 | |
| Mountain range | |
| Morgai | |
|---|---|
| General Information | |
| Other names | Black Fence |
| Location | Mordor |
| Type | Mountain range |
| Description | Notched, jagged ridge line |
| People and History | |
| Events | Quest of the Ring |
| Gallery | Images of the Morgai |
The Morgai was a mountain range that ran parallel to the northern Ephel Dúath on its eastern side.[1]
Geography
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.[2] 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 descended into the valley 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.[3] Further north of the point where Frodo and Sam had descended into the valley a streamlet flowed from a gully on the western side. Water also trickled down a source higher up in the valley side and fed there dark pools in the river-bed.[4]
The Morgai formed the inner wall of the fences of Mordor.[2] 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.[5] The road then went on through a jagged rift in the Morgai out into the valley of Gorgoroth to Barad-dûr.[2]
Biology
In the glens of the Morgai grew low scrubby trees, coarse grey grass-tussocks, withered mosses, brambles, some with long thorns or hooked barbs with maggot-ridden buds and briar-thickets. Midges and dun, grey or black flies with an eye-shaped blotch lived in the Morgai. The tops of the Morgai were without vegetation.[4]
History
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.[6]
Etymology
Morgai is a Sindarin name, which means "Black Fence".[7] It is a combination of morn ("black")[7] and the lenited form of[8] cai ("hedge").[9]
Portrayal in adaptations
Morgai in adaptations
-
Morgai viewed from the East - The Lord of the Rings Online
2017: The Lord of the Rings Online:
- The Morgai separate the plain of "Talath Urui" to the east from the valley of "Lhingris" that lies between Morgai and Ephel Dúath.
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 2.2 2.3 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Tower of Cirith Ungol", p. 899
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Land of Shadow", p. 920
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Land of Shadow", p. 921-22
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Land of Shadow", p. 916
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Great Years", entry for the year 3019, March 15, p. 1094
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 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), entry S morgai, p. 101
- ↑ Paul Strack, "S. Morgai loc.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon, accessed 27 April 2024
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The Disaster of the Gladden Fields", "Notes", note 16