Part way up the entry stair was a landing below a deep shaft. From the landing a second stair led off to the left, winding “like a turret-stair.”14 The main stair continued up to the cave entrance at the top of the southern bank, and from there Frodo was led west along the bank, with a steep drop on his right. Although he was careful, the bank slope must have descended rapidly, yet smoothly, for no steps or winding paths were necessary to reach the far end of the basin, where he found Gollum.15
Left: THE STREAM Right, Top to Bottom: THE REFUGE, HENNETH ANNÛN, CROSS SECTION
THE PATH Inset: LAIR’S EAST END
The Path to Cirith Ungol
NEAR THE FOOT OF THE BRIDGE west of Minas Morgul Gollum turned aside from the Morgul-road, passed through a gap in the wall, and entered the path leading to Cirith Ungol: the “Pass of the Spider.”1 The trail at first led along the northern side of the valley of the Morgulduin, but when it was opposite the north-facing gate of Minas Morgul it turned left along a narrow ledge beside a tributary valley2 and began to climb the Straight Stair. The Stair was protected on each side by sheer walls of increasing height, yet was so long that the Hobbits began to fear the fall behind them.3 Had it been even 600 feet in a direct line, it might have measured 900 from bottom to top!
After the Straight Stair the path continued up a rough, but less steep, slope that “seemed to go on for miles,” until it ended on a wide shelf with a sheer drop on the right.4 Beyond was the Winding Stair, which coiled along the face of a reclining cliff. At one point Frodo could see the Morgul-road in a ravine far below.5 Originally Cirith Ungol was envisioned as the home for many spiders, and the lair lay between the two stairs. In the writing process Tolkien reversed the order to its final position, apparently without even realizing he had done so until afterward.6
Only a mile beyond the end of this second stair was the entrance to Torech Ungol: “Shelob’s Lair.” The wide arching tunnel was straight and even, climbing at a steep slope. Its length was not stated, but it has been shown as about twelve miles. Tolkien’s drawings seemed to indicate the passage was far shorter, but the chronology required the distance; and even to Sam “time and distance soon passed out of his reckoning. . . . how many hours had they passed in this lightless hole? Hours—days, weeks rather.”7
There were many passages leading away on both sides, but the Hobbits seem to have traversed most of the distance before coming to a wide opening on the left—the way to the spider’s pit.8 Not far beyond, the tunnel forked: A door blocked the left passage, which wound its way to the Under-gate at the guard-tower; the right tunnel led to the primary (but not only) exit. Beyond the exit about 600 feet steps climbed to the Cleft—Cirith Ungol.9 It was about 3000 feet high,10 and on the far side of the road leaped down past the Tower to rejoin the Morgul-road.11
The Tower of Cirith Ungol
UPON FIRST SEEING the full extent of the infacing Tower of Cirith Ungol, Sam realized it “had been built not to keep enemies out of Mordor, but to keep them in.” It was, indeed, one of the fortresses Gondor had built at the beginning of the Third Age to watch over Mordor after Sauron’s fall.1 The Tower leaned against the steep mountain face just east of the Cleft of Cirith Ungol, and its turret jutted above the mountain ridge with the torch near its window visible to travellers west of the pass, and even west of Shelob’s Lair.2
The Tower
In an illustration by Tolkien the path was shown winding its way down a slope behind the fortress “to meet the main road under the frowning walls close to the Tower-gate.”3 A sheer brink plunged from the outer edge of the gate-road and the northeastern fort wall, eliminating any approach or escape except along the road.4 The gate was on the southeast, and was barred by no visible door but only by the malice of the Two Watchers.5 Inside, a “narrow court” surrounded the tower except on the west and has been drawn fifty feet across. It was edged by a wall thirty feet high that leaned out at the top “like inverted steps.”6 On Tolkien’s sketch the wall was topped by a parapet shaped like a fence of giant spearheads.
