Black Gate

The Black Gate or Morannon was a gate built across Cirith Gorgor, and the most fortified, direct entrance into Sauron's realm of Mordor.
==Description==
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The Black Gate was set in an impregnable black stone and iron wall that stretched from the Mountains of Ash in the north to the Ephel Dúath in the west. The wall had but a single gate set into its length and was patrolled unceasingly, with hundreds of Orc holes on either side in which lurked thousands of Orcs ready to attack. On either side were the two Towers of the Teeth, Narchost and Carchost.
==History==
The Black Gate was a mighty rampart built by Sauron the Dark Lord of Mordor in the Second Age, to protect and guard the northern entrance into Mordor and to prevent invasion at the gap between the Ash Mountains and the Ephel Dúath. It was built with the power of the One Ring, like the Barad-dûr. After Sauron's fall in the War of the Last Alliance, it was garrisoned by the Gondorians, who raised the two great Towers of the Teeth, Narchost and Carchost, which were built on either side of the wall and were tall enough to overlook it.
It was backed up on the south-eastern side by the Isenmouthe, and protected by the castle of Durthang to the west; closing the passage into Mordor to evil creatures. The reconstruction of Minas Ithil, Tower of the Rising Moon, as well as the construction of the Tower of Cirith Ungol was for the same purpose.
However, Gondor's guard on Mordor eventually failed and the fortifications fell into ruin following the Great Plague, and were later claimed by the servants of Sauron and rebuilt. Once controlled by the Enemy, they became a monument of dread, evil, and awe to anyone who saw the gate. Thus the Ringwraiths and Orcs re-entered Mordor, inhabiting the abandoned fortresses and utilizing them.
During the War of the Ring, Frodo and Sam had a chance to go through the Black Gate when they first arrived at Mordor, but it was so heavily fortified and guarded that they turned away, and were led on a different route into Mordor by Gollum. They also saw an army of Easterlings enter the gate.
The Black Gate was the site of the last great conflict of the War of the Ring, called the Battle of the Black Gate, or Battle of the Morannon. On March 25 3019, the Army of the West commanded by Aragorn II and numbering some 6,000 men (plus one Elf, one Dwarf, a Wizard and one Hobbit) arrived at the Black Gate and challenged the forces of Mordor. Their intention was to draw the watchful Eye of Sauron away from Mount Doom, to allow Frodo the Ring-bearer to cast the One Ring into the Cracks of Doom and destroy it. The delay worked and the Ring was destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, following which the Black Gate and the Towers of the Teeth immediately collapsed.
==Etymology==
The Black Gate's literal Sindarin translation, Morannon, means "black gate" from môr ("dark, black") and annon ("gate, door").The Silmarillion, Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin names
==In adaptations==
thumb|246x246px|The Black Gate as depicted in the 1980 film
=== Rankin/Bass' The Return of the King ===
In The Return of the King film created by Rankin/Bass, the design of the Black Gate is some what based on J.R.R. Tolkien's description. However in the film it is only made of grey stone and not that of black stone and iron from the book. Also there is no Battle of the Morannon in the film.
===The Lord of the Rings film trilogy===
In Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Sam, Frodo, and Gollum head towards the Black Gate, only to find it closed. But a troop of Easterlings appears marching towards the Gate, which opens, encouraging Sam to try to enter Mordor through the opening. He stumbles on a rocky ledge of a hillside and falls down a slope, and two Easterlings nearly find him. The Black Gate closes minutes later, and the three go southward instead, to the pass of Cirith Ungol.
The Morannon's portrayal in the films differs from Tolkien's description of it: an entire section of the wall opens, as two vast doors instead of one, without an archway. Its design and set construction are explained in the Big-atures documentary in the second bonus disc of the Extended Edition.
In the film, the gate shares a name with an type of Orcs known as Morannon Orcs.
===The Lord of the Rings Online===
In The Lord of the Rings Online, the Black Gate serves as an impassable barrier that instantly kills any player attempting to approach them during the reign of Sauron. After his defeat, the Black Gate lie in ruins and allow passage into Mordor.
===Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor===
In Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, it is suggested that the Gondorians used prison labour to build the watch towers of Narchost and Carchost. For over 2,000 years, the Rangers of Gondor had guarded the Black Gate, however following the Great Plague, Gondor's defences were significantly weakened. This had meant that in the final years of the watch, Gondor's defence capability of the Black Gate was drastically reduced.
