106-632: 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 the south of Mirkwood . Mount Doom , a volcano in Mordor, was the goal of the Fellowship of the Ring in the quest to destroy
212-763: 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 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,
318-459: A constructed universe , is the internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative or a work of art . This concept is most commonly associated with works of fantasy and science fiction , and can be found in various forms such as novels , comics , films , television shows , video games , and other creative works. In science fiction, a fictional universe may be a remote alien planet or galaxy with little apparent relationship to
424-496: A "birthday present"; when Déagol refused, Sméagol strangled him and took the Ring. It corrupted his body and mind, turning him into the monstrous Gollum . The Ring manipulated Gollum into hiding in a cave under the Misty Mountains near Mirkwood , where Sauron was beginning to resurface. There Gollum remained for nearly 500 years, using the Ring to hunt Orcs. The Ring eventually abandoned Gollum, knowing it would never leave
530-495: 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
636-443: A 4th-century pagan mystery cult temple was excavated at Lydney Park , Gloucestershire. The archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler asked Tolkien asked to investigate a Latin inscription there, which mentioned the theft of a ring, with a curse upon its thief: For the god Nodens . Silvianus has lost a ring and has donated one-half [its worth] to Nodens. Among those who are called Senicianus do not allow health until he brings it to
742-525: A North African tribe) means a Moor , and 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
848-473: A Ring of Power. In Katz's view, Tolkien's story "demonstrate[s] various responses to the question posed by Plato: would a just person be corrupted by the possibility of almost unlimited power?" The question is answered in different ways: Gollum is weak, quickly corrupted, and finally destroyed; Boromir begins virtuous but like Plato's Gyges is corrupted "by the temptation of power" from the Ring, even if he wants to use it for good, but redeems himself by defending
954-735: 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 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,
1060-516: A bond with the wretched, treacherous creature, while Gollum warmed to Frodo's kindness and made an effort to keep his promise. Gollum however gave in to the Ring's temptation, and betrayed Frodo to the spider Shelob . Believing Frodo to be dead, Sam bore the Ring himself for a short time and experienced the temptation it induced. Sam rescued Frodo from Orcs at the Tower of Cirith Ungol . The hobbits, followed by Gollum, reached Mount Doom, where Frodo
1166-537: A broken sword reforged. In the Völsunga saga , these items are respectively Andvaranaut and Gram , and they correspond broadly to the One Ring and the sword Narsil (reforged as Andúril). Tolkien dismissed critics' direct comparisons to Wagner, telling his publisher, "Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases." Some critics hold that Tolkien's work borrows so liberally from Wagner that it exists in
SECTION 10
#17327718621651272-442: A god-hero, a ring, dwarves, and a silver hand. The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia notes the "Hobbit-like appearance of [Dwarf's Hill]'s mine-shaft holes", and that Tolkien was extremely interested in the hill's folklore on his stay there; it cites Helen Armstrong's comment that the place may have inspired Tolkien's "Celebrimbor and the fallen realms of Moria and Eregion". The scholar of English literature John M. Bowers writes that
1378-613: 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 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
1484-678: A matter for readers. Other parallels have been drawn with the Ring of Gyges in Plato 's Republic , which conferred invisibility, though there is no suggestion that Tolkien borrowed from the story. The One Ring was forged by the Dark Lord Sauron during the Second Age to gain dominion over the free peoples of Middle-earth . In disguise as Annatar , or "Lord of Gifts", he aided the Elven smiths of Eregion and their leader Celebrimbor in
1590-707: 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
1696-511: 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 , 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
1802-650: 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 the phrase meant "the announcement of the Last Day" by a crack of thunder , or "the sound of
1908-489: Is gradually corrupted, but is saved by his earlier mercy to Gollum, and Gollum's desperation for the Ring. Katz concludes that Tolkien's answer to Plato's "Why be moral?" is "to be yourself". Tolkien stated that The Lord of the Rings was not a point-by-point allegory , particularly not of political events of his time such as the Second World War . At the same time he contrasted 'applicability' which "resides in
