Barad-dûr

Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower, is the great fortress of Sauron in Mordor, the seat of his power and the mightiest stronghold of evil in Middle-earth. Its name means "Dark Tower" in the Elvish tongue Sindarin. From its heights Sauron ruled his realm and directed his wars, and it was bound up with the power of the One Ring, so that while the Ring endured, Barad-dûr could not be wholly thrown down.

Barad-dûr stood upon a spur of the Ash Mountains (the Ered Lithui) at the northwestern edge of Mordor, overlooking the plain of Gorgoroth and the fire of Mount Doom, from which Sauron had forged the Ring.

Description

Barad-dûr was the greatest fortress ever raised in Middle-earth, an immense tower of black iron and adamant rising in tier upon tier, crowned with battlements and pinnacles. At its summit was set the window from which the Lidless Eye of Sauron looked out over his domain, a baleful searching gaze that his enemies feared. The tower was raised with the power of the One Ring, and so much of Sauron's strength was poured into its making that its foundations could not be destroyed while the Ring survived.

History

Sauron raised Barad-dûr in the Second Age, over many years, using the power of the Ring he had forged in secret. It was the heart of his dominion when he warred against the Elves and Men. At the end of the Second Age, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men besieged Barad-dûr for seven years, and at last Sauron came forth and was overthrown, Isildur cutting the Ring from his hand. Though Sauron's body was destroyed and the tower's top thrown down, its foundations remained because the Ring was not unmade.

In the Third Age, after he had regained his strength, Sauron returned to Mordor and rebuilt Barad-dûr, and from it he prepared his final war.

In the story

Throughout The Lord of the Rings, Barad-dûr is the looming center of Sauron's threat, the source of the searching Eye that the Ring-bearer must evade. When Frodo and Gollum bring the One Ring to its destruction in the fire of Mount Doom, Sauron's power fails utterly, and Barad-dûr, its foundations no longer sustained by the Ring, crumbles and falls to ruin, ending the Dark Lord's dominion forever.