"J.R.R. Tolkien - The History of Middle-Earth - 00" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolkien J.R.R)

We know from early maps that a chain of mountains existed in the western regions of Far Harad.
These mountains were named the Grey Mountains (but were not connected to the Grey
Mountains of northern Endor).




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 Essays On Middle-earth

In the Second Age the Numenoreans established havens and fortresses in the lands that later
were called Far Harad. They conquered many peoples along the coast lands and came into
conflict with Sauron's allies who dwelt further inland. Some of these dominions apparently
survived into the Third Age to become enemies of Gondor.

The eastern coasts of Far Harad were dominated by the Yellow Mountains, a feature which is
only named in a couple of sources and about which we know nothing.

Mordor (Black Land)
Mordor, like Gondor, was really a single land that was synonymous with the region called by the
same name. It lay wholly within the arms of the Ered Lithui (Ash Mountains) and Ephel Duath
(Fences of Shadow); both ranges appear to be part of the same extensive chain of mountains.

The region was open on the eastern side to lands in Rhun which were controlled by Sauron.
Inside its boundaries Mordor was divided into three areas: Udun, Gorgoroth, and Nurn.

Udun was a huge valley in the northeastern corner of Mordor. The area was rocky and bowl-
shaped but probably not completely inhospitable to plant and animal life.

Gorgoroth was divided into two areas. The northwest corner was virtually lifeless, dominated by
Amon Amarth, the huge volcano Sauron used to forge the One Ring and to launch a sun-
blocking cloud in his attack on Gondor at the end of the Third Age. The lands around the
volcano were ashy and barren.

The rest of Gorgoroth was probably not much better off but perhaps supported some plant and
animal life. It was a large plateau that extended across the northern third of Mordor, almost to the
end of the Ered Lithui.

Nurn lay to the south of Gorgoroth. The western part of Nurn was called Lithlad (an indication of
the extent to which Sauron had poisoned his own lands). The southern and eastern regions of
Nurn were dominated by a small sea, Nurnen, and the rivers which fed it. The lands in this area
were quite fertile and Sauron kept many slaves there to raise food for his armies.

Rhun (the East)
Rhun was the birthplace of peoples in Middle-earth. Even the Elves had awoken there in their
ancient land of Cuivi├лnen, which lay on the northeastern shore of the sea of Helcar, between the
sea and the mountains. Cuivi├лnen was actually situated around a small bay or lake into which
flowed a great waterfall fed by a river from the mountains.