2014-606: The Blessed Realm ; and the Númenórean kingdoms had either declined or been destroyed, and had few allies. Of the Ring-bearers, three were alive after the Ring's destruction: the hobbits Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam. Bilbo, having borne the Ring the longest, had his life much prolonged. Frodo was scarred physically and mentally by his quest. Sam, having only briefly kept the Ring, was affected the least. In consideration of
2120-544: 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 the homey Shire or the beautiful elvish forest of Lothlórien . Mordor was roughly rectangular in shape, with
2226-611: The Man-Kzin Wars . Other fictional universes, like the Ring of Fire series , actively court canonical stimulus from fans, but gate and control the changes through a formalized process and the final say of the editor and universe creator . One Ring The One Ring , also called the Ruling Ring and Isildur's Bane , is a central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). It first appeared in
SECTION 20
#17327718621652332-1130: 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, 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 ,
2438-588: 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 the industrial Black Country of the English Midlands , and by his time fighting in the trenches of the Western Front in
2544-734: 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
2650-582: The morality of the wearer. The scholar of humanities Frederick A. de Armas notes parallels between Plato's and Tolkien's rings, and suggests that both Bilbo and Gyges, going into deep dark places to find hidden treasure, may have "undergone a Catabasis ", a psychological journey to the Underworld. The Tolkien scholar Eric Katz, without suggesting that Tolkien was aware of the Ring of Gyges, writes that "Plato argues that such [moral] corruption will occur, but Tolkien shows us this corruption through
2756-558: The 1870 rendering by William Morris of the Victorian Arts and Crafts movement and Icelandic scholar Eiríkur Magnússon . That saga and the Middle High German Nibelungenlied were coeval texts that used the same ancient sources. Both of them provided some of the basis for Richard Wagner 's opera series, Der Ring des Nibelungen , featuring in particular a magical but cursed golden ring and
2862-697: 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 the Morannon lay the Dagorlad or Battle Plain, and
2968-546: 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 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
3074-492: The Black Speech from the full Ring Verse : When Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron's hand, it was burning hot, its inscription legible; he transcribed it before it faded. Gandalf learned of the secret inscription from Isildur's account, and heated Frodo 's ring to reveal it, proving it to be the One Ring. Gandalf recited the inscription in Black Speech at the Council of Elrond , causing everyone to tremble: The change in
3180-563: The Crack of Doom, and Sauron's 'fair' body was destroyed in the downfall of Númenor. He may not have worn it at the time, but he "took [it] up again" when his spirit returned to Mordor. Like the Nine Rings, the One Ring physically corrupted mortals who wore it, eventually transforming them into wraiths . Hobbits were more resistant to this than Men : Gollum, who possessed the ring for 500 years, did not become wraith-like because he rarely wore
3286-499: 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 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
Mordor - Misplaced Pages Continue
3392-723: 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 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,
3498-534: 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 was guarded by a tower, built by Gondor. The route traversed Torech Ungol,
3604-533: The Fire of Doom", a prophecy soon fulfilled. As the Ring contained much of Sauron's power, it was endowed with a malevolent agency. While separated from Sauron, the Ring strove to return to him by manipulating its bearer to claim ownership of it, or by abandoning its bearer. To master the Ring's capabilities, a Ring bearer would need a well-trained mind, a strong will, and great native power. Those with weaker minds, such as hobbits and lesser Men, would gain little from
3710-649: The Last Alliance, at the cost of their own lives. Elendil's son, Isildur , cut the Ring from Sauron's hand on the slopes of Mount Doom. Though counselled to destroy the Ring, he was swayed by its power and kept it "as weregild for my father, and my brother". A few years later, Isildur was ambushed by Orcs by the River Anduin near the Gladden Fields ; he put on the Ring to escape, but it chose to slip from his finger as he swam, and, suddenly visible, he
3816-524: The Nazgul and the Black Speech of Mordor have been described as "nightmarish". In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , the wearer of the Ring is portrayed as moving through a shadowy realm where everything is distorted. The effects of the Ring on Bilbo and Frodo are obsessions that have been compared with drug addiction ; actor Andy Serkis , who played Gollum , cited drug addiction as an inspiration for his performance. The actual ring for
3922-566: 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 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
