davem, I like that quote. Also, I think that the thrown away barrenness of it is designed to make it harder for an army to approach, no flat easy plain, but full of pits and requiring detours. It would inspire enemies with dread, fear, and depression when they see how Sauron and his minions defile all life around them.
Sort of "Abandon hope, all ye who enter".
And anyway, it was inconceivable that any would come "sneaking" in in such few numbers, as Saucepan indicates.
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For I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to; the long explanations needed by the young are wearying. -Gandalf, The Two Towers
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