==See also==
*Battle of the Black Gate
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Swart Hek
Albanian 	Porta e Zezë
Amharic 	ጥቁር በር (Black Gate) ሞራኖን (Morannon)
Arabic 	(Morannon) موراننون (Black Gate) البوابة السوداء
Aramaic 	ܐܘܟܡܐ ܒܒܐ
Armenian 	Բլածկ Գատե (Black Gate) Մորաննոն (Morannon)
Azerbaijani 	قارا قاپاچیق (South) Qara darvaza (Latin)
Basque 	Beltza Atea
Belarusian Cyrillic	Чорныя вароты (Black Gate) Моранноне (Morannon)
Bengali 	কালো গেট (Black Gate) মোরাননন (Morannon)
Breton 	Dor Du
Bosnian 	Crna Vrata
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Черната порта (Black Gate) Моранон (Morannon)
Cambodian 	ច្រកទ្វារខ្មៅ
Catalan 	Porta Negra
Cebuano 	Itom Ganghaan
Chinese (Hong Kong)	黑門
Cornish 	Yet Du
Croatian 	Crna Vrata
Czech 	Černá brána
Danish 	Mordors Sorte Port (Morannon)
Dutch 	Zwarte Poort
Esperanto 	Nigra Pordego
Estonian 	Must Värav
Filipino 	Itim Pultahan
Finnish 	Musta Portti
French 	Porte Noire
Frisian 	Swarte Poarte
Galician 	Porta Negro
Georgian 	შავი კარიბჭე (Black Gate) მორანიონი (Morannon)
German 	Schwarzes Tor (Black Gate) Schwarzes Tor von Mordor (Black Gate of Mordor)
Greek 	Μαύρη πύλη (Black Gate) Μόραννον (Morannon)
Gujarati 	કાળો દરવાજો (Black Gate) મોરન્નોન (Morannon)
Haitian Creole 	Pòtay Nwa
Hebrew 	(Morannon) מוראנון (Black Gate) השער השחור
Hindi 	काला दरवाजा (Black Gate) मोरन्नोन (Morannon)
Hmong 	Rooj vag dub
Hungarian 	Fekete Kapu
Icelandic 	Svarta Hliðið
Indonesian 	Gerbang Hitam
Italian 	Nero Cancello
Irish Gaelic 	Geata Dubh
Japanese 	黒い門 (Black Gate) モラノン (Morannon)
Kannada 	ಕಪ್ಪು ಗೇಟ್ (Black Gate) ಮೊರಾನ್ನನ್ (Morannon)
Kazakh 	Кара қақпасы (Cyrillic) Kara qaqpası (Latin)
Korean 	검은 문(Black Gate) 모란논 (Morannon)
Kurdish 	Dergeh Reş (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Кара дарбаза (Black Gate) Мораннон (Morannon)
Laotian 	ປະຕູຮົ້ວສີດໍາ
Latin 	Porta Atra
Latvian 	Melnie vārti
Lithuanian 	Juodieji Vartai
Macedonian Cyrillic	црна порта (Black Gate) Моранон (Morannon)
Malayalam 	ബ്ലാക്ക് ഗേറ്റ്
Malaysian 	Pagar Hitam
Maltese 	Gejt Sewda
Manx 	Giat Doo
Marathi 	काळा दरवाजा (Black Gate) मॉरनॉन (Morannon)
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Хар хаалга (Black Gate) Мораннон (Morannon)
Nepalese 	कालो ढोका (Black Gate) मोरन्नोन (Morannon)
Newari 	हाकु ध्वखा
Norwegian 	Sorte Porten
Occitan 	Pòrta Negre
Pashto 	تور ور
Persian 	دروازه سیاه و سفید
Portuguese 	Portão Negro
Polish 	Czarna Brama
Punjabi 	کالا پھاٹک (Western) ਕਾਲਾ ਫਾਟਕ
Romanian 	Poarta Neagra
Romansh 	Porta Naira
Russian 	Черные Врата (Black Gate) Мораннон (Morannon)
Sanskrit 	ब्लच्क् ङते
Samoan 	Uliuli Faitotoa
Scottish Gaelic 	Dubh Gheata
Serbian 	Црна Капија (Cyrillic) Crna Kapija (Latin)
Sesotho 	Batsho Heke
Shona 	Gedhi Dema
Sinhalese 	කළු ගේට්ටුව (Black Gate) මොරනොන් (Morannon)
Sindhi 	ڪارو گيٽ
Slovenian 	Črna Vrata
Slovak 	Čierna brána
Somali 	Iridda Madow
Spanish 	Puerta Negra
Sundanese 	Gerbang Hideung
Swahili 	Nyeusi Lango
Swedish 	Svarta Porten
Tajik Cyrillic 	дарвоза сиёҳ (Black Gate) Мораннон (Morannon)
Telugu 	బ్లాక్ గేట్ (Black Gate) మొరన్నోన్ (Morannon)
Thai 	ประตูสีดำ (Black Gate) โมรันนอน (Morannon)
Turkish 	Kara Kapı
Turkmen 	Gara Derweze
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Чорних Воріт (Black Gate) Морнан (Morannon)
Urdu 	مورانناون (Morannon) سیاہ دروازہ (Black Gate)
Uyghur 	بلاچك غاتە
Uzbek 	Қора Дарвоза (Cyrillic) Qora Darvoza (Latin)
Vietnamese 	Cổng đen
Welsh 	Giât Ddu
Xhosa 	Abamnyama Ngesango
Yiddish 	מאָראַננאָן (Morannon) שווארץ טויער (Black Gate)
Yoruba 	Dudu ẹnu-bode
==References==
de:Morannon
es:Puerta Negra
fr:Porte Noire
it:Nero Cancello
pl:Morannon
pt-br:Portão Negro
ru:Мораннон
Category:Gates
Category:Sauron's fortress & strongholds
Category:Mordor
Category:Locations in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor