Mount Doom

From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.

For the ROTK chapter see Mount Doom (chapter)

Mount Doom depicted in Return of the King

Location of Mount Doom in Middle-earth marked in red

Mount Doom, or Orodruin, was a volcano in Mordor where the One Ring was forged in Sammath Naur, the Crack of Doom, a fiery chasm within the mountain. It was the ultimate destination for Frodo's Quest of the Ring.

Orodruin was Sindarin for "Fire Mountain". The literal Sindarin translation of Mount Doom is Amon Amarth, meaning "Mountain of Fate".

When Sauron chose the land of Mordor as his dwelling-place in the Second Age, Orodruin was the reason for his choice. He 'used the fire that welled there from the heart of the earth in his sorceries and his forging.' The most famous result of his forging, and in fact the only one we know of for sure, was the One Ring.

Orodruin was far more than a natural volcano - Sauron seems to have extended his own power into it, and was able to control its fires. It seems to have lain dormant when Sauron was away from Mordor, and sprung into life when his power grew.

With the destruction of the Ring, Mount Doom had a final, massive eruption, sending massive lava flows down all sides and scattering the area with volcanic debris. Several of the falling lava balls went flying at the Nazgûl as they tried to escape on their fell beasts, destroying the riders and their mounts.

[edit] Peter Jacksons Films

In Peter Jackson's trilogy of movies, the New Zealand volcano Mount Ngauruhoe was used as Mount Doom in some scenes. In long shots the mountain is either a large model or a CGI effect, or a combination. It was not permitted to film the summit of Ngauruhoe because it is sacred to the Māori of the region. However, some scenes on the slopes of Mount Doom were filmed on the actual slopes of Mt. Ruapehu.