Fire of Doom

A Fire that flowed out from the depths of the Earth and up into the volcano known as Orodruin that stood amid the ashes of the Plateau of Gorgoroth in Mordor. Seeing a purpose for the Fire in his sorcery, the Dark Lord Sauron chose this region for his dwelling place in the early Second Age, and on an outcrop far to the east of the Fire-mountain, he built the Dark Tower of Barad-dûr. A road led from the tower to the mountain, and beside it ran chasms filled with glowing molten rock that flowed out from fissures in Orodruin.

The road from Barad-dûr ran straight westward until, as it reached the mountain's feet it turned to spiral upwards. At the base of the volcano's cone, the road came back round to the east, and there it reached a place called Sammath Naur, the Chambers of Fire that led into Orodruin's flaming heart. It was here, in the middle years of the Second Age, that Sauron used the Fire of Doom to forge the One Ring, an artefact of immense power that would dominate the history of Middle-earth until the end of the Third Age.

Over the centuries that followed the making of the Ring, Sauron's power waxed until he ruled over much of Middle-earth, but he found himself challenged by an enemy from beyond the Great Sea. King Ar-Pharazôn of Númenor landed in Middle-earth with a force that even Sauron could not hope to confront, and instead the Dark Lord surrendered himself, agreeing to travel back to Númenor as the King's hostage. While he was away from Mordor, the Mountain of Fire grew quiet, showing that its Fire was, at least to some extent, under the influence of Sauron.

While away in Númenor, Sauron was able to engineer its destruction by convincing Ar-Pharazôn to sail against the Valar themselves. As a result, the island kingdom was overwhelmed by the Great Sea, and Sauron's spirit returned to his Dark Tower in Mordor. Exiles from drowned Númenor had also made their way to Middle-earth, and their new kingdom of Gondor had grown up on Mordor's western borders. The Men of Gondor discovered Sauron's return when Orodruin once more burst into life (again demonstrating the Dark Lord's power over its Fire). Filled with terror at this ominous flame, the Gondorians named the volcano 'Mount Doom', and so it is from this time that the expression 'Fire of Doom' came into use for the Fire at its blazing heart.

The Dúnedain were able to forge a Last Alliance with the Elves of Middle-earth, and in the War of the Last Alliance that followed, Sauron would fall in combat on the slopes of Mount Doom itself. The Ruling Ring, forged in the Fire of Doom, was taken from Sauron's finger by Isildur, but it was lost soon afterward. These events brought the Second Age to an end, and for nearly thirty centuries of the Third Age that followed, Mount Doom stood quiescent on its plain of ash.

In the closing years of the Third Age, Sauron returned to Mordor and re-established himself in his Dark Tower. His return was marked just three years later in III 2954, when the Fire of Doom burst back into life. Sauron's power over the Fire-mountain was great enough that he could not only rekindle its old Fire, but even control it to some extent.¹ During the War of the Ring in III 3019, he was able to send out a dark fume from Mount Doom, spreading across the battleground of the Pelennor to aid the night-eyed Orcs in his armies.

Soon after the Battle of the Pelennor, the Fire of Doom came to an end. Sauron had not foreseen that his enemies would conspire to destroy his Ring, and when the Captains of the West came in open war against his Black Gate, he focused his Eye on their small force. While he was so distracted, Frodo Baggins was able to carry the Ring into the Chambers of Fire where it had been forged, and, through the unforeseen intervention of Gollum, it was cast into the Fire of Doom and destroyed. With the unmaking of the Ring, the mountain burst into an uncontrolled eruption. Its upper cone broke open, and molten rock cascaded down the sides of the Fire-mountain in a final flaming burst of the Fire of Doom.