The southern part of Mordor called Núrn was slightly more fertile, and watered enough to hold the inland Sea of Núrnen. To escape the vigilance of Morgul, to enter Mordor one would still have to get past the lair of Shelob, and the Tower of Cirith Ungol- a feat only Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee (led by Gollum) ever accomplished- though not without being waylaid by the great fearsome spider Shelob, and Frodo being taken prisoner to the Tower of Cirith Ungol. It became the home of the Ringwraiths and was renamed Minas Morgul, and was thereafter a great stronghold of evil, ever at war with Gondor to the west until the end of the War of the Ring. Isildur originally built the city of Minas Ithil to guard the western end of both passes from any threat from Mordor, but in the Third Age the population of the city waned and it was conquered by the Nazgûl. The only other paths for armies to cross into Mordor from the west, over the Ephel Duath were the Morgul Pass and the Pass of Cirith Ungol. Mordor's dry and blasted geography would also be extremely unfriendly to any army bivouacked on the plains, forcing a withdrawal within days (unless they have stores sufficient for months). Mordor's geography was excellent for defense against enemies attacking on all fronts, for nearly un-scalable mountains defended Mordor on three sides, while the broken, jagged land of Gorgoroth and Núrn would greatly impede any army that managed to break through. To the southwest of Barad-dûr lay the arid plateau of Gorgoroth and Mount Doom to the east lay the plain of Lithlad. Sauron's main fortress of Barad-dûr was at the foothills of Ered Lithui. In front of the Black Gate lay the Dagorlad or the Battle Plain. In the northwest corner of Mordor the deep valley of Udûn was one of the few entrances for large armies, and that is where Sauron built the Black Gate of Mordor.
Mordor was protected from three sides by large mountain ranges, arranged roughly in a rectangular manner: the Ash Mountains ('Ered Lithui') in the north, and Ephel Dúath in the west and south.
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