The Ephel Duath (The Mountains of Shadow)

[drew7uk]

There are two references within the trilogy to the 'Ephel Duath', the gloomy mountain range:

* The Two Towers, chapter III – A, geographical reference to the mountains of the Ephel Duath,

‘Upon the west of Mordor marched the gloomy range of Ephel Duath, the Mountains of Shadow…but as these ranges approached one another, being indeed but parts of one great wall about the mournful plains of Lithlad and Gorgoroth, and the bitter inland sea of Nurnen amidmost, they swung out long arms northward; and between these arms there was a deep defile. This was Cirith Gorgor, the Haunted Pass, the entrance to the land of the Enemy.’

and

* The Return of the King, chapter x – A brief reference to the range when Osgiliath is overrun,

‘…the white peaks of the mountains blushed in the blue air; but a shadow and a gloom brooded upon the Ephel Duath.’

On researching the Ephel Duath further afield than the books themselves, I turns to volume I of the Book of the Lost Tales and in the index it notes, 'The Mountains of Shadow - Ered Wethrin'.

Do we know if these mountain ranges are one and the same or are they entirely different.

Thanks for everyone's time :)

Drew

[Earniel]

Different I think. Ephel Duath is used for the mountain range around Sauron's Mordor, whereas the references of Ered Wethrin in the HoME-series seem to correspond with the mountains that Morgoth raised around his stronghold in days of old. Ered Wethrin would then no longer exist at the time of LoTR.

I suppose they both may be referred to as 'Mountains of Shadow' because they both are the fortified dwellings of the two dark lords.

[Olmer]

Taking in concideration history of ME, definately different.
Mountan range Ered Wethrin was extending north-south along Hithlum area in Beleriand, which has been destroyed during the War of Wrath in Second Age. Due tetonic destabilization of the land seismic activities resulted in the rise of Orodruin along with formation of salted lake Nurnien and barren plateau of Mordor along with mountain range of Ephel Duath.