Lord of the Rings on Film

Lesson 7: Places in Middle-earth

Rohan; Gondor; Mordor

Rohan

The Men of the North were given this area by Gondor as a reward for help when they were attacked and it grew to become famous for its cavalry (Gandalf made himself very unpopular by taking Shadowfax, the best horse in the land). Eorl was the founder and the first king. He swore to Gondor that Rohan would always be an ally, an oath that was carried out by Théoden when the Rohirrim rode to Gondor’s aid during the battle of the Pelennor Fields. The Riders of Rohan were called the Rohirrim, controlled by the military leaders the First, Second and Third Marshals of the Riddermark. Théoden was the First Marshal when he was younger until Wormtongue persuaded him that no First Marshal was needed.

Gondor

Gondor is the main kingdom during the War of the Ring and was founded by Elendil (with Arnor) after the fall of Númenor. It was ruled at first by Isildur and his brother Anarion. After Elendil and Anarion were killed, and Isildur died on the way home from the battle of the First Alliance, the line of Gondor was diluted. There were thirty-one more kings but heirs became harder and harder to find and Gondor was handed over to stewards until the return of the king. The city of Gondor was originally Osgiliath (which Faramir loses in The Two Towers), but was captured by Sauron and the main city becomes Minas Tirith, the seven-walled city shown in The Return of the King.

Gondor’s symbol was a white tree, which lay dead from the days of the stewards. It blossomed again after the return of the king.

Mordor

Sauron fled south after the defeat of Melkor and the fall of Númenor at the end of the First Age, and finally built his tower Barad-dûr east of Gondor. The land surrounding it became known as Mordor, the Black Land. The Black Gate, as seen in the battle of the Last Alliance in the First Age (The Fellowship of the Ring) and when Frodo and Sam see it opening in The Two Towers, is the main entrance into Mordor.

Sauron bed many orcs in Mordor, including the first Uruk-hai. By the time of the events in LOTR, the orcs had multiplied many times from earlier years.

The Eye of Mordor was Sauron’s way of seeing events as far as hundreds of miles away. It had limitations though, which was how Frodo and Sam were able to creep into Mordor under its gaze.

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