: The North American doom metal band Orodruin , are named after the mountain. In Peter Jackson 's film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings , Mount Doom was represented by two active volcanoes in New Zealand : Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu , located in Tongariro National Park . In long shots, the mountain is either a large model or a CGI effect, or a combination. The production was not permitted to film
3534-416: The One Ring, Sauron soon dominated the Númenóreans, undermining Númenor's religion, and inciting the island to worship Melkor with human sacrifice . Sauron convinced Ar-Pharazôn to attack Aman by sea to steal immortality from the Valar. The Valar appealed to Eru, who destroyed Númenor . Sauron's body was destroyed and he lost the ability to appear beautiful. Led by Elendil , nine ships escaped from
3627-563: The Ring was. Sauron sent the Nazgûl to pursue Frodo, but he escaped to Rivendell , where Elrond convened a council. It determined that the Ring should be destroyed in Mount Doom by the Company of the Ring . Saruman attempted to capture the Ring, but he was defeated. The palantír of Orthanc fell into the hands of the Company; Aragorn , Isildur's descendant and heir to the throne of Gondor, used it to show himself to Sauron as if he held
3720-463: The Ring, his "Precious". The Ring slipped from him and was picked up by Bilbo Baggins . Gollum attempted to murder Bilbo and reclaim the Ring, but Bilbo escaped when the Ring slipped onto his finger. Many years later, Gandalf identified Bilbo's ring, now passed down to his cousin Frodo , as Sauron's One Ring. He tasked Frodo with taking the Ring to Rivendell. Sauron tortured Gollum and discovered where
3813-557: The Ring. Sauron, troubled, attacked Minas Tirith prematurely. His army was destroyed at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields . Frodo entered Mordor through the pass of Cirith Ungol . Aragorn diverted Sauron's attention with an attack on the Black Gate of Mordor. Frodo reached Mount Doom, but claimed the Ring for himself, revealing the Ring to Sauron. Gollum seized the Ring and fell into the Cracks of Doom, destroying it and himself. Sauron
Ephel Duath - Misplaced Pages Continue
3906-412: The Rings trilogy . In the first film, Sean Bean , playing Boromir , the warrior from Gondor, declares to the Council of Elrond that "one does not simply walk into Mordor". In the second, Andy Serkis 's digital Gollum guides Frodo and Sam to the Black Gate. In the final film, Frodo and Sam struggle across the shattered volcanic plain of Gorgoroth to Mount Doom, dressed as orcs, under the red glare of
3999-467: The Rings , Sauron has been left off-screen as "an invisible and unvisualizable antagonist" as in Ralph Bakshi 's 1978 animated version , or as a disembodied Eye, as in Rankin/Bass 's 1980 animated adaptation of The Return of the King . In the 2001–2003 film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson , Sauron is voiced by Alan Howard . He is briefly shown as a large humanoid figure clad in spiky black armour, portrayed by Sala Baker , but appears only as
4092-401: The Rings: The Return of the King movie (2003) showed Barad-dûr as clearly visible from the Black Gate of Mordor, which is not the case in the book. Jackson portrayed Barad-dûr, like the other enemy fortresses of Isengard, Minas Morgul and the Black Gate, in "an exaggerated Gothic fashion" with a black metallic appearance. In The Lord of the Rings , the Eye was within the "Window of the Eye" in
4185-433: The Terrible few could endure" even before his body was lost in the War of the Last Alliance. In the draft text of the climactic moments of The Lord of the Rings , "the Eye" stands for Sauron's very person, with emotions and thoughts: The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him [Frodo], the Eye piercing all shadows ... Its wrath blazed like a sudden flame and its fear was like a great black smoke, for it knew its deadly peril,
