Barad-dûr

This page is about the original tower. For the tower as it stands after the destruction of the One Ring, see Dungeons of Barad-dûr. For the crafting instance, see Bones of Barad-dûr. 

Barad-dûr
Type:	Fortress
Region:	The Plateau of Gorgoroth
Area:	Dor Amarth
Location:	[47.2S, 26.1E]

Location

Barad-dûr (Sindarin for Dark Tower, Lugbúrz in Black Speech), is a point of interest within Dor Amarth on the Plateau of Gorgoroth.

This was once the great fortress of Sauron in Mordor. The tower collapsed following the destruction of the One Ring and of Mount Doom, yet its foundations and lower levels remain, including Sauron's dungeons. The shadow-mantled ruins of Sauron's fortress still bear a twisted splendour.

Lore

Barad-dûr was originally built during the Second Age, and leveled after Sauron's defeat in The War of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

Barad-dûr fell under siege for seven years by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men during the Second Age. After the Black Gate was broken and the Last Alliance marched into the heart of Mordor, Sauron remained fortified in Barad-dûr. In the heights of the tower was one of the Vandassari, Naldassar, which Sauron used to compel the obedience of the Ghâzab Bôron, a massive army out of Rhûn, until the stone was destroyed by Lendelen of the Bright Company. The tower was torn down after Sauron's defeat at the hands of Isildur, but because it was created using the power of the One Ring, its foundations could not be destroyed completely while the Ring itself still existed. As Isildur failed to destroy the Ring, the tower was eventually re-built, beginning in 2951 of the Third Age when Sauron returned to Mordor openly.

Only when Frodo Baggins (with the unwitting aid of Gollum) destroyed the One Ring was the tower finally brought down. Without Sauron's power from the Ring to sustain its impossible height, it could not stand. The moment the One Ring was cast into the fires of Mount Doom and was unmade, Barad-dûr collapsed into ruin, never to be rebuilt.

Covadil, Loremistress from the Houses of Lore in Minas Tirith recounts:

'Sauron instructed his servants to build him a kingly castle, a stronghold on a hill that was called Amon Dûr. Over the long passage of years, his servants expanded the castle to cover all of the hill, and it grew with new construction until it towered into the air. It became Barad-dûr, the Dark tower, and reached so high that only Sauron's magic could keep it aloft.

'But the tower did not only reach skyward. Beneath Barad-dûr, the Orcs delved fathomless dungeons for their master, until the Ered Lithui was riddled with pits and chasms. When the tower fell, the land gave way and a great abyss opened where Barad-dûr once stood. Sauron's dungeons were exposed to the sky: the Abyss of Mordath.'

Covadil shivers.

'Brrrr! Knowledge can be frightening! Anyway, Sauron may be gone, but he dwelt at Barad-dûr for so long that the land has not forgotten him. It sounds to me as if he left his impression on the Abyss and the lands around it.'

Gallery

• Views of Barad-dûr.
• 

  The main gate of Barad-dûr.

• 

  Barad-dûr from the north, near the chasm of the Mordath.

• 

  Barad-dûr from the south, in Agarnaith.

• 

  The bridge to the main gate of Barad-dûr.

• 

  Looking up at the remains of the Dark Tower from below.

• 

  Barad-dûr (Pre-destruction)