Morgai
| Morgai | |
|---|---|
| Mountain range | |
| General Information | |
| Other names | Black Fence |
| Location | Mordor |
| Type | Mountain range |
| Description | Notched, jagged ridge line |
| History | |
| Events | Quest of the Ring |
The Morgai was a mountain range that ran parallel to the northern Ephel Dúath on its eastern side.[1]
Geography[edit | edit source]
The Morgai rose on the eastern side of a valley formed by it and the Ephel Dúath to its west. Its ridge line was much lower than that of the Ephel Dúath, and was notched and jagged with fang-like crags. The valley sloped up gently northward with a stream bed at its floor fed by the two mountain ranges. The stream bed was dry when Frodo and Sam passed by on their Quest for Mount Doom. A track left the Morgul-road at the western bridge-end and went down by a long stair to the bottom of the valley. The track went north to lesser posts and strongholds between the Tower of Cirith Ungol and the Isenmouthe and the castle of Durthang.
The Morgai formed the inner wall of the fences of Mordor. The road that came over the Morgul Pass was joined by a road that came winding down from the Tower of Cirith Ungol.[2] A short way after the meeting of those two roads and following a steep incline, the road crossed a bridge of stone over the trough between the Ephel Dúath and the Morgai.[3] The road then went on through a jagged rift in the Morgai out into the valley of Gorgoroth.[2]
Biology[edit | edit source]
In the glens of the Morgai grew low scrubby trees, coarse grey grass-tussocks, withered mosses and brambles, some with long thorns or hooked barbs with maggot-ridden buds. Midges and dun, grey or black flies with an eye-shaped blotch lived in the Morgai. The tops of the Morgai were without vegetation.[3]
History[edit | edit source]
On 15 March T.A. 3019, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee escaped from the Tower of Cirith Ungol and, resuming their quest, began their journey north along the Morgai towards Orodruin.[4]
Etymology[edit | edit source]
Morgai is a Sindarin name. It means "Black Fence"[5][6].
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Tower of Cirith Ungol"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Land of Shadow"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Great Years"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Unfinished index for The Lord of the Rings", in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 601
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), p. 101