4278-516: The Uruk-hai, and a strong and agile breed of Trolls, the Olog-hai, who could endure the sun. The Olog-hai knew only the Black Speech. Within Tolkien's fiction, "Mordor" had two meanings: "Black Land" in Sindarin , and "Land of Shadow" in Quenya . The root mor ("dark", "black") also appeared in Moria , which meant "Black Pit", and Morgoth , the first Dark Lord. Popular sources have conjectured or stated directly that "Mordor" came from Old English morðor , "mortal sin" or "murder". Against this,
4371-449: The actions of its subordinates", with the result that he becomes "truly unforgettable ... vaster, bolder and more terrifying through his absence than he could ever have been through his presence". He was initially able to change his appearance at will, but when he became Morgoth's servant, he took a sinister shape. In the First Age, the outlaw Gorlim was ensnared and brought into "the dreadful presence of Sauron", who had daunting eyes. In
4464-433: The adjective means "black"; Tolkien said that he liked the Italian language. Greek Μαυρός ( mauros ) means "dark, dim". He notes, too, the possible connection in Tolkien's mind with Mirkwood , the dark Northern forest, from Norse myrk "dark", cognate with English "murky". He adds that words like "Latin mors 'death' or Old English morðor 'murder'—further darkened the ring of this syllable." Finally, Fauskanger mentions
4557-613: The approaches to the Morannon [an entrance to Mordor] owe something to northern France after the Battle of the Somme ". The critic Lykke Guanio-Uluru sees Mordor as specifically evil, marked by Sauron: a land that is "dying, struggling for life, though not yet dead", evil being able to disfigure life but not to destroy it completely. It is contrasted, writes Guanio-Uluru, with the beauty of Lothlorien , and marked by negative adjectives like "harsh, twisted, bitter, struggling, low, coarse, withered, tangled, stabbing, sullen, shrivelled, grating, rattling, sad". In 1976, George W. Geib suggested
4650-409: The battle with Huan , the hound of Valinor, Sauron took the form of a werewolf. Then he assumed a serpent-like form, and finally changed back "from monster to his own accustomed [human-like] form". He took on a beautiful appearance at the end of the First Age to charm Eönwë , near the beginning of the Second Age when appearing as Annatar to the Elves, and again near the end of the Second Age to corrupt
4743-422: The cartographer 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. This was based on a First Age world-map drawn by Tolkien in the Ambarkanta , where the Inland Sea of Helcar occupied a large area of Middle-earth between the Ered Luin and Orocarni , its western end being close to
SECTION 50
#17327808286754836-500: The cats were changed to wolves or werewolves, with Sauron becoming the Lord of Werewolves. Before the 1977 publication of The Silmarillion , Sauron's origins and true identity were unclear to those without access to Tolkien's notes. In 1968, the poet W. H. Auden conjectured that Sauron might have been one of the Valar. Tolkien stated in his Letters that although he did not think "Absolute Evil" could exist as it would be "Zero", "in my story Sauron represents as near an approach to
4929-450: The chief lieutenant of the first Dark Lord , Morgoth . Tolkien noted that the Ainur , the " angelic " powers of his constructed myth, "were capable of many degrees of error and failing", but by far the worst was "the absolute Satanic rebellion and evil of Morgoth and his satellite Sauron". Sauron appears most often as "the Eye", as if disembodied. Tolkien, while denying that absolute evil could exist, stated that Sauron came as near to
5022-511: The coming horror, "play[ing] on ideas of desolation, wintry landscapes and the supernatural", and like Tolkien giving realistic descriptions of nature. At the same time, they write, both the Beowulf poet and Tolkien incorporate "an element of fantasy": Grendel's moor is both full of water and a "craggy headland .. inhabited by supernatural evil", while Tolkien fills the landscapes in and around Mordor with "similar ambiguity and sense of unease". An art exhibition entitled "The Making of Mordor" at
5115-402: The contrasting environments of the well-tended leafy Shire , the home of the hobbits, and "the industrial wastelands of Isengard and Mordor." Baratta comments that Tolkien clearly intended the reader to "identify with some of the problems of environmental destruction, rampant industrial invasion, and the corrupting and damaging effects these have on mankind." The New York Times related
