The Rings of Power showed us the origin story of Mount Doom

Middle-earth has many famous mountains, from the peaks of the Misty Mountains to Erebor, but perhaps the most important in history is Mount Doom, the volcano at the center of Sauron’s evil domain in Mordor. In the latest episode of Amazon The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerwe got a surprising and explosive origin story for the most famous volcano in the series.

[Ed. note: The story contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episode 6.]

To answer the most obvious question first, yes, indeed, that was Mount Doom that erupted at the end of the episode. In case you, as Galadriel, are terrible at remembering what Middle-earth looks like on a map, the Southlands of the rings of powerwhere the besieged town of Ostirith is located, it is also the land that will later become Mordor.

It seems that the evolution of the land from lush fields and beautiful mountains was part of a grand design by Morgoth or Sauron and was triggered by the key of the sword, releasing a massive flood. This flood destroyed the land, thanks to the tunnels the orcs had already dug, and triggered an eruption of the Mount Doom volcano (although at the time of the show it doesn’t have that name yet) until it erupted. This eruption spewed molten rock and magma in a miles-wide radius that looks set to remain charred forever, or at least until Frodo, Sam, and Gollum get there with the One Ring.

While the story of Mount Doom isn’t very explicit in Tolkien lore, the show’s story seems to mostly line up. We know that the land was not always called Mordor, and that the name probably came after Mount Doom erupted, but there is no mention of the eruption itself being caused by an intentional flood.

As for what will happen in the area next, and how long it will be before Sauron settles there, we’ll just have to wait to see where. the rings of power take his story below.