Mordor

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Mordor (and Adjacent Lands)

TOLKIEN

ONCE

COMMENTED

that

Mordor

corre-

sponded more or less with the Mediterranean volcanic

basin; and Mt. Doom, Stromboli.1 At every turn the

volcanism was suggested: Mordor, the Black Land;

Ephel Dúath, mountains of black rock; Ered Lithui,

ash mountains; Lithlad, ash plain; Gorgoroth, a vol-

canic plateau; and of course, Mt. Doom, an active

volcano. The landscape was sinister, in keeping with

its master. The lands outside the Ephel Dúath (the

"outer fence") were noticeably nonvolcanic: North

Ithilien, a quick-falling land filled with streams and

grottoes; marshlands; moors of the Noman-lands; and

even Dagorlad, the hard battle plain. They, too, added

to the mystique. The lands in the northwest, near the

Morannon where Sauron's power was strongest, fell

under his power and were ruined; but Ithilien had

only recently come under the evil influence and "kept

still a dishevelled dryad loveliness."2

The Adjacent Lands

The northern lands were swept by bitter eastern winds

carrying fumes from the slag mounds and from the

increasingly active Mt. Doom.3 The climate became

arid, and the landscape was slowly denuded of its grow-

ing things. As the lands became more barren, the little

rain that fell ran off the surface of the nearby high-

lands and fed more and more water into the bracken

swamps. The Dead Marshes grew until they had swal-

lowed up the graves dug after the battle of the Last

Alliance.4

As Frodo and Company left the Dead Marshes they

climbed "long shallow slopes" of the "arid moors of

the Noman-lands."5 These were probably the receding

end of a sedimentary layer that continued south

through Ithilien, dipping away from the Ephel Dúath.

The edge of the sediments had eroded back from the

range, leaving the "long trenchlike valley between it

and the outer buttresses of the mountains" over which

the Hobbits peered toward the Morannon.6

As the mountain chain turned east, the crest fell

away, and the valley widened into a plain — Dagorlad,

scene of many battles — over which the Hobbits

watched the Southrons enter the Black Gate. The plain

was "stony," probably a pediment — the rubble of

innumerable rocks washed out from the mountains,

but never weathered due to the arid climate.7

The Hobbits turned south, following the path of the

road that was built between the crests of the western

slopes and the eastern mountains. They passed into an

increasingly pleasant land, with ample rainfall blown

in on the moist southwest winds from the Bay of

Belfalas.8 There the water collected into numerous

streams, which fell quickly down to Anduin, cutting

steep gorges. Sometimes the streams found their way

into a crevice and followed the weak fissures under the

surface, reappearing far below in springs. One such

"grot" was sealed to form Henneth Annûn.9 Farther

south the sediments must have continued to dip

steeply, for after leaving Faramir's refuge the Hobbits

stayed west of the road until they reached the gorge

of the Morgulduin. Turning east, they climbed con-

tinually, and "if ever they went a little downward,

always the further slope was longer and steeper." At

last they struggled "onto a great hog-back of land"10

— a sharp-crested ridge of resistant sediments with a

backslope exceeding 45° and an even steeper scarp.11

Beyond the Cross-roads lay the first "tumbled lands"

of Mordor.12

Mordor

The land of Sauron was composed of three major fea-

tures: the mountains, which were "parts of one great

wall"; the plateau of Gorgoroth; and the plains of

Lithlad.13 All the lands were arid and all were volcanic.

Climbing the mountains, the Hobbits were surrounded

by constant examples of the volcanic rock, which made

the range predominantly black. Gabbros may have

been thrust up; basalts extruded at lower levels or

exposed in necks and dikes. All could have given the

black appearance. Along the Winding Stair the Hobbits

passed "tall piers and jagged pinnacles . . . great crev-

ices and fissures . . ,"14 These could have resulted

from the columnar weathering of basalt.

