The Country of Mordor

Mordor was a land in the south-east of the Westlands east of Gondor. During most of the Second and Third Ages it was ruled by Sauron and it was his dwelling and base from which he attempted to conquer Middle-earth.

Mordor was surrounded by three enormous mountain ridges from the North, from the West and from the South, protecting it from an unexpected invasion by any of the Free peoples.

Only a few times in history did the free peoples have anything to do with Mordor; the Last Alliance broke into the land to fight Sauron, and millennia later Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee infiltrated that land to destroy the One Ring.

Geography
Mordor was protected from three sides by mountain ranges, arranged roughly rectangularly: Ered Lithui in the north, and Ephel Dúath in the west until turned to the east, forming a southern range. A narrow pass led through Ephel Dúath and the city of Minas Morgul (earlier Minas Ithil) was guarding that; an even more difficult pass was guarded by the giant spider Shelob and the fortress of Cirith Ungol. Another known fortress was Durthang in northern Ephel Dúath.

In the north-west corner of Mordor the deep valley of Udûn was the only entrance for large armies, and that is where Sauron built the Black Gate of Mordor. In front of the Morannon lay the Dagorlad. Sauron's main fortress Barad-dûr was at the foothills of Ered Lithui. To south-west of Barad-dûr lay the arid Plateau of Gorgoroth and the volcanic Mount Doom (also called Orodruin); to the east lay the plain of Lithlad. The land in the western parts of Mordor were largely infertile, producing only sparse brambles.

The southern part of Mordor, Nurn, was slighly more fertile, and moist enough to carry the inland sea of Núrnen. Nurn was made somewhat fertile because the ash blown from Mount Doom left its soil nutrient rich, thus allowing dry-land farming. Unfortunately, the inland sea of Núrn was salty, not freshwater.

To the west of Mordor was the narrow land of Ithilien with the great river Anduin, to the east Rhûn, and to the south-east, Khand.

History
Early history
Melkor created Mount Doom in the First Age, and the name "Mordor" may have been given to the land before Sauron settled there because of its eruptions. Also in the First Age, the Drúedain migrated westward, and historians in Gondor believed that they came through lands south of Mordor and, after turning northward into Ithilien, became the first Men to cross the Anduin.

The first being known to occupy the mountains of Mordor was Shelob, fleeing from the War of Wrath in Beleriand at the end of the First Age. She fed herself on Elves and Men living or passing nearby until these became scarce.

Sauron settled in Mordor around S.A. 1000. In the north-western corner of this land stood Mount Doom, where he had forged the One Ring. Near Orodruin he built his stronghold Barad-dûr. After this time, Sauron was known as the Dark Lord of Mordor.

For two and a half thousand years, Sauron ruled Mordor uninterruptedly. It was from Mordor that he made war against the Elves of Eregion and came to dominate most of Eriador in a period known as the Dark Years. That was until he was repelled by the High Men of Númenor. Retreating to Mordor, Sauron then directed his power over the far south and east of Mordor conquering and dominating the savage tribes of the Easterlings and the Haradrim. Almost a thousand years later, Sauron was captured by the Númenóreans and brought to their island kingdom, eventually causing its destruction. Sauron returned to Mordor as a spirit and resumed his rule.

The Last Alliance and Third Age
Sauron's rule was interrupted yet again when his efforts to overthrow the surviving Men and Elves failed, and they fought their way back to their foe's domain. After several months of siege in the Battle of Dagorlad, forces of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men came into Mordor. Sauron was defeated in a final battle and the Dark Tower was leveled to the ground, but Mordor was not settled by Men because of the dreadful memory of Sauron, and Orodruin.

The Kings of Gondor built watchtowers and fortresses around Mordor, such as the mountain fortress of Durthang, the Towers of the Teeth at the Morannon, and the Tower of Cirith Ungol, in order to prevent Sauron's servants from returning to Mordor.

However, Gondor had failed in the long run; during the Great Plague, the population was so diminished that troops were recalled and the fortresses abandoned. Deprived of guard, Mordor began to fill with evil things again, and it is said the first shadow was the Lord of the Nazgûl (T.A. 1980) who summoned the other Ringwraiths, first appearing since the War of the Last Alliance, to prepare the return of Sauron. Minas Ithil was conquered by the Ringwraiths in T.A. 2002; other fortifications that were supposed to defend Gondor from the menace inside Mordor were captured and turned into a means of shielding Mordor. Sauron resided in Dol Guldur, until the White Council attacked it in T.A. 2941, forcing Sauron to flee.

Meanwhile Mordor had been long prepared for him, and declaring himself openly he returned to Mordor in T.A. 2951, where he finished reconstructing his Dark Tower. By that time Mordor was protected too well to be captured by any military might that was available to the Free Peoples; in the north of Mordor during the War of the Ring were the great garrisons and forges of war, while surrounding the bitter inland Sea of Núrnen to the south lay the vast fields tended for the provision of the armies by hordes of slaves brought in from lands to the east and south.

War of the Ring
During the War of the Ring, Sauron gathered all his forces to Mordor. After the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, a Host of the West went to the Black Gate. Sauron sent his army to destroy the Men of Gondor and Rohan, but then Frodo Baggins destroyed the One Ring and Mordor fell. The Dark Tower, the Black Gate and the Towers of Teeth collapsed to ruin. Mount Doom exploded. Both Sauron and his Ringwraiths were apparently destroyed.

After the ultimate defeat of Sauron, Mordor became mostly empty again as the Orcs inside it fled or were killed. Crippled by thousands of years of abuse and neglect, but capable of sustaining life, the land of Mordor was given to the defeated foes of Gondor as a consolation, as well as to the freed slaves of Nurn who were formerly forced to farm there to feed the armies of Mordor.