After the defeat of Morgoth at the end of the First Age, his lieutenant Sauron fled
into the east and established himself as the Dark Lord of Mordor.
These lands were very well protected from outside attack, surrounded by the mountains
of Ered Lithui in the north, as well as Ephel Duath in the west and south.
The only entrance large enough for an army to pass through from the west, was found in
the valley of Udun, which led into the treeless wasteland of Dagorlad.
Once passed the Black Gate there was a second heavily foritified entrance known as the Isenmouthe.
Sauron held his seat in the great fortress of Barad-dur,* at the foothills of the northern
mountains, but his true prize was the great mountain of fire called Mount Doom.
This was the primary reason for settling the area, as he would use the fire that welled
there from the heart of the earth in his sorceries and his forging.
Gathering Orcs, trolls, ringwraiths and other monstrous creatures he raised massive armies,
and kept them supplied by using slaves to mine the jagged hills of Gorgoroth, where
his armies raised their encampments and patrolled the passing roads.
Other slaves were used further south in the lands of Nurn, working soil enriched by volcanic
ash and irrigated by the sad water from the sea of nurnen.
In the east, there were the ash laiden plain of Lithlad and beyond that the lands of Rhun
, Khand and Harad, where Sauron had great influence, deceiving, coercing and corrupting
their people, so they might serve as his allies providing him with slaves, soldiers and further
resources to fuel his western campaigns.
Sauron thrived in the black lands, ruling his own dark kingdom.
Yet he was not the first to settle the area, as Shelob the great spider, last child of
the Ungoliant, had long before made her way into the mountains of Ephel Duath, after escaping
the destruction of Beleriand at the end of the first age.
Living off the blood of Elves, men and later orcs who passed nearby, she grew bloated and
fat weaving webs of shadow.
Although she consumed many of her own offspring, those who were able to escape her hunger spread
throughout the western lands of middle earth.
The pass leading to her lair became known as Cirith Ungol and when Sauron arrive around
the year 1000 of the second age, he allowed the creature to remain, as she was the best
possible guardian for the passage through the mountains.
Treating her as his cat, he sometimes sent her prisoners to feast upon, and found amusement
in hearing the tales of her ferocity.
Occasionally she would devour some of his orc soldiers but Sauron did not mind as he
had plenty to spare.
From the lands of Mordor, Sauron began plotting his rise to power, appearing before the Elves
of Eregion, while posing as Annatar, an emissary of the Valar.
Feigning friendship, he worked with them to forge 16 rings of power, while in secret forging
another in the fires of Mount Doom.
The One ring of power as it became known, could be used to influence the others.
Fortunately Celebrimbor, Lord of Eregion quietly fashioned 3 more rings of power, naming them
Vilya, Narya, and Nenya and because Sauron had no hand in their creation, they were free
from his corruption.
When Sauron completed the one ring and put it on his finger, his deception was revealed
to the Elves, and so they held back the others, refusing to give them up.
Celebrimbor then sent word to Gil Galad asking for reinforcements, and so an army was sent
led by Elrond the half elven.
Arriving in 1697, they were too late, finding Eregion sacked and burned.
The Dwarves of Khazad Dum, who were allied with the Elves had marched forth to help defend
them, but when the battle was lost retreated back into their mountains.
With Celebrimbor captured, tortured and killed, Sauron was able to seize most of the rings
of power.
However the 3 crafted in secret were never taken, instead sent away into the west, to
be kept hidden by Elven Lords.
The arriving forces tried to defend against the armies of the dark Lord, but they too
were defeated, with Elrond forced to flee North, founding the city of Rivendell as an
elven refuge.
This event was the beginning of the War of the Elves and Sauron, seeing the vast armies
of Dark Lord spreading chaos throughout the west.
Of the rings of power, nine were given to kings of men, while 7 were given to dwarven
lords.
Although the Dwarves were resistant to the power of Sauron, the rings made them ever
more greedy and paranoid, ultimately leading many of them to ruin.
Yet the fate of the nine kings was far worse, as they became slaves to the will of Sauron,
eventually turning into ringwraiths.
However as time went on, word reached the mighty Numenoreans, they sent their armies
to aid their elven allies who under Gil galad desperately fought to defend the Grey Havens.
By sailing their armies both into the north and south, the Numenorians were able to trap
Sauron’s forces, defeating them in the battle of the Gwathlo.
Furious and humiliated, the dark lord retreated to Mordor, and once more began to rebuild
his strength.
Yet it was not a total loss for the Dark Lord, as he had dealt tremendous damage to the lands
of Elves and Men, and with the Numeneorians returning home, the lands of the west were
left vulnerable.
Over the next thousand years, Sauron recovered some of his former strength and once again
expanded into the west, with reports reaching Numenor that he was pressing down upon the
cities by the coasts; and had taken the title of King of Men, declaring he would destroy
Númenor.
The ruler of Numenor, Ar-Pharazon was outraged by Sauron’s proclamation of supremacy, and
so sailed east with his armies.
However the forces of the Dark Lord were no match for the Numenorians, resulting in many
of Sauron’s soldiers deserting his cause.
