Ered Lithui

Trace the Black Gate on the map and follow the mountains east: those are the Ered Lithui. They divide Mordor from the plains of Rhûn and the lands toward the Sea of Rhûn, and they run for hundreds of miles before petering out toward the east, leaving Mordor open only on its southeastern side around Núrnen.

The Ash Mountains take their name from their color. Their slopes are dust and slag rather than rock and snow, and what water falls there runs bitter. Sauron's chief fortress, Barad-dûr, sits on a long arm of these mountains overlooking Gorgoroth, so that the tower could not be approached from behind. Unlike the Ephel Dúath these mountains faced no hostile kingdom, so Sauron garrisoned them lightly and used their inner slopes for mines and quarries. Their one fortified break is the Isenmouthe at the southern end of Udûn, where the northern road splits toward Barad-dûr and toward the plain.

Frodo and Sam came north up the trough behind the Morgai after escaping the Tower of Cirith Ungol. Swept up by an orc company and marched to the Isenmouthe, they slipped away there and followed the road east along the feet of the Ash Mountains before turning south across the plain toward Mount Doom.

Events at this place

1. SA 1000 · The Lord of the Rings

   Barad-dûr raised on a spur

   Sauron built his tower on an arm of the Ered Lithui, using the mountains as its back wall.

2. TA 3019, March 19 · The Lord of the Rings

   The hobbits on the orc road

   After slipping away from an orc company at the Isenmouthe, Frodo and Sam followed the road east along the feet of the Ash Mountains for three days before turning south toward Mount Doom.

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