Tower of Cirith Ungol

The Tower of Cirith Ungol is a fortress of black stone in the western mountains of Mordor, set to guard the high pass of the same name. The Men of Gondor raised it in the years after the War of the Last Alliance, to watch over the province of Ithilien and to keep evil from returning to the land beyond; its two bastions look north and south-east. At the head of the pass the rock rises in two horns, and the tower is built against the northern one, backed into the cliff face. It is made in three tiers, each stepped back from the one below, with a tall round turret at the top from which the whole pass can be seen. A high wall rings the lowest tier, finished with an overhanging parapet so that nothing can climb it, and the main gate opens in its south-eastern side. The road from the pass runs to the tower with the fortress on one hand and a sheer drop on the other.