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Mirkwood - Dol Guldur
"Now madness thickens the forest air.
The green, growing things of ages past are twisted by the evil of Dol Guldur,
The impenetrable fortress of the Ringwraiths,
whose shadows fill every hollow and drown every hill!"
(The Lord of the Rings Online - Siege of Mirkwood)
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Then the name of the forest was changed and Mirkwood it was called,
for the nightshade lay deep there, and few dared to pass through.
It was the shadow of Sauron and the sign of his return.
For coming out of the wastes of the East
he took up his abode in the south of the forest,
and slowly he grew and took shape there again;
in a dark hill he made his dwelling and wrought there his sorcery,
and all folk feared the Sorcerer of Dol Guldur,
and yet they knew not at first how great was their peril.
(in: The Silmarillion, pages 360-361)
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"Your grandfather," said the wizard slowly and grimly,
"gave the map to his son for safety before he went to the mines of Moria.
Your father went away to try his luck with the map after your grandfather was killed; and lots of adventures of a most unpleasant sort he had,
but he never got near the Mountain.
How he got there I don't know but I found him a prisoner
in the dungeons of the Necromancer."
"Whatever were you doing there?" asked Thorin with a shudder,
and all the Dwarves shivered.
"Never you mind. I was finding things out, as usual;
and a nasty dangerous business it was.
Even I, Gandalf, only just escaped.
I tried to save your father, but it was too late.
He was witless and wandering, and had forgotten almost everything
except the map and the key."
(in: The Hobbit, An Unexpected Party, pages 34-35)
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"Before you get round Mirkwood in the south,
you would get into the land of the Necromancer;
and even you, Bilbo, won't need me to tell you tales of that black sorcerer.
I don't advise you to go anywhere near the places
overlooked by his dark tower!"
(in: The Hobbit, Queer Lodgings, Pages 136-137)
"There lies the fastness of Southern Mirkwood," said Haldir.
"It is clad in a forest of dark fir, where the trees
strive one against another and their branches rot and wither.
In the midst upon a stony height stands Dol Guldur,
where long the hidden Enemy had his dwelling.
We fear that now it is inhabited again, and with power sevenfold.
A black cloud lies often over it of late..."
(in: The Fellowship of the Ring, page 456)
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It was in this way that he learned where Gandalf had been to;
for he overheard the words of the wizard to Elrond.
It appeared that Gandalf had been to a great
council of the white wizards, masters of lore and good magic;
and that they had at last driven the Necromancer from his dark hold
in the south of Mirkwood.
(in: The Hobbit, The Last Stage, Page 278)
Darkness crept back into the forests of the world.
Rumour grew of a Shadow in the East...
Whispers of a nameless fear.
And the Ring of Power perceived...
Its time had now come...
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