Around them the peaks rose high above, but were

apparently lower than those of the White and Misty

Mountains. No mention was made of snow, although

"forgotten winters had gnawed and carved the sunless

stone."15 Still, the peaks were probably quite high,

for the top of the pass of Cirith Ungol was more than

3000 feet above the Cross-roads.16 Possibly the ranges

could have been folded and faulted as well. Faulting

probably produced the trough between the Ephel

Dúath and the Morgai through which the Hobbits

crept north from Cirith Ungol. "The eastern faces of

the Ephel Dúath were sheer," and the slopes of the

Morgai were jumbled, notched, and jagged.17 Trans-

verse faults were apparent too, for Sam and Frodo

drank from a gully that appeared to have been "cloven

by some huge axe. "18

At the north end of the Ephel Dúath, at its junction

with the Ered Lithui, lay a deep circular valley ringed

90 The Atlas of Middle-earth

by sheer black barren cliffs — Udûn. Tolkien described

the vale as being encircled by arms sent out by the

two ranges.19 The symmetry of the valley suggests

either a caldera or a ring-dike. A caldera is the remnant

of a volcano that has exploded and/or collapsed. A

ring-dike is a circular ridge of cooled igneous rock

surrounding a deep valley. It occurs when a round

block subsides into an underlying magma chamber and

the fluid magma is forced up around the edges. Often

the upwelling is intermittent, leaving passes such as

the Isenmouthe and Cirith Gorgor.20 Either process

could have resulted in the feature shown by Tolkien,

although compared with our world either would have

been gigantic. Imagine the original height of a volcano

with a forty-five-mile base. This colossus would have

towered almost 29,000 feet! In contrast Mt. Doom was

only seven miles across and stood 4500 feet.21

As the Hobbits turned east and south from Udûn,

they faced the final path across Gorgoroth, a lava

plateau.22 Its level would have been higher than that

of Udûn (a "deep dale") and the plain of Lithlad.23

Tremendously thick layers of flood basalts were de-

posited through the years by slow upwelling from the

many fissures that pocked the landscape. These were

supplemented by flows from volcanoes, most of which

had previously been active but had left only the skel-

etons — necks and dikes, low mounds, and in the

southeast where erosion was more advanced, mesas

and buttes. At the time of the quest, fissures were

numerous, and the remnants of activity gave the pla-

teau its rugged and evil appearance;24 yet none was

more imposing than the smoking peak at the very

heart — Mt. Doom.

The plateau was barren, and had all Mordor been of

that formation Sauron would have had little to feed

his countless troops; but conditions were somewhat

better in Lithlad — the ash plain. There the flows of

more solid material were apparently less, or were

mostly eroded. If the rock were highly weathered, the

resulting soil would have been quite fertile. In the

semi-arid climate, water was in short supply, for the

bitter Sea of Nurnen (with its interior drainage) was

salty.25 Still, a recent deposition of ash would have

helped with conservation (for ash is a highly effective

mulch, reducing evaporation),26 allowing dry-land

farming in the "great slave-worked fields."27

Originally, the geography of Mordor was rather dif-

ferent, notably in the northwest. Gorgoroth was pres-

ent from the beginning, but extended almost to the

Sea of Nurnen, and only the eastern ridge with Barad-

dûr at the end was shown.28 The Gap of Gorgoroth,

which eventually was blocked by the fortress of the

Morannon, was once the site of Cirith Ungol.29 The

Vale of Udûn and the Isenmouthe, the ridge of the

Morgai, and the eastern and western ranges separating

Gorgoroth from Lithlad were all absent until late in

the story.30 The near-encirclement of Gorgoroth and

addition of Nurn to its south on The Lord of the Rings

map left Lithlad in its original placement — east of

Gorgoroth, south of the Ash Mountains.31 Even the

southern Ephel Duath were changed, originally bulg-

ing in two arcs nearly 150 miles wide toward Harad,

and narrow only at the Nargil Pass, at the source of

the southern river feeding into the Sea of Nurnen.32

Regional Maps 91

92 The Atlas of Middle-earth

MORDOR Cross Section Left: WEST-EAST Cross Section Right: NORTHWEST-SOUTHEAST

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摘要：

Mordor(andAdjacentLands)TOLKIENONCECOMMENTEDthatMordorcorre-spondedmoreorlesswiththeMediterraneanvolcanicbasin;andMt.Doom,Stromboli.1Ateveryturnthevolcanismwassuggested:Mordor,theBlackLand;EphelDúath,mountainsofblackrock;EredLithui,ashmountains;Lithlad,ashplain;Gorgoroth,avol-canicplateau;andofcours...

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Mordor

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