Mordor

"One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep, and the Great Eye is ever watchful.
It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire, ash, and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly."

— Boromir, The Lord of the Rings

Description

The area of Middle-Earth called Mordor is a relic of the devastating works of Morgoth before his banishment to the Void. Located in the southeast of Middle-earth to the East of the Anduin, the great river, it is the land covering the plateau formed by massive volcanic eruptions. In Sindarin it was given the name Mordor (the Black Land) before Sauron settled there, because of its volcano and its eruptions. Shelob had settled in Mordor long before Sauron.

After the destruction of the strongholds of evil in the north of Middle-earth at the end of the First Age, Sauron fled southwards seeking new lands. At the end of the first millennium of the Second Age, he chose a land walled by mountains. To further fortify that land, to prevent invasion through the Pass of Cirith Gorgor he built the Morannon. It was built with the power of the One Ring, like his great fortress of Barad-dûr.

At the end of the Second Age, after the defeat of Sauron by The Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Mordor was taken under the control of Gondor, and the Gondorians built fortifications around the Morannon, the Towers of the Teeth, to prevent the return of evil things. As Gondor's power faded, however, Mordor once again fell into the hands of the Enemy, and after two thousand years of relative peace, the Nazgûl returned and claimed the land once again in the name of Sauron. Sauron himself, however, dwelt at Dol Guldur in Mirkwood as the Necromancer, and did not himself return openly to Barad-dûr until some seventy years before the War of the Ring. The Nazgûl claimed Minas Ithil as their own, renaming it Minas Morgul.

Mordor's geography is unique because of the three enormous mountain ridges surrounding it, on the North, the West and the South. These mountains both protected the land from an unexpected invasion by any of the people living in those directions and kept those living in Mordor from escaping.

In the Third Age, Mordor is again the dwelling place of Sauron.

Frodo and Sam traveled through Mordor enroute to find the Crack of Doom in order to destroy the One Ring in the fires where it was forged.

Locations

Ephel Dúath (Sindarin) - the Mountains of Shadow - form the borders of Mordor on the west and south.

Pronunciation:

e'ffel doo'ath

Bordering North Ithilien and South Ithilien of Gondor on the west, they swing east to form the southern border of Mordor, separating Mordor from the Harad lands to the south. They were breached midway by the Morgulduin, a river of Gondor, forming the pass of Cirith Ungol.

In the north-west corner of Mordor, the northern end of the Ephel Dúath forms one side of the pass of Cirith Gorgor. A narrow pass with sheer cliffs on either side where the two mountain ranges meet -- the Ephel Dúath coming up the west side of Mordor, and Ered Lithui across the north of Mordor -- across which the Morannon (Black Gate) was constructed by Sauron.

A pass in their middle, Cirith Ungol, the Morgul Vale, originally led from the Crossroads outside of Osgiliath to Minas Ithil.

Cirith Ungol is Sindarin for "Spider's cleft", from cirith ("cleft, pass") and ungol ("spider")

Ered Lithui (Sindarin) - The Ash Mountains separate Mordor from Rhûn, this mountain range forms the northern border of Mordor.

Pronunciation:

e'red lee'thui ('th' as in English 'myth', and 'ui' as in 'ruin', pronounced as a single syllable)

Meeting with the Ephel Dúath in the north-west corner of Mordor it forms one side of the pass of Cirith Gorgor leading into the enclosed plain of Udûn.

A spur forms one side of the pass of the Isenmouthe (also called Carach Angren) which encircles the valley of Udûn.

A second spur of the Ered Lithui leads to the Plateau of Gorgoroth where Orodruin (Mount Doom) and Barad-dûr are located.

Cirith Gorgor is the narrow pass between the Ephel Dúath and the Ered Lithui, sealed by the Morannon (the Black Gate) and guarded by Carchost and Narchost, the Towers of the Teeth. After the fall of Sauron, the Gate and the Towers collapsed, and the Conquest of Gorgoroth entered through the pass.

Dates:	Constructed in the beginning of the World, ruined c.4,000 years before the beginning of the First Age
Location:	The far north of the World
Pronunciation:	oo'doon
Meaning:	The Sindarin form of an originally Quenya name, probably meaning 'Underworld'

Udûn was the Sindarin name of the fortress of the first Dark Lord in the far north of the World. It was the first and greatest of his citadels, delved in the earliest days, the home to hosts of demons and monsters. From Udûn, the Dark Lord troubled the world for millennia. From there, he drove the Valar out of their dwelling-place in Middle-earth, and into the West. At the time of the awakening of the Elves, though, the Valar attacked Udûn in full force, and destroyed it utterly, carrying its master back to Valinor as their prisoner.