4028-602: The One Ring, acknowledging that Tolkien may have made use of multiple influences, and had intentionally set about to update the myths. Tolkien's use of the Ring was influenced by Norse mythology . While at King Edward's School in Birmingham, he read and translated from the Old Norse in his free time. One of his first Norse purchases was the Völsunga saga . While a student, he read the only available English translation,
4134-476: 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 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
4240-525: 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 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
4346-463: The Ring to his adopted heir Frodo Baggins . He briefly gave in to the Ring's power, even calling it "my precious"; alarmed, Gandalf spoke harshly to his old friend to persuade him to give it up, which Bilbo did, becoming the first Ring-bearer to surrender it willingly. By this time Sauron had regained much of his power, and the Dark Tower in Mordor had been rebuilt. Gollum, released from Mordor,
Mordor - Misplaced Pages Continue
4452-497: The Ring – provides the " eucatastrophe " for a happy ending. The work is thus, Rosebury asserted, very tightly constructed, the expansive descriptions and the Ring-based plot fitting together exactly. The Ring offers power to its wearer, and progressively corrupts the wearer's mind to evil. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey applies Lord Acton 's 1887 statement that "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men" to it. He notes that
4558-405: The Ring, he could control the power of all the other Rings, and thus he was significantly more powerful after its creation than before; but by binding his power within the Ring, Sauron became dependent on it. The Ring seemed to be made simply of gold, but it was completely impervious to damage, even to dragon fire (unlike other rings). It could be destroyed only by throwing it into the pit of
4664-448: The Ring, let alone realize its full potential. Even for one with the necessary strength, it would have taken time to master the Ring's power sufficiently to overthrow Sauron. The Ring did not render its bearer omnipotent. Three times Sauron suffered military defeat while bearing the Ring, first by Gil-galad in the War of Sauron and the Elves, then by Ar-Pharazôn when Númenórean power so overawed his armies that they deserted him, and at
4770-476: The Ring. Except for Tom Bombadil , nobody seemed to be immune to the corrupting effects of the One Ring, even powerful beings like Gandalf and Galadriel, who refused to wield it out of the knowledge that they would become like Sauron himself. Within the land of Mordor where it was forged, the Ring's power increased so significantly that even without wearing it the bearer could draw upon it, and could acquire an aura of terrible power. When Sam encountered an Orc in
4876-403: The Rings combines a slow, descriptive series of scenes or tableaux illustrating Middle-earth with a unifying plotline in the shape of the quest to destroy the Ring. The Ring needs to be destroyed to save Middle-earth itself from destruction or domination by Sauron. The work builds up Middle-earth as a place that readers come to love, shows that it is under dire threat, and – with the destruction of
4982-409: 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
5088-400: 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
5194-474: 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 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
5300-571: 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 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
5406-409: The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes is rarely picked up by readers, is that Tolkien chose dates of symbolic importance in Christianity for the quest to destroy the Ring. It began in Rivendell on 25 December, the date of Christmas , and ended on Mount Doom on 25 March, a traditional Anglo-Saxon date for the crucifixion . The scholar of the humanities Brian Rosebury noted that The Lord of
SECTION 50
#17327718621655512-449: The Tower of Cirith Ungol while holding the Ring, he appeared to the terrified Orc as a powerful warrior cloaked in shadow "[holding] some nameless menace of power and doom". Similarly at Mount Doom, when Frodo and Sam were attacked by Gollum, Frodo grabbed the Ring and appeared as "a figure robed in white... [that] held a wheel of fire". Frodo told Gollum "in a commanding voice" that "If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into
5618-442: The approach of war in 1938 "had had some effect on it": The Lord of the Rings was applicable to the horror of war in general, as long as it was not taken as a point-by-point allegory of any particular war, with false equations like "Sauron= Satan or Hitler or Stalin , Gandalf=God or Churchill , Aragorn=Christ or MacArthur , the Ring=the atomic bomb , Mordor= Hell or Russia or Germany". One aspect of such applicability, which
5724-610: 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
5830-409: The cave whilst he bore it. Gollum eventually left the Misty Mountains to track down the Ring. He was drawn to Mordor, where he was captured. Sauron tortured and interrogated him, learning that the Ring had been found and was held by one "Baggins" in the land of " Shire ". The Ring began to strain Bilbo, leaving him feeling "stretched-out and thin", so he decided to leave the Shire, intending to pass
