Mordor, formerly known as The Southlands was a large area in the south of Middle-earth. The Men of the Southlands supported Morgoth during the Great War, and for centuries after his defeat, the villages of the Southlands were watched over by the Elves. The Southlanders resented their presence, but they guarded against the return of evil. During the Second Age, the leader of the Orcs, Adar, enacted a plan to turn the Southlands into a home for the Orcs. Plundering through the human settlements, he acquired the hilt, which acted as a key to release a torrent of water into the heart of Orodruin. The resulting eruption of the volcano covered the Southlands in darkness, becoming the home of the Orcs.
History[]
First Age[]
The Southlands, and its inhabitants the Southlanders, were led by a King and royal family whom guided the people as he saw fit. However, the region became strong supporters of Morgoth in the First Age. Morgoth was defeated by the Elves, Men, and other species that united as one to quell the darkness. As punishment for their servantry to the Dark Lord, a group of Elves were tasked with overseeing the villages of the Southlands, including Tirharad and Hordern, to ensure they never conspired with the darkness again. The Southlanders also became known as "low-men" by others in Middle-earth.[1]
Remnants of the Southlands brush with darkness were littered across the lands, though their power and meanings were lost to the passage of time.[3]
Second Age[]
The Elves continued to watch over the residents of Tirharad and Hordern from their watchtowers in Ostirith. The resentment between the Southlanders and the Elves ran deep, as many of the humans believed their presence was out of cruelty and a desire to keep them down. A faction of Southlanders longed for the return of their lost King, who would unite their people under one banner once more and bring them to glory.[1]
The Elves were recalled from their post by their High King Gil-galad as he believed the war was finally over. The Elf Arondir remained behind to say goodbye to the people he had grown to care for, which included Bronwyn, a healer from Tirharad. They were together when news of a sickness spreading from the Eastern village of Hordern was shared. They traveled to the village to investigate, but all that remained was its ruins.[1] Its ground was riven with fissures like a ground shake. There were no bodies or wounded to account for, just dead animals. They discovered a network of tunnels beneath Hordern, and they appeared to point in the direction of Tirharad. Bronwyn fled to warn her people, who initially didn't believe her until she brought them the head of an Orc who had attacked her in her home. She convinced her people to abandon the village and join her in seeking refuge in the abandoned watchtower.[4]
The Elves retreat had inadvertently allowed the Orcs to make their move against the Southlands as they emerged from the tunnels they spent years carving beneath the surface.[4] Their intricate tunnel system spanned the entirety of the Southlands and allowed them to travel without feeling the pain of the sun,[5] and would eventually allow the lava from Orodruin to transform the Southlands into their own kingdom.[6] Among the tunnels were prisoner encampments where Men and Elves were forced into manual labor such as chiseling the tunnels. Their gradual takeover of the Southlands had gone undetected, and by the time Arondir was imprisoned, the village he was taken too was already depleted.[5]
The Orcs leader Adar allowed Arondir to leave his prison in exchange for telling the inhabitants of Ositirth they would be spared if they swore fealty to him. The refugees had grown restless in the watchtower as rations were low, and their retreat to the tower had given the Orcs time to overtake Tirharad in their search for a hilt. Theo returned to the village for rations and the Orcs discovered he possessed the key, and thus began a night-long search for the hidden Southlander. Arondir rescued him and they returned to the watchtower in time for Arondir to share Adar's proposal with Bronwyn.[7] After her people defected and she learned the hilt was a key to a great power, she considered surrendering. Arondir managed to change her mind[8] as they concocted a last minute plan to purposefully destroy Ostirith. The watchtowers fall eliminated many of Adar's army, which gave the Southlanders a chance to escape back to the village and make preparations for their final stand.[6]
After a fraught night of battle, the Southlanders were cornered by Adar and the Orcs. With defeat imminent, Theo surrendered the hilt to save his mothers life. Before Adar could take more lives, Galadriel arrived with an army of Númenóreans and they defeated the Orcs with help from the remaining Southlanders. They captured Adar and interrogated him, though he refused to give up his true plans. As the enemy lay defeated, Waldreg swapped the hilt for a decoy and returned to Ostirith where he unlocked the dam. The waters poured over the Southlands, into the tunnels the Orcs has dug, and into the depths of the volcano Orodruin. The water caused the volcano to erupt and the desolation of the Southlands.[6]
The surviving Númenóreans and Southlanders made it to a nearby rendezvous point that was untouched by the eruption. The Orcs patrolled the tarnished lands for survivors, but found none as all they could smell was smoke and fire. Adar had them remove their sun cloaks as they no longer had to hide - this was their home. He knew the Southlands no longer existed, and declared the new lands would be called Mordor.[9]
Sauron returned to Mordor.[10]
Appearances[]
- Season One
- "A Shadow of the Past" (First appearance) (As the Southlands)
- "Adrift" (As the Southlands)
- "Adar" (As the Southlands)
- "The Great Wave" (As the Southlands)
- "Partings" (As the Southlands)
- "Udûn" (As the Southlands)
- "The Eye" (First identified as Mordor)
- "Alloyed"
Gallery[]
