The Encyclopedia of Arda - Orodruin (original) (raw)

ALPHABETICAL RACES PLACES MISCELLANEOUS REFERENCE INTERACTIVE SHARE User guide Latest entries FAQ and e-mail Disclaimer and bibliography Awards Old and rare words Lexicon of names Excyclopedia of Arda Movie-goer's Guides: • The Fellowship of the Ring • The Two Towers • The Return of the King The Hobbit Viewer's Companions: • An Unexpected Journey • The Desolation of Smaug • The Battle of the Five Armies Tolkien links Book news Latest Chronicle Calendar Old and rare words Lexicon of names Links Random
Location Northern Mordor Pronunciation oro'druin (ui is pronounced as in the English word 'ruin') Meaning 'Mountain of Red Flame' Other names Amon Amarth, The Fiery Mountain, The Fire-mountain, Mount Doom, Mountain of Fire Indexes: Alphabetical: O Hills and Mountains About this entry: Updated 28 December 2003 Updates planned: 2 Mount Doom The Fire-mountain in the northern parts of Mordor, in which Sauron forged the One Ring during the Second Age, and into which the same Ring fell thousands of years later to bring about the Dark Lord's downfall. When Sauron chose the land of Mordor as his dwelling-place in the Second Age, Orodruin was the reason for his choice. He 'used the fire that welled there from the heart of the earth in his sorceries and his forging' (from Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age); the most famous result of his forging, and in fact the only one we know of for sure, was the One Ring, made in about the year II 1600. So powerful was the sorcery used in the making of the Ring that it could not be unmade, except by casting it back into the same fire that had forged it. The first opportunity to destroy the Ring came in the last year of the Second Age, at the end of the War of the Last Alliance. Sauron was defeated in that War, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand. Elrond and Círdan counselled him to destroy the Ring then1 (the battle had taken place on the slopes of Orodruin itself), but Isildur refused, and claimed the Ring for himself. So the doom of the Third Age was made. Orodruin was far more than a natural volcano - Sauron extended his own power into it, and was able to control its fires. It seems to have lain dormant when Sauron was away from Mordor, and sprung into life when his power grew. After the Downfall of Númenor, for example, the Exiles in Middle-earth first knew that Sauron had also escaped the Downfall when they saw smoke rising from Orodruin, and an Age later at the Council of Elrond (The Lord of the Rings II 2), Boromir says 'Smoke rises once more from Orodruin that we call Mount Doom'. Notes 1 It isn't clear how Elrond or Círdan could know that throwing the Ring into Orodruin would destroy it - neither of them had had any part in the making of the Rings of Power, and both had refused Sauron's lore when he offered it to them. At this time, though, both Elrond and Círdan were themselves Ring-bearers (of the Elven-rings Vilya and Narya), and perhaps these Rings gave them special insight. See also... Amon Amarth, Annatar, Ash Mountains, Barad-dûr, Black Country, Chambers of Fire, Cracks of Doom, Dark Lord, Days of Flight, Desolation of the Morannon, Downfall of Barad-dûr, Elendil, Fiery Mountain, Fire of Doom, Fire-mountain, [See the full list...]Fortress of Sauron, Great Rings, Great Signal, Lithlad, Lord of the Black Land, Lord of the Rings, Mordor, Morgul Pass, Morgul-host, Mount Doom, Mountain of Fire, Nine Walkers, Nurn, One Ring, Plateau of Gorgoroth, Quest of Mount Doom, Ring of Power, Ring-bearers, Ring-maker, Sammath Naur, Sauron, Sauron’s Road, Second Age, Second Chief, Slag-hills, Tale of the Ring, The Fire, War of the Ring, Window of the Eye Indexes: Alphabetical: O Hills and Mountains About this entry: Updated 28 December 2003 Updates planned: 2 For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1997-2000, 2003. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ. Website services kindly sponsored by Discus from Axiom Software Ltd.Got a question about Discus or DISC? Why not take a look through our Knowledge Base and see what you can learn?