5936-508: 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
6042-400: 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
6148-500: The earlier story The Hobbit (1937) as a magic ring that grants the wearer invisibility . Tolkien changed it into a malevolent Ring of Power and re-wrote parts of The Hobbit to fit in with the expanded narrative. The Lord of the Rings describes the hobbit Frodo Baggins 's quest to destroy the Ring and save Middle-earth . Scholars have compared the story with the ring-based plot of Richard Wagner 's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen ; Tolkien denied any connection, but at
6254-414: The end of the Second Age with his personal defeat by Gil-galad and Elendil. Tolkien indicates in a speech by Elrond that such a defeat would not have been possible in the waning years of the Third Age , when the strength of the free peoples was greatly diminished. There were no remaining heroes of the stature of Gil-galad, Elendil, or Isildur; the strength of the Elves was fading and they were departing to
6360-459: The eye of the dark power that rules the Rings. J. R. R. Tolkien , The Fellowship of the Ring A mortal wearing the Ring became effectively invisible except to those able to perceive the non-physical world, with only a thin, shaky shadow discernible in the brightest sunlight. All the same, when Sam wore the ring on the edge of Mordor, "he did not feel invisible at all, but horribly and uniquely visible; and he knew that somewhere an Eye
6466-449: The films was designed and created by Jens Hansen Gold & Silversmith in Nelson, New Zealand , and was based on a simple wedding ring . Polygon highlighted that "the workshop produced approximately 40 different rings for the films. Most expensive were the 18 carat solid gold 'hero' rings, sized ten for Frodo’s hand and 11 for the chain. [...] To save money — though not time — the workshop used gold-plated sterling silver for most of
SECTION 60
#17327718621656572-518: The first Dark Lord. Popular sources have conjectured or stated directly that "Mordor" came from Old English morðor , "mortal sin" or "murder". Against this, 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 ,
6678-407: 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 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
6784-493: The freedom of the reader", with 'allegory' which resides in "the purposed domination of the author". He stated that had the Second World War "inspired or directed the development of the legend" as an allegory, then the fate of the Ring, and of Middle-earth, would have been very different: Anne C. Petty, writing in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , notes that Tolkien was all the same quite capable of using "allegorical elements when it suited his purpose", and that he agreed that
6890-443: The goblins by remaining invisible, but he chose not to tell Gandalf and the dwarves that the Ring had made him invisible. Instead he told them a story that followed the first edition: that Gollum had given him the Ring and shown him the way out. Gandalf was immediately suspicious of the Ring, and later forced the real story from Bilbo. Scholars have identified numerous more or less plausible sources for, or at least parallels with,
6996-472: 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
7102-401: The hobbits to his own death; the "strong and virtuous" Galadriel, who sees clearly what she would become if she accepted the ring, and rejects it; the immortal Tom Bombadil, exempt from the Ring's corrupting power and from its gift of invisibility; Sam who in a moment of need faithfully uses the ring, but is not seduced by its vision of "Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age"; and finally Frodo who
7208-414: 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 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
7314-414: 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 was composed of three large regions. The core of Sauron's realm
7420-444: 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 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
7526-458: The last and most powerful king of Númenor, landed at Umbar with an immense army, forcing Sauron's armies to flee. Sauron was taken to Númenor as a prisoner. Tolkien wrote in a 1958 letter that the surrender was both "voluntary and cunning" so he could gain access to Númenor. Sauron used the Númenóreans' fear of death to turn them against the Valar , and manipulate them into worshipping his master, Morgoth , with human sacrifice . Sauron's body
7632-669: 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 the "senses of death, finality, and fate". Another possible source of the name, mentioned by Tolkien and discussed by
7738-453: The least, both men drew on the same mythology. Another source is Tolkien's analysis of Nodens , an obscure pagan god with a temple at Lydney Park , where he studied the Latin inscriptions, one containing a curse on the thief of a ring . Tolkien rejected the idea that the story was an allegory , saying that applicability to situations such as the Second World War and the atomic bomb was
7844-528: 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 the west lay