Udûn also appears as a name for the northern valley of Mordor that lay behind the Morannon. No doubt Sauron chose this name in memory of his ancient master's greatest stronghold ^[1] Udûn is also translated as "hell" and is said to have been beneath Thangorodrim.^[2]

In the Second Age, it is believed, Sauron here ordered the construction of mines, forge-works, and parade grounds for the building of an army against the kingdoms of Men and Elves. He also discovered strange ores, with which he developed Morgul-steel, a secret alloy with dark enchantments. The knife Gulthauk and Mormagáth the Shadow-hammer were the greatest of the Morgul-weapons, so the Dark Lord took them for himself.^[3]

After the Last Alliance of Elves and Men breached the Morannon, Sauron's forces quickly retreated through Udûn to make a stand their Barad-dûr. The Last Alliance destroyed what works they could along the way, but forwent a thorough clearing of the valley in favour of pursuing the enemy host. Seven years later, after the victory of the Last Alliance, Isildur, King of Gondor, returned and ordered the building of Durthand, the Black Shield.^[3] This fortress was held by an order of Gondorian sentinels called the Thandrim. The Thandrim maintained their vigil for at least sixteen centuries, but eventually Gondor lost its hold on Mordor.^{[note 1]} Ugrukhôr, Captain of the Pit, claimed Durthand and renamed it to Durthang, the Dark Oppression, in mockery of its original name.^[4] He restored and extended the fortifications and foundries of Udûn, and at this time Anglach and Mornaur were built.^[3]

Following Sauron's demise, the various forges, foundries, weapon halls, and smelteries constructed in the valley of Udûn have been left in shambles, with acid pools and waste left free to pour out onto the landscape. Foul orc villages and encampments clutter along the roads, as they prepared for the Host of the West. Slaves that survived the initial quakes and blast of One Ring's destruction still work away, not knowing the liberation that awaits them. Yet, many ancient curses and hidden evils still lie within the tall strongholds of Durthang and Anglach, waiting to pour out onto careless explorers seeking to pillage the once mighty war-machine.^[5]

Ugrukhôr still lives, and his forces still oppose the Conquest of Gorgoroth. He is one of the Gúrzyul who are competing for power after their master's demise.^[6]

The Isenmouthe (Archaic Westron) or Carach Angren (Sindarin) (both meaning Iron-mouth) is the pass between the small valley, Udûn, and the larger expanse of the Plateau of Gorgoroth. It is formed where spurs of the ranges of the Ephel Dúath and Ered Lithui met, leaving only a narrow passage between them.

Representing the passage to the Black Gate of the Morannon, Carach Angren was heavily fortified, and both the rocky spurs that overlooked it carried fortresses and watchtowers. Across the passage itself, a wall of earth had been built, and a great ditch had been dug across the opening spanned by a single bridge.^[7]

When Sauron was defeated, the blast of heat from the eruption of Orodruin severely damaged the gates. The servants of Ugrukhôr were unable to close them, but made an attempt to prevent anyone from passing.^[8]

The massive Morannon was built by Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor, when he first occupied Mordor in the Second Age, to prevent invasion through the Pass of Cirith Gorgor. Like Barad-dûr, it was built with the power of the One Ring.

The Black Gate is set in an impregnable black stone and iron wall. The wall has been estimated to be 60 feet high and 250 feet long, with each half of the great gate being 90 feet wide, and set on large stone wheels. Behind the gate are gigantic circular stone ramparts, and when the gate needed to be opened, two pairs of Mountain-trolls who were tethered to gigantic beams pushed their way around their rampart's track, gradually levering open the gate and allowing for the incoming or outgoing of Mordor's armies.

Set behind the gate are myriads of archers, spearmen, bowmen, and hundreds of thousands of Orc troops ready to defend Mordor.

After Sauron's fall at the end of the Second Age in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, the Towers of the Teeth were built by the Gondorian victors. Backed up on the other side of Udûn by the Isenmouthe (Carach Angren), and protected by the castle of Durthang on the west side of Udûn, the Black Gate was redesigned to keep all of Mordor's evil inside, shielding the outside from it - and it from the outside. The reconstruction of Minas Ithil, Tower of the Rising Moon, as well as the construction of Cirith Ungol were also done for the same purpose.

During the War of the Ring, the Army of the West, numbering some 7,000 men, arrives at the Black Gate with the intention of drawing the Eye of Sauron away from Mount Doom, to allow Frodo the Ringbearer to cast the One Ring into the Crack of Doom within it. This they achieve, and the Ring is destroyed in the fires of Orodruin, following which the Black Gate, the Towers of the Teeth, and Barad-dûr immediately collapse.