Knowing he could not defeat Ar-pharazon, he allowed them to march unchallenged to Mordor
where he submitted to the king.
Not trusting the word of their ancient enemy, he took the dark Lord as his captive when
they returned to their island.
Yet Sauron was not altogether displeased, as he now saw an opportunity to finally rid
himself of these powerful kings and their people.
Using his skills, knowledge and cunning he made himself useful to the king, so that rather
than be kept as a prisoner, he was made an advisor and allowed freedom within the court.
Using this to its full advantage he started a cult dedicated to his master Melkor, converting
many of their people to his wicked ways.
Eventually he convinced the king to sail his armies west and invade the Undying lands,
where it was forbidden for men to travel.
As a consequence the Valar collapsed a part of the Pelori mountains , trapping the army
beneath.
This violation was so grievous that Eru, the lord of all creation split the world in two,
and curving the half with Middle earth to make it round, thereby eliminating the chance
of this action ever being repeated.
Numenor itself sank into the sea, killing nearly everyone who populated the island.
Sauron, who remained on Numenor during the upheavel lost his physical form, and so his
spirit made its way back to mordor to recover.
Although he’d successfully orchestrated the demise of the Numenorean kingdom, his
spirit was greatly weakened, but with the power of the one ring, his strength would
eventually return, and so he started gathering his armies once more.
Unfortunately for the dark lord, not all the numenorians were lost with the island, as
many of those who remained faithful to Eru were sparred and sent on ships to Middle Earth
where they founded the kingdoms of gondor and arnor.
In 3429, Sauron decided to at last launch another attack against the west, this time
sending his forces to capture Minas Ithil and burn the White Tree.
Isildur son of Elendil managed to escape and reach his father seeking reinforcements, while
Anarion successfully defended Osgiliath.
Over the next few years, the Last Alliance was formed by Gil Galad and Elendil, which
included the armies of men, elves and dwarves to battle the forces of mordor in the battle
of Dagorlad.
Victorious in the fighting, the Last Alliance then chased Sauron into Barad Dur, where he
remained hidden for seven years.
Eventually, he stepped out his fortress and fought both leaders of the Alliance, who died
in the battle but also vanquished the Dark Lord, allowing for Isildur to cut the one
ring of power from his finger.
With the fall of Sauron, Middle Earth entered the third age and for a thousand years the
lands of Mordor were guarded and patrolled by the men of Gondor, in order to keep the
dark creatures within from escaping.
To help them in their mission, they garrisoned Minas Ithil, the Towers of the Teeth, the
Tower of Cirith Ungol and the forteress of Durthang in the north.
Yet as the years went by and the power of Gondor waned, these towers became abandoned
and were taken up by the armies of Sauron who were reforming.
Although the dark lord was defeated after the war of the last alliance, his spirit lived
on as the One Ring of Power was never destroyed.
Spending some time in the east as well as in Dol Guldur, the dark lord once again began
plotting his conquest of Middle earth.
While he waited for his strength to build and Mordor to return to its former glory,
he used his lieutenant the witch king of angmar to destroy the lands of arnor.
And while Angmar was eventually destroyed as well, the Witch King had completed his
mission and so returned to mordor to continue serving his dark master.
The Nazgul then captured the city of Minas Ithil, and made it there home, renaming it
Minas Morgul in the year 2002 of the third age.
Among the many captains and champion’s of Mordor, the ringwraiths known as the Nazgul
were perhaps the best known.
Yet aside from these terrifying creatures, there was also the Mouth of Sauron, a Black
Numenorean who served as Sauron's ambassador.
Gothmog the "lieutenant" of Minas Morgul, and Grishnákh captain of Barad-dûr.
In the year 2941, the White Council finally realized Sauron was hiding in Dol Guldur and
so confronted the dark lord, forcing him to flee and return to Mordor.
But by this time, the nazgul and his other servants had prepared the dark kingdom for
war, and it was heavily fortified with vast armies under it’s influence.
Once again in a strong position, ready to conquer middle earth, all that Sauron needed
to ensure his victory was to recover the one ring of power, which he learned had been rediscovered.
And so the Elves, Dwarves and men of the west once again had to organize and ally together,
fighting to defend their lands and prevent Sauron from recovering the one ring.
Meeting his armies in the battle of the pelennor fields, the battle of dale and many others,
they had a final confrontation at the black gate of mordor.
However, as important as these battles were, victory or defeat would be decided by a pair
of hobbits, named Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, who were tasked with sneaking the
one ring of power back into mordor so it could be destroyed in the fires of mount doom.
Although they considered passing through the black gate, they soon realized it was impossible,
and so managed to make their way into the pass of Cirith Ungol, encountering Shelob
and nearly failing in their mission.
But eventually they reached the crack in the side of mount doom, and the one ring was destroyed,
diminishing sauron’s spirit to such an extent he could no longer interact with the world.
With the dark lord defeated, the orcs and monsters that survived fled, leaving the lands
of mordor behind.
The men of Gondor then freed the many slaves who formerly worked the lands and left the
area for them to settle as freemen.