breemon
Joined: 23 Jan 2010
Posts: 1
Location: A moonlit dew-kissed hill
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 Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 2:34 pm Post subject: Mordor Question |
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| I'm trying to write about Mordor and I came upon a dilemma. I can't remember if it's hot or cold there. Research into volcanoes has yielded that they can make the local climate hotter or colder depending on the type and size of particles released. Based on the constant cloud cover I'm guessing that it should be cooler than the surrounding regions. However, because the Volcano responds to Sauron's will and that I remember reading that he has control over the weather there, I am now wondering if natural laws even apply to the climate there when he is present. Also, Sauron does strike me as fond of extreme heat. Any thoughts? |
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ElenaTiriel
Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 22
Location: The Grey Havens
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| Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:28 am Post subject: Re: Mordor Question |
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| breemon wrote: | | I'm trying to write about Mordor.... I can't remember if it's hot or cold there. |
Hi Breemon,
Couldn't find anything definite on the subject, but I personally believe that hot is more likely than cold. Tolkien describes Gorgoroth as "a terrible desert", and "ruinous and dead, a desert burned and choked." Of course, a desert can be either very hot or very cold, but I think he would have said so if it were very cold.
On the other hand, he does mention more than once that it gets chilly in the evening and very early morning (as can also be true in hot deserts).
For example, | Quote: | | They slept a little in uneasy fits; for their sweat grew chill on them..., and they shivered. Out of the north... through Cirith Gorgor there flowed whispering along the ground a thin cold air. |
Now, they had just escaped the Orc-troops near Udûn, so the sweat could have been from heat or from being force-marched, or a combination of both. But I think that Tolkien is drawing a contrast between the nighttime and daytime temperatures here and elsewhere.
Furthermore, there is this other nighttime scene: | Quote: |
At last [Sam] groped for Frodo's hand. It was cold and trembling. His master was shivering.
'I didn't ought to have left my blanket behind,' muttered Sam; and lying down he tried to comfort Frodo with his arms and body. |
I think that if it had been cold in the daytime, Sam would never have discarded the blankets along with his pots and pans and the Orc-gear.
So, though the evidence is all indirect, I believe it points to daytime heat rather than cold.
And you're right that the volcano is affecting the area most; Tolkien mentions | Quote: | | the great slave-worked fields away south..., beyond the fumes of the Mountain by the dark sad waters of Lake Núrnen.... |
So, further south it is also warm enough to raise the crops needed for Sauron's tremendous armies of Orcs and slaves — but there the ground is fertile, rather than sterile from recent ash depositions and volcanic outgassing.
Hope this helps!
- Barbara |
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