Towers of the Teeth two guard towers were built by Gondor to keep a watch on this entrance to Mordor and the Morannon at the end of the Second Age after Sauron's defeat by The Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

Barad-dûr - ("Lugbúrz in Black Speech) - visible from all of Mordor - Saruron's is great fortress built with the power of the One Ring.

Mount Doom - "Orodruin in Sindarin" - the home of the Crack of Doom.

The Plateau of Gorgoroth - Normally thought of as the gateway to Mount Doom. As there is no water or plant growth of any type, the area is uninhabited and a bit dusty.

The Sea of Núrnen - The largest body of water in the region is located in the relatively fertile southern Nurn area. Desertification is a large problem here though, as is the water boiling off when near-molten boulders land in the lake.

Shelob's Lair

Maps

Ephel Dúath (the Mountains of Shadow) and Ered Lithui (the Ash Mountains) border Mordor on three sides

Regions

March of the King

March of the King is the name of a release in 2016. See Update 19: March of the King - October 18, 2016.

The name may refer to various things:

This release comprised two regions: see Anórien (After Battle) and Ithilien for details of quests and other information.

It is the name of a quest pack: See March of the King

It is the name of the deed group and tab in the deed finder. See March of the King Deeds.

It is the name of a map that covers both regions:

Note: Originally the wiki had the the region set up as March of the King, but in game this is split in two as detailed above, and the wiki now matches this, which then accommodates other releases such as Minas Tirith (Midsummer) and the Allegiance quest system that happen after the march.

The Wastes

See The Wastes for more details

The Wastes is a region that is situated immediately outside of Morannon, the Black Gate of Mordor. It lies above North Ithilien and north-west of Mordor. The is the site of a major battle at the end of the Second Age, when Mordor was first defeated, but the area was lost as Mordor regained strength. It has been long contested and is still occupied by Orcs and others ready to resist the march of the King.

Level: 105
Factions: Host of the West
Crafting: Anórien (T10)
Introduced: Update 20 - Battle of the Black Gate - March 21, 2017
Free to VIP
Quest Pack: Quest Pack: Battle of the Black Gate

The Plateau of Gorgoroth

The Plateau of Gorgoroth is a Region in Mordor.

Level: 105-115
Factions: Conquest of Gorgoroth, Red Sky Clan, Allegiance System
Crafting: T11 - Doomfold
Introduced: The Lord of the Rings Online: Mordor, July 31, 2017
Quest Pack: Expansion Content: Mordor
As you enter Mordor the game introduces a new mechanic called Shadow of Mordor. This shadow will greatly impact where you're able to go and how you get there.

See The Plateau of Gorgoroth for more details

Navigation

Lands of Middle-earth
Eriador • Gondor • Haradwaith • Mordor • Rhovanion • Rohan

Regions within the Land of Mordor
Mordor Besieged • Morgul Vale • The Plateau of Gorgoroth

Template:North Ithilien Template:March of the King

Settlements, Areas and Landmarks of The Wastes
Areas:	Dagorlad (Morannon (War of the Last Alliance)) • (Lang Rhuven) • The Noman-lands • The Slag-hills (Battle of the Morannon)	Areas:
Settlements:	Camp of the Host • Haerondir • Small Ranger Camp	Settlements:
Landmarks:	Tham Durlan • Nuiharn • Guard Tower Ruins • Store House Ruins • Merchant shop Ruins • Farm House Ruins • Inn Ruins • Noble's House Ruins • Stable Ruins • Carchost • Dol Acharn • Dûm Boha • Fushaum Gund • Narchost • Ondoher's Folly	Landmarks:
Interiors:	—	Interiors:
Dungeons:	Skoironk • Towers of the Teeth	Dungeons:
Instances:	—	Instances:

Template:Gorgoroth

References

↑ From the original Lorebook, offical Lore entry: https://web.archive.org/web/20100414192124/https://lorebook.lotro.com:80/wiki/Lore:Udûn_(stronghold_of_Melkor)
↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, "Index"
↑ ^a ^b ^c Evils of Udûn
↑ Chapter 1.2: The Cruel History of Durthang
↑ An Adventurer's Guide to Mordor; OMG_Peanuts; https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?656588-An-Adventurer-s-Guide-to-Mordor
↑ Chapter 5.1: A Question of Purpose
↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Mount Doom"
↑ Chapter 1.4: Ayorzén, Twice-Imprisoned

Guides

Several individuals have wirtten guides for the Allegiance System, Questing in Mordor and other aspects of Update 21, the Mordor Expansion, in General.