The History of Mordor & Mount Doom | Tolkien Explained

it is a land surrounded by three mountain ranges guarding an unspeakable Evil Within while it would not become the dwelling of the dark lord until the second age its origin lies in a Darkness long before today on nerd of the Rings we cover the history of Mordor one of the most prominent features of Mordor is also one of its oldest mountain Doom the volcano where Sauron would later create his ruling ring is created by morgoth in the first age in the peoples of Middle Earth it says even while Sauron was secretly making Mordor his stronghold

it may have already been called by this Elvish name because of its volcano orodruin and its eruptions which were not made by Sauron but were a relic of the devastating works of melkor in the long first age in the silmarillion we are also told but melkor 2 was there from the first and he meddled in all that was done turning it if he might to his own desires and purposes and he kindled great fires when therefore Earth was yet young and full of flame melkor coveted it and he said to the other Valar this my

own kingdom and I name it unto myself the Elvish name of Mordor means black land in cinderen the dwarves call it nargun while Sauron would become synonymous with the land another evil force would inhabit it first for escaping from the war of Wrath at the end of the first age was the great spider shelob who makes her home in the FL duath the mountains of Shadow there she would feed on elves and Men either living near or passing by her home making these mountains among the most feared in all Middle Earth the FL duoth not

only runs along the western border of Mordor but also curves along the South as well in the Northwest it meets the ered lithui or Ash mountains which run roughly 500 Miles marking mordor's northern border one thousand years into the second age Sauron settles in Mordor raising a Dark Tower in the Northwest The Fortress of paradur for well over two thousand years Sauron would rule the lands of Mordor neither his defeat in the war of the elves in Sauron in a region no nor his captivity at the hands of the numenoreans would release his Stranglehold on

these lands nor his influence in both the East and the south in 3434 of the second age the last Alliance of elves and Men comes to Mordor in an effort to overthrow the dark lord they come to the northwest corner of his lands at a gap between the FL duath and the erid lithui where Sauron had built a gate the alliance drives through the Miranda across the valley of udon and the desert plateau of gorgoroth after a seven-year Siege of baradur Sauron is defeated on the slopes of Mount Doom and for a Time The Land

of Mordor is freed from his malice in an effort to guard against the return of the enemy the gondorians construct great watchtowers and fortresses around Mordor at the moranin they build two tall towers on either side of the black gate Cod cost meaning fangfort and nauticost meaning bitter biting Fort together they are called The Towers of the teeth while not confirmed to be constructed by gondorians it's possible that the nearby Tower of dorthang is one such structure it overlooks the valley of udun and the pass of the eisenmuth isildur city of Minas ithil already stood

at the entrance of a pass into Mordor but the gondorians build a tower within Mordor itself to better defend minus ithil and the lands of ethylene from the remnants of sauron's forces this was the Tower of kirath ungol and for many years the gondorian station there would guard the pass and observe movements in Mordor itself with these fortresses Gondor would long defend against the return of the enemy however in 1635 of the third age Middle Earth would fall under the Great Plague and Gondor would be especially hard hit so great were their losses that the

fortresses guarding Mordor are abandoned and their troops recalled with no one guarding against it evil things begin to populate Mordor once more in 1980 following the fall of his northern kingdom of angmar the lord of the Nazgul returns to Mordor and summons the other eight ring wraiths together they begin the work of preparing for the Dark Lord's return in 2000 of the third Age The Naz ghoul go on the offensive attacking the gondorian city of Minas ithil after two years of Siege the city Falls and it would be transformed into the Dreadful Fortress of Minas

morgul Dwelling Place of the witch King himself the fortresses that had meant to guard against the evils of Mordor are now used to defend them as sauron's forces take control of the towers of the teeth dorthang and the Tower of kirathungo Sauron would first re-emerge not in Mordor but in dolguldur in the north however in 2941 of the third age the white Council attacks the old fortress forcing Sauron to flee to his original Abode there in 2951 he declares himself openly and begins rebuilding baradur completing Construction in 2953 the following year an ominous sign would

come from the long dormant orodruin Sauron arose again and declared himself openly and he entered Mordor long prepared for him then baradur was raised once more and Mount Doom burst into flame and the last of the folk of athelian fled far away while the majority of the events and structures in Mordor are located in the northwest of the realm there is also a large area that covers the south and east of Mordor called norn while gorgoroth was an actual desert Wasteland filled with pits and fumes issuing from fissures in the ground the lands of norn

were much more fertile while it's believed there were also Orcs in these lands they are worked by men who are enslaved by Sauron forced to work the fields around Lake Norman to feed sauron's armies the Sea of nornen which translates to sad water or dead water is so named because it contains salt water despite this the ash that is blown to norn from Mount Doom makes its soil rich in nutrients allowing for dry land farming from baradur Sauron would command his Legions Of Orcs in the war of the ring in the late third age easterlings

and haradrum loyal to the dark lord would pour into Mordor via the black gate and the witch king would lead sauron's armies in their attack on Gondor from Minas morgul finally after the defeat and death of the witch King on the pelinor fields Aragorn would lead a host to the black gate and just as his great ancestor Ellendale over 3000 years earlier Aragorn leads the host of the West in war against Sauron unlike before sauron's ruin would come in secret as Frodo and Sam had traversed his lands of Mordor and coming to Mount Doom itself

the ring would be destroyed when Gollum slips into its fiery depths baradur whose very foundations were bound to the One Ring collapses into ruin along with the black gate and the towers of the teeth the Earth gaped and from Deep Rifts and pits smoke and fumes leaped up the mountain was convulsed great rents opened in its side slow rivers of fire Came Down The Long slopes a rain of hot ash was falling with the destruction of the Ring Mount Doom explodes as Sauron is finally defeated in the aftermath of the Dark Lord's fall Mordor is

mostly depopulated As the Orcs within had either been killed or fled in his victory Aragorn frees the slaves of Mordor decreeing that the lands of norn shall Ever After be Theirs to rule as for minus morgul the effects of centuries of Nazgul control had taken its toll Aragorn declares that it shall be utterly destroyed and while in time it may come to be made clean no man would dwell there for many long years from the creation of Mount Doom to sauron's demise Mordor would see thousands of years of evil ravage its lands whether Minas morgul

or any of the northwest of Mordor would ever truly recover from sauron's Evil Dominion we can only guess as always I want to say a huge thank you to my patreon supporters who make this channel possible Tom de Bombadil 19 Melissa May the Cinda kellebrimbor the mighty MIM team weasel Rabbi Rob Thomas Charles Leisure Toby mobs music CCDC red team Sky carcass slide belts Dane ragnarson salimarmon zetrock bertelberg Grand strategy nerd Graham dare cot the dark-haired one Wyland Michael Wu and Debbie if you enjoyed the artwork in this video check out the artists in the

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