In J. R. R.

Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor (pronounced [ˈmɔrdɔr]; from Sindarin Black
Land and Quenya Land of Shadow) was the region occupied and controlled by Sauron, in the southeast
of northwestern Middle-earth to the East of Anduin, the great river. Orodruin, a volcano in Mordor, was
the goal of the Fellowship of the Ring (and later Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee) in the quest to destroy
the One Ring.

Mordor has three enormous mountain ranges surrounding it, from the north, from the west and from
the south. The 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. Tolkien was reported to have
identified Mordor with the volcano of Stromboli off Sicily, in terms of geographic equivalency with the
real world.[1]

"Ephel Duath" redirects here. For the Italian progressive metal band, see Ephel Duath (band).

Three sides of Mordor were bounded by mountain ranges, arranged in a rough rectangle: the Ered Lithui
(translated as 'Ash Mountains') on the north, and the Ephel Dúath (literally, "Fence of Shadow") on the
west and the south. In the northwest the pass of Cirith Gorgor led into the enclosed plain of Udûn.
Sauron built the Black Gate of Mordor (the Morannon) across the pass, joining the Towers of the Teeth,
two earlier guard towers 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. A narrow pass led through the Ephel Dúath, guarded by
Minas Morgul (earlier Minas Ithil). A higher, more difficult pass, Cirith Ungol, just to the north, was
guarded by a tower originally built by Gondor. This pass, "the pass of the spider", was also blockaded by
Torech Ungol, the lair of the giant spider Shelob. The fortress Durthang lay in the northern Ephel Dúath
above Udûn.

Inside the Ephel Dúath ran a lower parallel ridge, the Morgai, separated from the Ephel Dúath by a
narrow valley that Frodo and Sam followed northward after escaping from Cirith Ungol. Water trickled
into this vale from the Ephel Dúath, and the text describes it as a "dying land not yet dead". The
vegetation included "low scrubby trees", "coarse grey grass-tussocks", "withered mosses", "great
writhing, tangled brambles", and thickets of briars with long, stabbing thorns. The fauna included
maggots, midges, and flies marked with "a red eye-shaped blotch".

The interior of Mordor was composed of three large regions. The core of Sauron's realm 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 located on the center of the north side of Gorgoroth, at the end of
a spur extending from the Ash Mountains. Gorgoroth's volcanic nature was inhospitable to life: Mordor's
mines, forges, and garrisons were located there. Núrn, the southern part of Mordor, was less arid and
more fertile. Streams here fed the salt Sea of Núrnen. While somewhat dry, its fields were rich in
volcanic nutrients, and Sauron's slaves farmed this region to support his armies. To the east of
Gorgoroth lay the dry plain of Lithlad.

Adjacent to Mordor were, to the west, the narrow land of Ithilien (a province of Gondor); to the
northwest the Dead Marshes; to the northeast Rhûn; to the southeast Khand; and to the south Harad.

In The Atlas of Middle-earth, 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 assumption stemmed from 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, with the western end being close to the head of the Great Gulf (later the Mouths of
Anduin).[2] The atlas was however published before The Peoples of Middle-earth, in which the Sea of
Rhûn and Mordor exist already in the First Age.