#Orodruin

[eye-of-mordor]

THE RINGS OF POWER S1E7: The Eye

[riding-with-the-wild-hunt]

"They had come to the desolation that lay before Mordor: the lasting monument to the dark labour of its slaves that should endure when all their purposes were made void; a land defiled, diseased beyond all healing; unless the Great Sea should enter in and wash it with oblivion." - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers, "The Passage of the Marshes"

@tolkienhorrorweek day 3 ⇢ mordor + "the pitiless land" || GEOGRAPHY OF MORDOR

[ID: an edit comprised of seven banners in muted natural tones.

1: A lake surrounded by mountains overhung with mist and trees giving way to gravel banks. White gothic-style text in the center reads "Lake Núrnen," and below that in a thin sans serif, "the lake of sad waters" / 2: A valley between dark mountains, with a dirt path leading through it. Text reads "Udûn" and "the dark valley" / 3: A rocky plain leading towards distant mountains that fade into a dark, smoggy sky. Text reads "Gorgoroth" and "the plain of deadly fear" / 4: An erupting volcano in the dark. Text reads "Orodruin" and "the burning mountain" / 5: Sharp mountain ridges with snow along the lower slopes beneath a cloudy sky. Text reads "Ered Lithui" and "the ashen mountains" / 6: Bare rock mountains beneath clouds. Text reads "Ephel Dúath" and "the mountains of shadow" / 7: Pale rock formations on an arid plain, with slopes rising in the distance. Text reads "Lithlad" and "the plain of ashes" //End ID]

[ladylethargy]

The Cracks of Doom

[gnomescarfcomics]

Middle-earth shots of the week

[welcometolotr]

the years of the trees (big sister doesn't listen) vs. the first age (big sister has no choice but to listen)

(orodruin & mairon, circa tfo chapters I:29 and II:9 respectively)

[saurongorthaur9]

The Lord of Mordor by saurongorthaur9

[elronds-library]

he reached out with everything he had and offered it all

by ambrorussa (@welcometolotr)

Part 14 of The First Oath

In this tale, Maedhros’ fate does not end in the fiery depths of the world’s center. In this tale, someone with love to spare saves his body and mind and gives of themselves so that he might go on to live again. In this tale, Maedhros lands – a little wholer, a little haler – in just the right position to save someone he loves. In this tale, the world becomes just a little bit kinder.

Teen, No Archive Warnings

Words: 8,453

[ocktavo]

Orodruined - A Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor no commentary longplay

[basket-of-potatoes]

The next one :)

[niennawept]

How long did it take to dig from Orodruin (Mount Doom) to Tirharad?

This post contains spoilers for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Content warning for mentions of enslaved labor.

Let's do some calculations!

According to WWI trench digging statistics, it takes 450 men about 6 hours to dig 250m. Tirharad is approximately 145km from Orodruin.

Assuming that they work 24 hours a day and make four shifts:

Two 7-hour shifts of captive Southlanders would cover the entire period of daylight in summer reasonably far south (although summer/winter periods of daylight are questionable on a flat Middle-earth). Based on the very scientific method of eyeballing pictures of trenches in WWI and pictures of the trenches in Rings of Power, I think that they could reach 275m of full-width tunnel/day.

Two 5-hour shifts of uruks during the night. Uruks are stronger and have better stamina than humans and are used to tunneling through solid rock. I estimate that they could go double the distance and tunnel 500m of full-width tunnel/day.

Every day, about 775m of tunnel is created.

So we solve for days:

145,000m / 775m/day = about 187days, or about 6.23 months.

Important Caveats:

I don't think there are that many Southlanders! This would require 900 Southlanders to keep up this schedule. There are a couple of ways to address this:

The conditions appear to be very bad for the humans. We clearly hear them crying out and see at least one whip. The uruks are abusing them horribly to make their quota for the day. Even if there are fewer humans, they are likely producing more work than they should be.

There are more humans than we are shown. Perhaps, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the scale is off? Almost everywhere in the show feels a little sparsely populated.

What about the minor tunnels (under towns)?

I think that these don't require as much man/uruk power to create and seem to be primarily used for spying or taking humans by surprise.

Personally, I think a lot of them are taking advantage of some naturally occurring phenomena like rabbit warrens. We do know that rabbits lived in Ithilien in the Third Age, I don't think it's a stretch to say they live in the Southlands in the Second Age.

Natural land formations and tunnel width:

There could be natural formations that help OR hinder this progress. Consider a ravine that roughly follows the path they want for a 15 kilometers - now we've shaved off roughly half a month. Or perhaps the bedrock is higher in places and they have to either break it or tunnel wider to accommodate the amount of water needed. That might slow them down.

The water does seem to be pressurized, at least slightly. It would be too convenient for the entire path between Tirharad and Orodruin to be downhill, so it's likely that there is some engineering happening to force the water to flow relatively quickly to Mount Doom. It could be that some sections are wider and others narrower to help keep up this pressure.

I'm gonna say with all these caveats, you could argue that the actual timeline is anywhere between 5 months and 8 months.

[tenth-sentence]

Some differed in meaning: as Mount Doom for Orodruin 'burning mountain', or Mirkwood for Taur e-Ndaedelos 'forest of the great fear'.