5208-428: The disembodied Eye throughout the rest of the storyline. In earlier versions of Jackson's script, Sauron does battle with Aragorn, as shown in the extended DVD version of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King . The scene was removed as too large a departure from Tolkien's text and was replaced with Aragorn fighting a troll. Sauron appears as the Necromancer in Jackson's The Hobbit film adaptations , where he
5301-414: The enclosed plain of Udûn. Sauron built the Black Gate of Mordor (the Morannon) across the pass. This added to the earlier fortifications, the Towers of the Teeth – Carchost to the east, Narchost to the west, guard towers which had been built by Gondor to keep a watch on this entrance. The passage through the inner side of Udûn into the interior of Mordor was guarded by another gate, the Isenmouthe. Outside
5394-421: The fortresses. At the time of Bilbo Baggins 's quest in The Hobbit , Sauron returned into Mordor from Dol Guldur , feigning defeat, but readying for war. The Council of Elrond decided to send the Ring to Mount Doom to destroy it and Sauron's power. It was carried into Mordor by two Hobbits , Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee ; they approached via the Dead Marshes, and entered by the pass of Cirith Ungol. In
5487-474: The grim land of Mordor to Tolkien's personal experience in the trenches of the Western Front in the First World War . Jane Ciabattari, writing on the BBC culture website, calls the hobbits' struggle to take the ring to Mordor "a cracked mirror reflection of the young soldiers caught in the blasted landscape and slaughter of trench warfare on the Western Front." In one of his letters in 1960, Tolkien himself wrote that "The Dead Marshes [just north of Mordor] and
5580-430: The head of the Great Gulf (later the Mouths of Anduin). Sauron settled in Mordor in the Second Age of Middle-earth , and it remained the pivot of his evil contemplations. He built his great stronghold Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower, near the volcano Mount Doom ( Orodruin ), and became known as the Dark Lord of Mordor. Sauron aided the elves in the creation of the Rings of Power in Eregion in Eriador , and secretly forged
5673-407: The hilt-shard and cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, vanquishing Sauron. Isildur refused to destroy the Ring by casting it into Mount Doom, but kept it for his own. Isildur was ambushed by Orcs at the Gladden Fields . Isildur put on the Ring and attempted to escape by swimming across Anduin , but the Ring slipped from his finger. Isildur was killed by Orc archers. Sauron spent a thousand years as
SECTION 60
#17327808286755766-510: The homey Shire or the beautiful elvish forest of Lothlórien . Mordor was roughly rectangular in shape, with the longer sides on the north and south. Three sides were defended by mountain ranges: the Ered Lithui ("Ash Mountains") on the north, and the Ephel Dúath on the west and south. The lengths of these ranges are estimated to be 498, 283 and 501 miles (801, 455 and 806 kilometres) respectively, which gives Mordor an area of roughly 140,000 square miles (360,000 square kilometres). To
5859-434: The industrial Black Country of the English Midlands , and by his time fighting in the trenches of the Western Front in the First World War . Tolkien was also familiar with the account of the monster Grendel 's unearthly landscapes in the Old English poem Beowulf . Others have observed that Tolkien depicts Mordor as specifically evil , and as a vision of industrial environmental degradation , contrasted with either
5952-410: The later city in Gondor) on the isle of Tol Sirion. Lúthien came there to save her lover, the imprisoned Beren , with Huan the Wolfhound. Sauron, as a werewolf , battled Huan, who took him by the throat; he was defeated and left as a huge vampire bat . Lúthien destroyed the tower and rescued Beren. Eärendil eventually sailed to Valinor, and the Valar moved against Morgoth in the War of Wrath ; he