The tower was composed of three great tiers, each smaller and farther back than the one below.7 The flat roof of the third tier stood just below the ridgecrest, and slightly above the cleft of the pass (200 feet above the gate).8 Above it rose a turret with a pinnacle so steep that from a distance it appeared as the horn of a mountain.9 Tolkien’s only drawing of the Tower showed four tiers plus the turret (later reduced to three) and the walls appeared to be round; yet from the beginning the text stated that “it jutted out in pointed bastions . . . with sheer sides . . . that looked north-east and south-east.”10 The accompanying map has been made to agree with the text in this respect. The proportionate heights and widths of the tiers were based only upon Tolkien’s sketch, but they closely match the final dimensions stated in the manuscript.11 The flat roof of the top tier measured sixty feet between the turret and the low parapet of the wall. Although the turret was described as “great,” and was large enough in diameter to require halls running across from the spiral stair at each level, it had a ‘horn’-like appearance both as seen from the path to Cirith Ungol and in the sketch of the Tower.12
Height Depth (Top View)
1st Level 100 Feet 40 Yards
2nd Level 75 Feet 30 Yards
3rd Level 50 Feet 20 Yards
The Interior
When Sam entered the tower, he passed through a door that faced the main gate. Beyond it a wide passage led back to the mountain. There were many doors and openings on both sides of the hallway, and at the far end was a great archway barred by double doors: the Under-gate.13 Beyond the gate was the Under-way, the winding tunnel that led up to Shelob’s Lair.14 An opening not far from the great doors led to a steep winding stairway on the right. There were occasional openings from the stair to other levels, but Sam continued climbing until he reached the stair’s end.15
At the head of the stair was a small domed chamber, perched on the wide roof of the top tier halfway between the turret and the parapet. The chamber had two open doors: one facing east toward Mount Doom and one looking west to the door of the great turret.16
Inside the turret’s door Sam found a stair on his right, winding counterclockwise up the inside of the round walls. The stair had passed halfway around the turret before arriving at a door leading into the interior. Opposite the door was the west-facing window through which Frodo had seen the red torchlight. Climbing another half-circle brought Sam to the second floor, with its east-facing window. There the steps stopped, so he turned through the open door leading into the central passage. He soon found it was a dead end, with locked doors both right and left. Frodo was overhead in a chamber that could be reached only through a trap-door.17
THE FORT Cross Section: WEST-EAST Upper Right: TOWER PASSAGES Lower Right: TURRET PASSAGES
Mount Doom
SAURON SETTLED IN MORDOR about S.A. 1000,1 and in that fenced land he found the ultimate forge: Orodruin, the “Mountain of Blazing Fire.”2 In its molten lava he made the One Ring, which no other flame was hot enough to melt; so there it had to be destroyed.3 Sauron apparently used the fires frequently, for his road up the Mountain was always “repaired and cleared.”4 Whenever Sauron was growing in power the eruptions began anew, and it was in S.A. 3429, just before his attack on the newly founded Gondor, that the explosions caused the Dúnedain to give the Mountain a new name: Amon Amarth, Mount Doom.5
The Mountain
Mount Doom stood in the midst of the Plateau of Gorgoroth in northwestern Mordor; yet in that land of vulcanism it seemed to be the only active volcano. There were, however, steaming fissures such as those between which Sauron’s Road ran from Barad-dûr to the Mountain.6 Mount Doom was evidently a composite or strato-volcano, formed of alternating layers of ash and lava. Both its elevation and description prove it was not a simple cinder cone: “The confused and tumbled shoulders . . . rose for maybe three thousand feet . . . and . . . half as high again its tall central cone.”7 Still, its 4500-foot elevation w
as not remarkably high8—far short of Mount Etna, in Italy, which towers 11,000 feet and has a base ninety miles in circumference (about twenty-nine miles in diameter).9 A seven-mile-diameter base has been shown for Mount Doom, making its average slope a very typical 20° (although the reader should note that the vertical exaggeration of the cross section makes it appear much more steep).10
