LotR -- Book 6 - Chapter 1 - The Tower of Cirith Ungol

[Formendacil]

One part of this chapter that always piques my curiosity is the following quote, that has already been touched on:

As he gazed at it suddenly Sam understood, almost with a shock, that this stronghold had been built not to keep enemies out of Mordor, but to keep them in. It was indeed one of the works of Gondor long ago, an eastern outpost of the defences of Ithilien, made when, after the Last Alliance, Men of Westernesse kept watch on the evil land of Sauron where his creatures still lurked. But as with Narchost and Carchost, the Towers of the Teeth, so here too the vigilance had failed, and treachery had yielded up the Tower to the Lord of the Ringwraiths, and now for long years it had been held by evil things. Since his return to Mordor, Sauron had found it useful; for he had few servants but many slaves of fear, and still its chief purpose as of old was to prevent escape from Mordor. Though if an enemy were so rash as to try to enter that land secretly, then it was also a last unsleeping guard against any that might pass the vigilance of Morgul and of Shelob.

Who were those Men of Gondor that braved Mordor to construct this tower? Who were the Men that for hundreds of years, garrisoned it?

And for hundreds of years, they did garrison it. From its building, presumeably soon after the Last Alliance, until the failure of the watch upon Mordor, the Dunedain marched over Cirith Ungol and kept a watch on the land of Mordor. The Tale of the Years indicates that this ceased in 1640:

King Tarondor removes the King's House to Minas Anor, and plants a seedling of the White Tree. Osgiliath begins to fall into ruin. Mordor is left unguarded.

Sixteen hundred years. For sixteen hundred years, the Tower of Cirith Ungol guarded Gondor against attack. Specifically, it guarded Minas Ithil. It must have been an unwanted posting. The bleak, foreboding terrain of the Ephel Duath and Mordor all around. There would be not much to do. Not once in the Tale of the Years prior to this point is there mention of a single altercation taking place in Mordor. It was quite cut off from the rest of Gondor.

And it was a dangerous place to get to. Remember Faramir's dread at the name of Cirith Ungol? Could that have been passed down from the Men who guarded the Tower? And what of Shelob? In "Shelob's Lair", we hear the mention of better times for her, when she could eat of Man and Elf, but since the city became dead, she has had nothing but Ork. Surely that hints of a time when the soldiers of Gondor were passing in and out to their tower, for who else would have cause to cross Cirith Ungol?

This little snippet of history fascinates me, and is the sort of material that, I understand, makes for a great RPG. And then there's that little mention of "treachery". What was that? There's no mention of treachery being involved in the Tale of the Years.

Fascinating stuff.