Middle-earth has many famous mountains, from the peaks of the Misty Mountains to Erebor, but perhaps the most important of the story is Mount Doom, the volcano at the heart of Sauron’s evil domain of Mordor. In the latest episode of Amazon The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerwe have a surprising and explosive origin story for the series’ most famous volcano.
[Ed. note: The story contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episode 6.]
To answer the most obvious question first, yes, that was indeed Mount Doom that erupted at the end of the episode. If, like Galadriel, you have a hard time remembering what Middle-earth looks like on a map, the Southlands of The Rings of Powerwhere the besieged village of Ostirith is located also happens to be the land that will later become Mordor.
It seems the land’s development of lush fields and beautiful mountains was part of a grand design by Morgoth or Sauron and was triggered by the Sword Key unleashing a massive flood. This flood devastated the land thanks to the tunnels the orcs had already dug and triggered an eruption of Mount Doom volcano (although it didn’t have that name at the time of the show) until it erupted. This eruption has spewed molten rock and magma in a mile-wide radius that it seems will remain scorched forever, or at least until Frodo, Sam and Gollum get there with the One Ring.
While the story of Mount Doom isn’t very explicit in Tolkien’s lore, the show’s story seems mostly consistent. We know that the land was not always called Mordor, and that the name likely came after the eruption of Mount Doom, but there is no mention that the eruption itself was caused by a deliberate flood.
What will happen to the area next and how long it will be before Sauron settles there, we’ll just have to wait and see where The Rings of Power takes his story next.