The slope was more gentle on the north and west, where Frodo and Sam made their climb until they came to the northern sweep of Sauron’s Road.11 The road reportedly climbed onto the Mountain via a causeway on the eastern side, then wound around the base like a snake.12 Three gaping fissures, roughly south, west, and east, vented the central cone.13 Fortunately for the Hobbits, the recent lava flows were on the south side, and so had not disturbed the upper part of the road. As Frodo and Sam walked east along the climbing path they came to a hairpin turn, where they were attacked by Gollum. This turn was shown clearly in two sketches by Tolkien, on which it appeared to be just below the point where the slope steepened.14 The published drawing showed the original location of the road along the base of the central cone, but another (yet unpublished) included the corrected version.15 In it, when the road turned east once more, it was necessary to cut into the rock in order to reach the goal “high in the upper cone, but still far from the reeking summit”—the east-facing door of Sauron’s fire-well, the Sammath Naur, the “Chambers of Fire.”16
The Sammath Naur
The exact application of the “Chambers of Fire” was unclear. The term may have referred to: the long tunnel leading into the heart of the cone; the Crack of Doom; the central vent; or the entire lava vent system (hence the use of the plural, Chambers). It has been shown here in the core, using the last interpretation. As such it may have been synonymous with Gandalf’s usage of the Cracks of Doom—several fissures within the Mountain.17 Only one of those cracks was readily accessible, for as Sam crept through the door he found “a long cave or tunnel that bored into . . . the cone. But only a short way ahead, its floor and walls on either side were cloven by a great fissure . . . the Crack of Doom.”18 This was clearly not the central core, for when the fiery magma bubbled up, it lit the roof of the tunnel.19 Had Frodo stood at the central vent there would have been sky above. Still, the abyss was deep and wide, and the lava must have been very high in the chambers to have produced such light so high in the cone. The mountain stood poised for further eruptions, and the fall of Gollum with the Ring unleashed the largest.
Orodruin was, indeed, very explosive; and its eruptions probably were the Vulcanian type, with viscous lavas that crusted over between eruptions, each new explosion emitting ash and “ash-laden gases . . . to form dark cauliflower-like clouds.”20 These reeking clouds were most widespread on the Dawnless Day but appeared again after the destruction of the Ring, when the cone was rent asunder, ash rained down, and “black against the pall of cloud, there rose a huge shape of shadow . . . filling all the sky,” seen even as far away as Minas Tirith.21 Sam and Frodo escaped to “a low ashen hill piled at the Mountain’s foot,” but were surrounded by molten lava and could go no farther.22
MOUNT DOOM Cross Section: WEST-EAST
The Battle of the Hornburg
March 3–4, T.A. 3019
SARUMAN FIRST SENT FORCES AGAINST ROHAN on February 25, 3019, and the men of the Westfold fought the First Battle of the Fords of Isen and held off the enemy; but on March 2 the wizard emptied all his forces from Isengard and after they had scattered the Rohirrim’s defense at the Second Battle of the Ford, the Ores and hillmen moved south to assail the fortress of the Hornburg at Helm’s Deep.1
After news of the First Battle of the Fords, Gandalf advised Théoden to lead the Riders of the Rohan west to ward off new attacks.2 More than a thousand set out toward the Fords of Isen3 but turned aside to Helm’s Deep after hearing of the disastrous Second Battle of the Fords, while Gandalf galloped off to regroup the scattered Rohirrim and to gain the support of the Ents he knew to be at Isengard.4 By chance the Ents had arrived at Isengard just before Saruman’s troops marched forth, so Merry had seen the enemy go: “’of all sorts together, there must have been ten thousand at the very least.’”5
In contrast, Erkenbrand had left Helm’s Deep with “’Maybe . . . a thousand fit to fight on foot,’” though they were older or younger than would have been best.6 Added to the thousand riders of Théoden, they totaled “enough to man both the burg and the barrier wall,” yet were too few to defend the dike;7 and were at best outnumbered five to one. Their end would probably have been noble but unsuccessful had Gandalf’s efforts not brought assistance. Riding swiftly he had gathered a thousand foot-soldiers led in by Erkenbrand,8 and a wood of Huorns that (according to Merry) numbered “’hundreds and hundreds.’”9 These, then, were the estimated troops at the Battle:
Captain Arrived From Troops
I. Rohan and Allies
Théoden/Éomer Edoras 1000 cavalry10
Gambling the Old Helm’s Deep 1000 infantry11
Erkenbrand Fords of Isen 1000 infantry12
Ents (Huorns) Fangorn via Isengard “Hundreds and hundreds”13
TOTAL March 3 2000
14
Many wolf-riders were already in the Westfold Dale and the Deeping Coomb when Théoden’s Riders arrived. The Rohirrim went up to the Hornburg.15 After the rearguard retreated from the Dike, the attackers poured through.
