Warning: Spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episode 7
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is expanding on the mythos of Mordor and Mount Doom, which are already a subject of much of the lore surrounding J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy world. What’s currently unfolding in Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings show serves as a key chapter in their Middle-earth history. So far, the series is painting an interesting picture of its origin.
As The Rings of Power continues, more is sure to be learned about what happened to Mordor. However, the events that take place in the series aren’t expected to extend that far in the timeline, especially since the show is set exclusively in the Second Age, whereas the central conflicts in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit happened in the Third Age. Since plenty of developments occurred over the course of their stories, quite a lot is known about what came next for Mordor in Tolkien’s books. Here’s everything that’s been revealed about the histories of Mordor and Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings franchise.
How Mount Doom Was Created
Long before Mordor developed its long-held reputation as the main base of operation for The Lord of the Rings’ villains, their headquarters was a kingdom called Angband. There, Morgoth — Sauron’s predecessor and the greatest threat to Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings – reigned over the region and erected volcanos and treacherous mountain ranges to keep himself protected from potential invaders. When Angband was lost in the War of Wrath during the First Age, Morgoth decided to build a new empire. That’s when the Dark Lord used his powers to will Mount Doom in existence. But, it wasn’t initially an active volcano. It remained dormant for years and didn’t awaken until much later.
Mount Doom Erupted In The Rings of Power
One of the most pivotal events in The Lord of the Rings timeline was depicted in The Rings of Power episode 6. While the fight with the Orcs was still playing out in the Southlands, one of the villagers activated The Rings of Power’s mystery sword, which triggered a volcanic eruption from none other than Mount Doom itself. Not only did the eruption wreck the homes of the people living nearby, but it seemingly devastated the entire landscape and set in motion a complete transformation of the terrain. The depth of its impact on the Southlands was acknowledged by Adar in The Rings of Power episode 7 when he claimed that the Southlands no longer exist. As the ending confirmed, the Southlands have been replaced on the Middle-earth map by Mordor.
Sauron Made Mordor His Headquarters
Unless Sauron is masquerading as a Rings of Power character, the villain has not yet appeared in the flesh in Amazon’s show. But, it’s no secret that he’ll eventually be making for himself in the place that the show’s characters still refer to the Southlands. In the source material, it was established that Sauron relocated to Mordor during the Second Age. There, he constructed Barad-dûr, which acted as his stronghold from that point all the way up until his downfall at the end of the Third Age. After setting up a base in Mordor, Sauron shifted his attention to building his army. For the next several centuries, Orcs from all across Middle-earth set their sights on Mordor and began their journeys to the home of the new Dark Lord.
Sauron Made The One Ring
For Sauron, getting the Orcs on his side was only a small part of his masterplan. He also had an interest in securing alliances with the respective leaders of the human and Elven civilizations. To this end, Sauron endeavored to create the Rings of Power, which were a group of 20 rings imbued with mystical powers. With the Elves aiding him in his efforts, Sauron oversaw the forging of the Rings of Power which were to be distributed between the Elves, the Dwarves, and the humans. Unbeknownst to his alleged allies, Sauron created one ring that was superior to all the rest. The One Ring – the same magical weapon that would one day be worn by Gollum, Bilbo, and Frodo – was personally created by Sauron, who used the fires of Mount Doom to forge it. Of course, the point of all this was to use the One Ring to make minions of the wearers of the 20 Rings of Power.
Sauron Failed To Conquer Middle-earth
Despite the careful planning that went into Sauron’s scheme, he wasn’t able to accomplish his biggest goal. The Elves figuring out what he was up to, the interference of Númenor, and other factors hindered Sauron’s efforts to conquer Middle-earth. While he did manage to make several gains in his crusade, Sauron faced a significant amount of pushback from his enemies and was ultimately thwarted. His failures resulted in the Dark Lord giving up the lands he had taken and falling back to Mordor. Defeated but still very much alive, Sauron waited for another chance to strike and laid low for a few centuries, but later built another army and made additional attempts at taking over Middle-earth that didn’t pan out.
Mordor Was Invaded And The One Ring Was Lost
Eventually, the centuries of off-and-on fighting between Sauron and his enemies culminated in the people of Númenor actually beating back Sauron’s forces and breaching Mordor’s borders in the Second Age. They had so much success in overpowering Sauron’s Orc armies that Sauron lost the One Ring to Isildur. Isildur even made it to Mount Doom, left Barad-dûr in ruins, and had a chance to destroy the One Ring by dropping it into the flames. But by this time, the Ring had already developed a hold on him, which caused him to refrain from going through with the deed. But though the One Ring survived the battle, what happened in Mordor still amounted to a total defeat for Sauron, who lost the war, his tower, and his most prized possession.
The One Ring Was Destroyed
Sauron’s most well-known story is the one that took center stage in The Lord of the Rings. Many centuries after The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and well into the Third Age, Sauron had rebuilt Barad-dûr. Once again, he had assembled a massive army of Orcs to help him with enslaving and conquering Middle-earth in his name. In the bloody conflict now referred to as the War of the Ring, Sauron used his legions of Orcs to wreak havoc on the opposing forces, as seen in The Lord of the Rings movies. He also spent some time trying to recover the One Ring, but to no avail. As the fighting continued, Aragorn orchestrated a plan to get Frodo and Sam to Mount Doom. Though there were complications, the strategy worked and the One Ring was dissolved in the fires of the very volcano that birthed it. With the One Ring gone for good, Barad-dûr was destroyed and Sauron lost his power. His defeat paved the way for Aragorn’s armies to eliminate the Orcs that still lingered in the area, thus finally bringing the threat posed by Mordor to an end at last.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power releases new episodes on Thursdays/Fridays on Amazon Prime Video.