"The Lord of the Rings: Appendices – Appendix F" - J.R.R. Tolkien

[eye-of-mordor]

He came in secret, as has been told, to his ancient kingdom of Mordor beyond the Ephel Dúath, the Mountains of Shadow, and that country marched with Gondor upon the east. There above the valley of Gorgoroth was built his fortress vast and strong, Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower; and there was a fiery mountain in that land that the Elves named Orod-ruin. Indeed for that reason Sauron had set there his dwelling long before, for he used the fire that welled there from the heart of the earth in his sorceries and in his forging; and in the midst of the Land of Mordor he had fashioned the Ruling Ring. There now he brooded in the dark, until he had wrought for himself a new shape; and it was terrible, for his fair semblance had departed for ever when he was cast into the abyss at the drowning of Númenor. He took up again the great Ring and clothed himself in power; and the malice of the Eye of Sauron few even of the great among Elves and Men could endure.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"...AND IN HIS FORGING; AND IN THE MIDST OF THE LAND OF MORDOR HE HAD FASHIONED THE RULING RING."

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a Tolkien Legendarium piece titled "The Forging of the One (Ring)," artwork by Ted Nasmith, gouache on illustration board. First appeared in the new illustrated edition of "The Silmarillion," published by HarperCollins in 2004.

Resolution at 892x1359 & 736x1152.

"[Sauron] came in secret... to his ancient kingdom of Mordor beyond the Ephel Dúath.... There... was a fiery mountain in that land that the Elves named Orodruin. Indeed for that reason Sauron had set there his dwelling long before, for he used the fire that welled there from the heart of the earth in his sorceries and in his forging; and in the midst of the Land of Mordor he had fashioned the Ruling Ring."

-- "The Silmarillion," c. 1977, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age," written by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sources: www.tednasmith.com/tolkien/the-forging-of-the-one, www.henneth-annun.net/events_view.cfm?evid=1085, & Pinterest.

[nisphar]

Smoke is rising over Orodruin, which means that there is not much time left... Not much time to learn how to paint an environment well! :D

[erulasse23]

an interesting note to add as I am finishing up return of the king! the phial cannot pierce the darkness inside of Orodruin, because Sauron’s malice is so strong there at the heart of his realm. I think elsewhere it is mentioned that Galadriel, with Nenya, was able to defend Lorien from any attack Sauron sent unless he himself had come with his army.

The Phial of Galadriel

Ok so I just finished The Two Towers in my re-read and reviewed some silm passages for reference. Thoughts inspired by @partfae and @elladanns posts on Galadriel as a “dark witch” and how the pj films led to some misunderstandings about her character.

A long, long time ago, there were Two Trees, basically made of pure light. They were created by Yavanna, one of the Valar. The trees and their light were Good with a capital G and Feanor crafted his Simarils to reflect their light. It was said that Galadriel’s hair was so Light and Gold it looked like it had “caught in a mesh the radiance of” one of the trees.

Ungoliant represents the opposite of all of that. She is more than Dark, she is Nothing- a Void that devours all Light and Beauty. (I’m talking with capitals because these things in the story seem to represent Concepts for Tolkien). Melkor, another of the Valar, teams up with Ungoliant to destroy the trees. She drinks up all of their light, and then asks Melkor for the Silmarils, which he had captured. Ungoliant craves beautiful light and she’s powerful enough to overwhelm it.

Fast forward to the Third Age. Galadriel, lady of Lorien, bearer of a Ring of Power, after defying the Valar in pursuit of the lost Silmarils in the First Age, crafts a Phial and gives it to Frodo. She captures the Light of a Silmaril (Eärendil’s Star) for this Phial.

So far, Frodo and Sam have used it in two places. First, Frodo grasps the Phial when the Witch-King of Angmar is exerting his will over Frodo to put on the One Ring, and it enables him to resist.

Second, the Light drives away Shelob, who we read is the last child of Ungoliant. Shelob seems to have the same powers of Darkness and Void, and Frodo and Sam remark on the unnatural dark in her tunnel. They starts losing other senses as well. When Frodo first uses the phial, he cries, “Hail Eärendil, brightest of stars!” Shelob has apparently heard this thousands of times and doesn’t flinch. But when he calls Galadriel’s name, she pauses.

When Sam uses the Phial, he uses a few lines from a song dedicated to Varda, another of the Valar and the Lady of Stars. This, coupled with his “indomitable spirit” sets the Phial ablaze and drives Shelob completely away.

There are a few things that I find interesting about this. One, Galadriel, who once rebelled against the Valar with Feanor to pursue the Silmarils, now has gifted the light of a Silmaril to the Ringbearer, and it is set ablaze through praise of a Vala. That seems like an important evolution for her. Second, the Light of the Phial is enough to dramatically hurt Shelob, whereas Ungoliant devoured the Trees themselves. That could just be due to a difference in power between Shelob and her mother but it still stands out.

Galadriel’s magic here is so Light, and so powerful *because* of its light. It’s also stronger than that of the “witch”- the morgul-king.

[saurongorthaur9]

A quick drawing of our Dark Lord from this afternoon