7950-526: The making of the Rings of Power . He then secretly forged the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom . Sauron intended it to be the most powerful of all Rings, able to rule and control those who wore the others. Since the other Rings were powerful on their own, Sauron was obliged to place much of his own power into the One to achieve his purpose. Creating the Ring simultaneously strengthened and weakened Sauron. With
8056-566: The mountain is either a large model or a CGI effect, or a combination. The production was not permitted to film 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
8162-702: The name of the Elven-smith Celebrimbor, who forged the Elf-rings, is the Sindarin for "Silver Hand". A source that Tolkien "might have borrowed" from, though there is no evidence for this, is Plato 's Republic . Its second book tells the story of the Ring of Gyges that gave its owner the power of invisibility. In so doing, it created a moral dilemma , enabling people to commit injustices without fearing they would be caught. In contrast, Tolkien's Ring actively exerts an evil force that destroys
8268-609: 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 the enclosed plain of Udûn. Sauron built
8374-632: 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 . Fictional world A fictional universe , also known as an imagined universe or
8480-476: 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
8586-528: The opinion is distinctively modern, and that other modern authors such as George Orwell with Animal Farm (1945), William Golding with Lord of the Flies (1954), and T. H. White with The Once and Future King (1958) similarly wrote about the corrupting effects of power. When the critic Colin Manlove described Tolkien's attitude to power as inconsistent, arguing that the supposedly overwhelming Ring
8692-865: The real world (as in Star Wars ); in fantasy, it may be a greatly fictionalized or invented version of Earth's distant past or future (as in The Lord of the Rings ). In a 1970 article in CAPA-alpha , comics historian Don Markstein defined the fictional universe as meant to clarify the concept of fictional continuities. According to the criteria he imagined: Fictional universes are sometimes shared by multiple prose authors, with each author's works in that universe being granted approximately equal canonical status. For example, Larry Niven 's fictional universe Known Space has an approximately 135-year period in which Niven allows other authors to write stories about
8798-611: The ring of this syllable." Finally, Fauskanger mentions 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
8904-464: The rings. [...] For many fans, the ring used in close-ups — like the scene where the Ring slips away from Frodo to lure Boromir in the snow at Caradhras, or when arguing participants in the Council of Elrond are shown reflected in the Ring’s surface — is the real hero ring. In order to capture the ring’s sheen in high definition, that prop was a full eight inches wide — too big even for Hansen’s tools. Instead,
9010-573: 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
9116-443: 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 is the place where the One Ring was forged, and its magma heart is the only place where it can be destroyed. When Sauron
9222-490: The second edition, after losing the Riddle Game to Bilbo, Gollum went to get his "Precious" to help him kill and eat Bilbo, but found the Ring missing. Deducing from Bilbo's last question—"What have I got in my pocket?"—that Bilbo had found the Ring, Gollum chased him through the caves, not realizing that Bilbo had discovered the Ring's power of invisibility and was following him to the cave's mouth. Bilbo escaped Gollum and
9328-619: The shadow of Wagner's. Others, such as Gloriana St. Clair , attribute the resemblances to the fact that Tolkien and Wagner had created works based on the same sources in Norse mythology . Tom Shippey and other researchers hold an intermediary position, stating that the authors indeed used the same source materials, but that Tolkien was indebted to some of the original developments, insights and artistic uses of those sources that first appeared in Wagner, and sought to improve upon them. In 1928,
9434-605: The temple of Nodens. The curse is matched by the inscription on the Ring of Silvianus , a Roman gold ring of around the 4th century, found near a former Roman town, Silchester ; both it and the curse stone name Senicianus as the ring-thief. The Anglo-Saxon name for the place was Dwarf's Hill, and in 1932 Tolkien traced Nodens to the Irish hero Nuada Airgetlám , "Nuada of the Silver-Hand". Shippey thought this "a pivotal influence" on Tolkien's Middle-earth, combining as it did
9540-412: The thoughts and actions of his characters". In Katz's view, Plato tries to counter the "cynical conclusion" that moral life is chosen by the weak; Glaucon thinks that people are only "good" because they suppose they will be caught if they are not. Plato argues that immoral life is no good as it corrupts one's soul. So, Katz states, according to Plato a moral person has peace and happiness, and would not use
9646-507: 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