Éomer arrayed most of the men on the Deeping Wall and its tower, “where the defense seemed more doubtful.”16 After volleys of arrows, the attackers surged forward in an attempt to scale the Wall. At the gate of the Hornburg “the hugest Ores were mustered, and the wild men of the Dunland fells.”17 Using two great battering rams, the enemies were splintering the wooden doors. Aragorn, Éomer, Gimli, and a handful of warriors exited from a postern-door and threw the enemies from the Rock; then they instead directed a barricade be built to hold the gate.18
As Saruman’s forces were unsuccessful at the gate, they quietly crept in through the culvert in the Deeping Wall but were spotted and slain or driven into the gorge, falling to defenders farther up the Deep.19 Gimli directed some of the men in blocking the culvert; but later, when the fight on the Wall was the fiercest, the Ores blasted the culvert open just as many other enemies managed to scale the Deeping Wall. All “the defense was swept away,” and the defenders retreated to the fastnesses of the Burg and the caves: Aragorn, Legolas, the Men of the king’s guard, and many others gained entrance to the Citadel, while Éomer and Gimli fought their way back to the Glittering Caves.20 The assaults continued throughout the night, with the attackers able to move from all sides of the Hornburg except next to the mountain. Still they were unable to break through the Hornburg Gate until dawn, when they blasted an opening.21
Instead of Ores pouring into the Hornburg, however, Théoden led forth his Riders, perhaps nine hundred or so if about half the surviving defenders had escaped to the caves. So powerful and sudden was their onset that Saruman’s forces (though far greater in number despite casualties) were driven in rout back to Helm’s Dike.22 Only a quarter mile beyond the dike was a wood of Huorn’s, however, and the enemy milled between. Suddenly Gandalf and Erkenbrand appeared on the western ridge. Trapped between unscalable cliffs to the east and attackers both west and south, the Dunlendings surrendered, and the Ores ran into the “wood” of Huorns from which none escaped.23 The men from the caves arrived too late—the Battle of the Hornburg was already won and all of Saruman’s great host destroyed.24
Upper Left: TO THE BATTLE Upper Right: NIGHT TIME RETREAT Lower: DAWN COUNTERATTACK
NORTHERN BATTLES
Battles in the North
March 11–30, T.A. 3019
ON MARCH 6, when Aragorn revealed himself to Sauron,1 the Enemy hurriedly initiated the various assaults he had planned. The greatest was against Minas Tirith, utilizing his southern armies; but he also had forces in Dol Guldur and allie
s in Rhûn who were ever at his call. Simultaneous with the departure from Mordor on March 10, these northern troops must have sallied forth against their appointed targets.2
The first to reach their goal were the troops from Dol Guldur who assailed nearby Lórien.3 Being unsuccessful, many passed around the border of the woods and entered the Wold of Rohan. On March 12 they were surprised by Ents sent east from Fangorn and Isengard, and were routed.4 Lórien was attacked twice more, on March 15 and 22, but was never entered. Forces from Dol Guldur also went north and battled King Thranduil under the trees of Mirkwood. There, too, the main battle was on March 15; and after “long battle . . . and great ruin of fire,” Thranduil emerged the victor.5
Eastern allies of Sauron, presumably from Rhûn, crossed the River Carnen and marched against the men of Dale and the Dwarves of Erebor.6 Once more the battle was joined on that important date of March 15, although this Battle of Dale was no one-day struggle, but lasted instead for three days.7 On March 17 King Brand fell before the Gate of Erebor, and King Dáin Ironfoot fought mightily over Brand’s body before he, too, was slain. Then both Men and Dwarves were forced to retreat into the fastness of Lonely Mountain and were besieged, but the Easterlings could not win past the Gate.8