The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien

ALPHABETICAL RACES PLACES MISCELLANEOUS REFERENCE INTERACTIVE

SHARE User guide Latest entries FAQ and e-mail Disclaimer and bibliography Awards Old and rare words Lexicon of names Excyclopedia of Arda Movie-goer's Guides: • The Fellowship of the Ring • The Two Towers • The Return of the King The Hobbit Viewer's Companions: • An Unexpected Journey • The Desolation of Smaug • The Battle of the Five Armies Tolkien links Book news Latest Chronicle Calendar Old and rare words Lexicon of names Links Random

Location Northern Mordor Pronunciation oro'druin (ui is pronounced as in the English word 'ruin') Meaning 'Mountain of Red Flame' Other names Amon Amarth, The Fiery Mountain, The Fire-mountain, Mount Doom, Mountain of Fire Indexes: Alphabetical: O Hills and Mountains About this entry: Updated 28 December 2003 Updates planned: 2 Mount Doom Map of Orodruin

The Fire-mountain in the northern parts of Mordor, in which Sauron forged the One Ring during the Second Age, and into which the same Ring fell thousands of years later to bring about the Dark Lord's downfall. When Sauron chose the land of Mordor as his dwelling-place in the Second Age, Orodruin was the reason for his choice. He 'used the fire that welled there from the heart of the earth in his sorceries and his forging' (from Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age); the most famous result of his forging, and in fact the only one we know of for sure, was the One Ring, made in about the year II 1600. So powerful was the sorcery used in the making of the Ring that it could not be unmade, except by casting it back into the same fire that had forged it. The first opportunity to destroy the Ring came in the last year of the Second Age, at the end of the War of the Last Alliance. Sauron was defeated in that War, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand. Elrond and Círdan counselled him to destroy the Ring then1 (the battle had taken place on the slopes of Orodruin itself), but Isildur refused, and claimed the Ring for himself. So the doom of the Third Age was made. Orodruin was far more than a natural volcano - Sauron extended his own power into it, and was able to control its fires. It seems to have lain dormant when Sauron was away from Mordor, and sprung into life when his power grew. After the Downfall of Númenor, for example, the Exiles in Middle-earth first knew that Sauron had also escaped the Downfall when they saw smoke rising from Orodruin, and an Age later at the Council of Elrond (The Lord of the Rings II 2), Boromir says 'Smoke rises once more from Orodruin that we call Mount Doom'. Notes 1 It isn't clear how Elrond or Círdan could know that throwing the Ring into Orodruin would destroy it - neither of them had had any part in the making of the Rings of Power, and both had refused Sauron's lore when he offered it to them. At this time, though, both Elrond and Círdan were themselves Ring-bearers (of the Elven-rings Vilya and Narya), and perhaps these Rings gave them special insight. See also... Amon Amarth, Annatar, Ash Mountains, Barad-dûr, Black Country, Chambers of Fire, Cracks of Doom, Dark Lord, Days of Flight, Desolation of the Morannon, Downfall of Barad-dûr, Elendil, Fiery Mountain, Fire of Doom, Fire-mountain, [See the full list...]Fortress of Sauron, Great Rings, Great Signal, Lithlad, Lord of the Black Land, Lord of the Rings, Mordor, Morgul Pass, Morgul-host, Mount Doom, Mountain of Fire, Nine Walkers, Nurn, One Ring, Plateau of Gorgoroth, Quest of Mount Doom, Ring of Power, Ring-bearers, Ring-maker, Sammath Naur, Sauron, Sauron’s Road, Second Age, Second Chief, Slag-hills, Tale of the Ring, The Fire, War of the Ring, Window of the Eye Indexes: Alphabetical: O Hills and Mountains About this entry: Updated 28 December 2003 Updates planned: 2 For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1997-2000, 2003. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ. Website services kindly sponsored by Discus from Axiom Software Ltd.Got a question about Discus or DISC? Why not take a look through our Knowledge Base and see what you can learn?