Also known as: The Black Land, The Land Of Shadow
The realm of Sauron in the east of Middle-earth, walled by the Ered Lithui and the Ephel Dúath — the Ash Mountains and the Mountains of Shadow. Within its borders lie the plateau of Gorgoroth, Mount Doom where the One Ring was forged, and the Dark Tower of Barad-dûr. Sauron chose it as his fortress-land in the Second Age for the protection of its mountain walls, and twice it has been his seat of power: until his defeat by the Last Alliance, and again from his return until the Ring's destruction. After the War of the Ring, King Elessar granted its more wholesome southern regions to the freed slaves who had labored there.