9752-667: The trials Bilbo and Frodo faced, the Valar allowed them to travel to the Undying Lands , accompanying Galadriel , Elrond , and Gandalf . Sam is also said to have been taken to the Undying Lands, after living in the Shire for many years and raising a large family. Tolkien emphasized that the restorative sojourn of the Ring-bearers in the Undying Lands would not have been permanent. As mortals, they would eventually die and leave
9858-472: The user's native capacity. In the same way, it amplified any inherent power its owner possessed. A mortal .. who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness. And if he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades : he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under
9964-503: The volcanic Mount Doom where it had been forged. Like some lesser rings, but unlike the other Rings of Power, it bore no gem. It could change size, and perhaps its weight, and could suddenly expand to escape from its wearer. Its identity could be determined by placing it in a fire, when it displayed a fiery inscription in the Black Speech that Sauron had devised. This was written in the Elvish Tengwar script, with two lines in
10070-535: 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
10176-483: 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 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,
10282-539: The wizard's voice was astounding. Suddenly it became menacing, powerful, harsh as stone. A shadow seemed to pass over the high sun, and the porch for a moment grew dark. All trembled, and the Elves stopped their ears. After forging the ring, Sauron waged war on the Elves. He destroyed Eregion and killed Celebrimbor , the maker of the three Elf-rings. King Tar-Minastir of Númenor sent a great fleet to Middle-earth, and with this aid Gil-galad destroyed Sauron's army and forced Sauron to return to Mordor. Later, Ar-Pharazôn,
10388-586: The world of Eä . The Ring began as a plot device, not a central narrative theme. As told in The Hobbit , Bilbo found the Ring while lost in the tunnels near Gollum's lair. In the first edition , Gollum offers to surrender the Ring to Bilbo as a reward for winning the Riddle Game . When Tolkien was writing The Lord of the Rings , he realized that the Ring's grip on Gollum would never permit him to give it up willingly. He therefore revised The Hobbit : in
10494-469: Was captured by Aragorn . Gandalf learned from Gollum that Sauron now knew where to find the Ring. To prevent Sauron from reclaiming his Ring, Frodo and eight companions set out from Rivendell for Mordor to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom . During the quest , Frodo gradually fell under the Ring's power. When he and his faithful servant Sam Gamgee discovered Gollum on their trail and "tamed" him into guiding them to Mordor, Frodo began to feel
10600-449: Was destroyed in the Fall of Númenor , but his spirit travelled back to Middle-earth and wielded the One Ring in renewed war against the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Tolkien wrote, "I do not think one need boggle at this spirit carrying off the One Ring, upon which his power of dominating minds now largely depended." Gil-galad and Elendil destroyed Sauron's physical form at the end of
10706-627: Was handed over easily enough by Sam and Bilbo, and had little effect on Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, Shippey replies in "one word" that the explanation is simple: the Ring is addictive, increasing in effect with exposure. Other scholars concur about its addictive nature. In the 1981 BBC Radio serial of The Lord of the Rings , the Nazgûl chant the Ring-inscription; the BBC Radiophonic Workshop 's sound effects for
10812-530: 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, the southern part of Mordor, was less arid and more fertile; Sauron's slaves farmed this region to support his armies, and streams fed
10918-548: Was killed by the Orcs. Since the Ring indirectly caused Isildur's death, it was known in Gondorian lore as "Isildur's Bane". The Ring remained hidden on the river bed for almost two and a half millennia, until it was discovered on a fishing trip by a Stoor hobbit named Déagol . His friend and relative Sméagol, who had gone fishing with him, was immediately ensnared by the Ring's power and demanded that Déagol give it to him as
11024-481: Was overcome by the Ring's power and claimed it for himself. At that moment, Gollum bit off his finger, taking back the Ring, but, gloating, he and the Ring fell into the fires of Mount Doom. The Ring and Sauron's power were destroyed. The Ring's primary power was control of the other Rings of Power and domination of the wills of their users. The Ring also conferred power to dominate the wills of other beings whether they were wearing Rings or not—but only in proportion to
11130-430: Was searching for him". Sam was able to understand the Black Speech of Orcs in Mordor during his brief possession of the One Ring. The Ring extended the life of a mortal possessor indefinitely, preventing natural aging. Gandalf explained that it did not grant new life, but that the possessor merely continued until life became unbearably wearisome. The Ring did not protect its bearer from destruction; Gollum perished in
11236-404: Was set off when orcs opened a floodgate , releasing water on to hot magma deep underground. The water would, 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
#164835