6045-432: The men of Númenor. He appeared then "as a man, or one in man's shape, but greater than any even of the race of Númenor in stature ... And it seemed to men that Sauron was great, though they feared the light of his eyes. To many he appeared fair, to others terrible; but to some evil." After the destruction of his fair form in the fall of Númenor, Sauron always took the shape of a terrible dark lord. His first incarnation after
6138-535: The neighbourhoods of Służewiec and Ksawerów , is commonly known as Mordor . There are located two small streets named in reference Tolkien works, J. R. R. Tolkiena Street, and Gandalfa Street. In 2015 NASA published photographs taken as the New Horizons space probe passed within 7,000 miles (11,000 km) of Pluto . A photo of Pluto's largest moon, Charon , shows a large dark region near its north pole. The dark region has been unofficially named Mordor Macula . Sauron Sauron (pronounced [ˈsaʊrɔn] )
6231-424: The neighbouring landscapes to the monster Grendel 's wilderness in Beowulf . In particular, they compare Frodo and Sam's crossing of the Dead Marshes and what Gollum called its "tricksy lights", with Beowulf 's "fire on the water"; and their traversal of the parched Morgai, full of rocks and vicious thorns, with Grendel's dangerous moors. Lee and Solopova write that the Beowulf description both emphasises
6324-488: The passage anew." Since the earliest versions of the Silmarillion legendarium , as detailed in the History of Middle-earth series, Sauron underwent many changes. The prototype or precursor Sauron-figure was a giant monstrous cat, the Prince of Cats. Called Tevildo , Tifil and Tiberth among other names, this character played the role later taken by Sauron in the earliest version of the story of Beren and Tinúviel in The Book of Lost Tales in 1917. The Prince of Cats
6417-399: The philologist Helge Fauskanger notes that Tolkien had been using both the elements of the name, "mor" and "dor" (as in Gondor, Eriador) for decades before assembling them into "Mordor". Fauskanger writes that there are however several words that sound like "mor" with connotations of darkness. Italian moro (cf. Latin maurus , black, and Mauri , a North African tribe) means a Moor , and
6510-415: The phrase meant "the announcement of the Last Day" by a crack of thunder , or "the sound of the last trump[et]" (he cites the use of "crack" to mean a trumpet's sound in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight at lines 116 and 1166) at the Last Judgment as described in the Book of Revelation . He further states that "Doom" originally meant "judgement", and by its sound and its use in the word "doomsday" carries
6603-426: The question of whether an "Eye" was Sauron's actual manifestation, or whether he had a body beyond the Eye. Gollum (who was tortured by Sauron in person) tells Frodo that Sauron has, at least, a "Black Hand" with four fingers. The missing finger was cut off when Isildur took the Ring, and the finger was still missing when Sauron reappeared centuries later. Tolkien writes in The Silmarillion that "the Eye of Sauron
6696-574: The river Danube or Anduin; supported by "wild Tartar horsemen" or "eastern cavalry"; the siege of the walls by "Turkish sappers" or Mordor's Orcs; relief by a battle further downstream, whether by Charles, Duke of Lorraine of Imre Thokoly 's army, or by Aragorn over the Corsairs of Umbar; and the breaking of the siege by an army from the north, whether Polish forces or the Riders of Rohan. Mordor features in all three films of Peter Jackson 's Lord of
6789-499: The second season as Annatar (a canonical alias of Sauron), both played by Charlie Vickers . The Halbrand persona was conceived to make the audience share the feeling of being deceived by Sauron, and to ensure he would not overshadow other characters. Afterwards, he would be allowed to function like other classic TV villains (such as Walter White or Tony Soprano ), or Lucifer in John Milton 's Paradise Lost . Vickers said he
6882-518: The south of Mirkwood . Mount Doom , a volcano in Mordor, was the goal of the Fellowship of the Ring in the quest to destroy the One Ring . Mordor was surrounded by three mountain ranges, to the north, the west, and the south. These both protected the land from invasion and kept those living in Mordor from escaping. Commentators have noted that Mordor was influenced by Tolkien's own experiences in
