What happened to Mordor?

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

The Rings were made by Sauron and Celebrimbor, a Maia and a 1st Age Elf, at the very beginning of the 2nd Age. Feanor made the Palantiri in the 1st Age. Perhaps because of the Rings, all attempts at new 'technology' among the Elves stopped for 2 Ages, and all efforts by Elrond and Galadriel went into conservation of what was prior to the Rings, and given their immortality, there was no need for biomedical advances or any research whatsoever.

So I undermined my own point. Ouch. Anyway, you've just said it there so I think my work is over in that area.

So Mac, the people learnt everything from higher civilisations (seems like a modern conspiracy theory). That is a good point. But even though we have a whole topic devoted on it, we still don't know whether the Ainur learnt the slow hard way, or were immediate masters (I tend to think the latter, though).

[skip spence]

Now as for the Elves apparent lack of technological development, I don't think they ran out of ideas, rather that they had no desire for it. For them "progress" has no value in itself and the reason they didn't invent things like guns, PC:s and internal combustion engines is probably because they felt the world would be a better place without such things. I think the difference is explained in HoME X (or elsewhere). When an Elf sees a beautiful thing he loves it for what it is and is content. When a man sees a beautiful thing however his enjoyment of it is fleeting as it soon reminds him of something else that he desires - something better. Therefore he is never content with what he has and always looks ahead for the next best thing. If he sees a tree, he sees timber; if he gets some money, he wants some more. I don't think capitalism would go down as well with the Elves (not trying to suggest they're communists either) as it does with Men.

Anyway, as Tolkien's Arda ages poorly, mountains, forests and streams go from fair and magical to drab and mundane. Therefore the Elves wanted to retain the status quo as far as possible. This is what the rings of power were meant to do I believe: to put nature in a stasis so that the weariness of the world would not affect it. Of course, Sauron had other ideas.

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

I sometimes suspect that the Elves became more enamored of Art than Invention after Feanor and events of the First Age showed them the seamy underbelly of "progress." Follow it up with the "invention" of the Rings of Power, and one could well decide that Invention is not such a wonderful thing after all; preservation is preferable. Sadly, it also tends to lead to stagnation, because one is always looking back rather than moving forward.

I also think that Sauron didn't go for improving his weaponry because without his Ring, he feared that any devices he might make could be used against him -- just as he feared that his own ultimate weapon, the Ring, might wind up in the hands of some enemy who could use it against him. He appears to have been going for a war of attrition in the Third Age, amassing such huge armies that their sheer numbers would overwhelm the opposition. Fear is also a good ally in such a case, a lesson he bitterly learned when Ar-Pharazon came marching in from Numenor and Sauron's forces (such as they were at that time) took one look and ran. What devices he had available he did use, such as the palantiri in Orthanc and Minas Tirith, but lacking his own master weapon, he probably gained more by sowing distrust and dissent and fear among his enemies. By making them constantly wary of attack, they would need to spend much of their resources in a constant posture of defense, taking the time, manpower, and materiel that might otherwise be used in developing improved technology.