Barad-dûr

On the map the Dark Tower sits at the eastern side of Gorgoroth, with the Ash Mountains at its back and Sauron's Road running west from its gate to Mount Doom. Sauron chose the site because the mountains shield it on two sides and the plain in front offers no cover to an attacking army. Little was ever recorded of its inside: the shape known to Gondor was what could be seen across Gorgoroth, black walls on black rock, iron gates, and a lit window in the topmost turret.

He began building around SA 1000 and finished it after the One Ring was made, roughly six hundred years later. The tower's strength came from the Ring itself, which is why it could be besieged but not broken: the Last Alliance camped on Gorgoroth for seven years from SA 3434 before Sauron finally came out to fight, and even then the tower had to be thrown down by hand after Isildur took the Ring.

Sauron rebuilt it after he returned to Mordor and declared himself openly in TA 2951. From its topmost chamber the Eye searched Middle-earth, and Pippin saw that chamber in the palantír of Orthanc. Aragorn used the same stone to show himself to Sauron and pull his attention west. Gollum was tortured in the tower's pits after he was caught in Mordor, and that is how Sauron learned the names Baggins and Shire.

The Army of the West marched to the Black Gate in March TA 3019 for exactly that reason, to keep Sauron looking outward while two hobbits crossed the plain below his walls. When the Ring went into the fire on 25 March, the foundations failed and the whole structure came down.

Events at this place

1. SA 1000 · The Silmarillion

   Building of the Dark Tower

   Sauron settled in Mordor and began Barad-dûr, completing it after the forging of the One Ring.

2. SA 3434 · The Silmarillion

   The Siege of Barad-dûr

   The Last Alliance besieged the tower for seven years until Sauron came forth and was overthrown, and the Ring was cut from his hand.

3. TA 2951 · Appendices

   Sauron declares himself

   Sauron revealed himself openly in Mordor and set about rebuilding Barad-dûr, sending three Nazgûl to occupy Dol Guldur.

4. TA 3019, March 25 · The Lord of the Rings

   The tower falls

   When the One Ring was destroyed on 25 March, the foundations of Barad-dûr gave way and the tower collapsed into ruin.

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