6975-457: The southern part of Mordor, was less arid and more fertile; Sauron's slaves farmed this region to support his armies, and streams fed the salt Sea of Núrnen. To the east of Gorgoroth lay the dry plain of Lithlad. Mount Doom, Orodruin, or Amon Amarth ("Mountain of Fate") is more than an ordinary volcano; it responds to Sauron's commands and his presence, lapsing into dormancy when he is away from Mordor, and becoming active again when he returns. It
7068-567: The summit of Ngauruhoe because the Māori hold it to be sacred, but some scenes on the slopes of Mount Doom were filmed on the slopes of Ruapehu. In the TV series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power , Mount Doom undergoes a phreatomagmatic eruption in the Second Age . This was set off when orcs opened a floodgate , releasing water on to hot magma deep underground. The water would,
7161-483: The thread upon which hung its doom ... [I]ts thought was now bent with all its overwhelming force upon the Mountain..." Christopher Tolkien comments: "The passage is notable in showing the degree to which my father had come to identify the Eye of Barad-dûr with the mind and will of Sauron, so that he could speak of 'its wrath, its fear, its thought'. In the second text ... he shifted from 'its' to 'his' as he wrote out
7254-561: The time Elves awoke, Sauron was Melkor's lieutenant with command over the stronghold of Angband . The Valar made war on Melkor and captured him, but Sauron escaped. He hid, repaired Angband, and bred an army of Orcs . Melkor, now called Morgoth, murdered Finwë, King of the Noldor, and escaped to Middle-earth with the Silmarils , pursued by the Noldor. Sauron directed the war against the Elves, conquering their fortress of Minas Tirith (not
7347-404: The topmost tower, whereas in Jackson's film trilogy the Eye appeared between two horn-like spires that curved upwards from the tower top. In Womack's view the 2019 biopic Tolkien explicitly connects Mordor to trench warfare: "riders become bloody knights; smoke billows and turns into the form of dark kings." The third verse of Led Zeppelin 's 1969 song " Ramble On " by Jimmy Page features
7440-464: The vast shades amid which it stood, the cruel pinnacles and iron crown of the topmost tower of Barad-dûr." The structure could not be clearly seen because Sauron created shadows about himself that crept out from the tower. In Frodo 's vision on Amon Hen , he perceived the immense tower as "...wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black, immeasurably strong, mountain of iron, gate of steel, tower of adamant... Barad-dûr, Fortress of Sauron." There
7533-538: The volcano and the watchful Eye of Sauron from an exaggeratedly Gothic Barad-dûr, while the Army of the West gathers for the final battle in front of the Black Gate and witnesses the cataclysmic destruction of everything Sauron had built when the Ring is destroyed. For Jackson's film trilogy, Richard Taylor and his design team built an 18 ft (5 m) high miniature (" big-ature ") of Barad-dûr. Jackson's The Lord of
7626-444: The volcano of Stromboli at night, Tolkien said he had "never seen anything that looked so much like [Mount Doom]." The International Astronomical Union names all mountains on Saturn 's moon Titan after mountains in Tolkien's work. In 2012, they named a Titanian mountain " Doom Mons " after Mount Doom. The Swedish melodic death metal band Amon Amarth , whose lyrics deal primarily with Viking culture and Norse mythology, and
7719-582: The west lay the narrow land of Ithilien , a province of Gondor; to the northwest, the Dead Marshes and Dagorlad, the Battle Plain; to the north, Wilderland; to the northeast and east, Rhûn; to the southeast, Khand; and to the south, Harad . Not far from the Dead Marshes is another dismal swamp, the Nindalf or Wetwang, beside the Emyn Muil hills. In the northwest, the pass of Cirith Gorgor led into
