Núrn

Núrn as depicted in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Núrn was a region located in the southernmost portion of the realm of Mordor that held the inland Sea of Núrnen.

Núrn was a semi-arid place due to its close proximity to Gorgoroth and consisted mostly of short grass landed plains, fertile enough for farming to support the armies of Sauron, as opposed to the arid plateau of Gorgoroth, which was north-west of Núrn.

History

Núrn was partially inhabited by Westron-speaking Men that were enslaved by the Dark Lord Sauron. It was fertile enough to feed Sauron's numberless hordes during the War of the Ring, and covered in vast fields of grain worked by slaves. Its soil had been enriched by ash from Mount Doom's eruptions, and its grasslands were fed by water from the Sea of Núrnen.

After the overthrow of Sauron, the land was granted to the freed slaves of Mordor. They may have been allowed to govern it for themselves.

In adaptations

In video games

Núrn is heavily featured in the game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, where it is portrayed as a lush but ailing land. Before the War of the Ring, the land was the domain of tribesman under the rule of Lady Marwen, Queen of the Shore. At the time the game takes places, the tribesmen were in the process of being conquered and enslaved by Sauron's forces. It was home to the settlements of Barad Núrn, Fort Morn, and the Núrnen Fishery, which were overrun and used to supply Sauron's forces at the time of the War of the Ring. Many of Mordor's beasts reside there: Graugs, Trolls, