Mordor is a
black and bleak type of
shadowland.
The sun is always hidden behind
endless dark storm clouds. What little vegetation there is (if any) will be withered and rotting or mutated into an "evil" variety that's covered in sharp thorns and/or
liable to eat people.
Poisonous marshes and swampland are also quite common. Expect
frequent volcanoes and/or ice storms. May contain
the ruins that show that once people had lived here. It may even be an
Eldritch Location, defying the laws of nature (and most Eldritch Locations are Mordor).
In a Fantasy Setting,
Mordor is often this way because the evil of the
Big Bad who rules the place
radiates throughout the land, or because his
Black Magic acts as a
Curse on it. Often, this land was once a beautiful place before the
Big Bad got hold of it, and it's presented as a stark example of what could happen to the hero's world should he or she fail in stopping the
Big Bad. Should the
Big Bad be defeated and the
good king restored, often
the skies will clear up and
the birds and bees and flowers will return at warp speed.
It's not clear how anything can actually survive in Mordor for any extended period in time. Perhaps everyone lives
Beneath the Earth and eats mushrooms (or people who wander into their land), or else all their resources come from
conquering others. Expect its inhabitants
and vegetation to be
part-monster as a result of
adapting to survive the conditions there, or being twisted by whatever evil resulted in Mordor's creation.
Series that take place
After the End will often be set in a version of Mordor (though usually not quite as harsh). Sometimes Mordor is
Where It All Began.
See
Polluted Wasteland for
Mordor's realistic and Sci-Fi counterpart.
Compare
Forbidden Zone,
I Don't Like the Sound of That Place.