7812-466: Was a look-out post, the "Window of the Eye", at the top of the tower. This window was visible from Mount Doom where Frodo and Sam had a terrible glimpse of the Eye of Sauron. Barad-dûr's west gate is described as "huge" and the west bridge as "a vast bridge of iron." In The Return of the King , Sam Gamgee witnessed the destruction of Barad-dûr: "... towers and battlements, tall as hills, founded upon
7905-503: Was called Gorthu ("Mist of Fear") and Gorthaur ("The Cruel") in Sindarin . Sauron was drawn to Melkor's power, as he hated disorder. Sauron became a spy for Melkor on the isle of Almaren , the Valar's home. Melkor soon destroyed Almaren; the Valar moved to Valinor , not perceiving Sauron's treachery. Sauron followed Melkor to Middle-earth , and openly joined the Valar's enemy. Sauron helped Melkor in every kind of deceit. By
7998-595: Was cast into the Outer Void beyond the world, but again Sauron escaped. About 500 years into the Second Age , Sauron reappeared, intent on taking over Middle-earth. To seduce the Elves into his service, Sauron assumed a fair appearance as Annatar , "Lord of Gifts" and befriended Celebrimbor 's Elven-smiths of Eregion . He taught them arts and magic, helping them to forge the Rings of Power . Sauron secretly forged
8091-462: Was composed of three large regions. The core of Sauron's realm was in the northwest: the arid plateau of Gorgoroth, with the active volcano Mount Doom located in the middle. Sauron's main fortress Barad-dûr was on the north side of Gorgoroth, at the end of a spur of the Ash Mountains. Gorgoroth was volcanic and inhospitable to life, but home to Mordor's mines, forges, and garrisons. Núrn,
8184-524: Was defeated on the slopes of Orodruin. Sauron fled into Rhûn, and Barad-dûr was levelled. Gondor built fortresses at the entrances to Mordor to prevent his return, maintaining the "Watchful Peace" for over a thousand years. The Great Plague in Gondor caused the fortifications guarding Mordor to be abandoned, and Mordor again filled with evil things. The Ringwraiths took advantage of Gondor's decline to re-enter Mordor, conquered Minas Ithil , and took over
8277-541: Was guarded by a tower, built by Gondor. The route traversed Torech Ungol, the lair of the giant spider Shelob . Inside the Ephel Dúath ran a lower parallel ridge, the Morgai, separated by a narrow valley, a "dying land not yet dead" with "low scrubby trees", "coarse grey grass-tussocks", "withered mosses", "great writhing, tangled brambles", and thickets of briars with long, stabbing thorns. The interior of Mordor
8370-528: Was later replaced by Thû , the Necromancer. The name was then changed to Gorthû , Sûr , and finally to Sauron. Gorthû , in the form Gorthaur, remained in The Silmarillion ; both Thû and Sauron name the character in the 1925 Lay of Leithian . The story of Beren and Lúthien also features the heroic hound Huan and involved the subtext of cats versus dogs in its earliest form. Later
8463-527: Was unaware of his character's true identity until filming the third episode . He admitted he began to suspect when lines from John Milton 's Paradise Lost , a narrative poem about the biblical story of the fall of man , were used during an audition. Jack Lowden portrays the character's First Age and early Second Age form in flashback in the second season premiere . The depiction of evil in Arda as embodied in Sauron shifts both in Tolkien's writings and in
8556-487: Was utterly defeated, and vanished from Middle-earth. Tolkien never described Sauron's appearance in detail, though he painted a watercolour illustration of him. Sarah Crown, in The Guardian , wrote that "we're never ushered into his presence; we don't hear him speak. All we see is his influence". She called it "a bold move, to leave the book's central evil so undefined – an edgeless darkness given shape only through
8649-654: Was voiced by Fred Tatasciore ), The Lord of the Rings: Tactics , and The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age . In the Lord of the Rings Online game, he is featured as an enemy. Sauron's rise to power in the Second Age is portrayed in the Amazon prequel series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power . He first appears disguised as the non-canonical human character Halbrand, and then in
#674325