Sammath Naur ~ History of the Great Forge ~ Forging the Ring of Power

 

The Dark History of the Sammath Naur

“The path climbed on. Soon it bent again and with a last eastward course
passed in a cutting along the face of the cone and came to the dark door in the Mountain’s side,
the door of the Sammath Naur.“

LOTR: ROTK, B6, C5

This page written and edited by our Dark Historian Grievous 

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When Sauron chose Mordor as his realm, Mount Doom was his reason for choosing it. Before the gathering of the armies of Orcs, Trolls, Wargs, and Dark Men who would later march from Mordor, before the construction of watch-forts, before the planning of war, before the first stone of Barad-dûr, Sauron built the chambers of Sammath Naur. This tunnel went straight into the cone of Orodruin, until it came to a precipice of rock above the Cracks of Doom, a flow of molten rock that was used to forge many creations of the Dark Lord.

Down in the depths of Orodruin were many forges, where Grond and other such gear of war was crafted; but the Cracks of Doom were used only by Sauron himself. Slowly Sauron built Mordor into a new dark power to overcome the Free Peoples of Middle-earth, and he tricked the elven-smiths of Eregion into making the Great Rings. He had a hand in their creation, and learned their secrets; and so in the Sammath Naur he forged for himself, in secret, a Master Ring to control the others – One Ring to rule them all. Mixing molten gold with fire and blood, and infusing a great part of his power into the form of a plain golden ring with which he could rule the world. Over it he chanted the spell that above is written, which Celebrimbor of Eregion heard from afar, and so knew he had been betrayed…

“Shre nazg golugranu kilmi-nudu,
Ombi kuzddurbagu gundum-ishi,
Nugu gurunkilu bard guruntu,
Ash Burz-Durbagu burzum-ishi
Daghburz-ishi makha gulshu darulu.
Ash Nazg durbatulûk,
Ash Nazg gimbatul,
Ash Nazg thrakatulûk
Agh burzum-ishi krimpatul,
Daghburz-ishi makha gulshu darulu.”

The Ring-spell in the Black Speech

It was on Mount Doom that Sauron later fought Elendil and Gil-galad, and where Isildur would cut the Ring from the Black Hand and defeat him. Elrond and Círdan attempted to convince Isildur to destroy the Ring and destroy Sauron forever, and so they journeyed into the Sammath Naur. Yet Isildur would not cast the Ring into the Fire, and claimed it for himself; and so Sauron survived.

When Sauron returned at the end of the Third Age, Mount Doom once more erupted and rained fire upon Gorgoroth. Sauron’s Road to the Sammath Naur was constantly cleared by Orc slaves, and it was said that Sauron at times would enter the Chambers of Fire to enter deep thought amoung the tumult of the Cracks.

“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for mortal men doomed to die,
And One for the Dark Lord on his Dark Throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all
And in the Darkness bind them,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”

LOTR: FOTR, B1, C2

To the Sammath Naur Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee bore the One Ring. There the Ringbearer initially claimed the Ring for his own; yet the creature Gollum took it and fell into the Cracks, destroying it, himself, and Sauron forever. Mount Doom burst into a greater tumult than had been seen since the formation of Mordor. The fury of it shook Barad-dûr and the Towers of the Teeth to the ground, and great storms of ash and molten rock purged Udûn and Gorgoroth. Mount Doom imploded in a rage of fire, and so the power of Sauron passed and never returned to Middle-Earth.

“Sam came to the gaping mouth and peered in.”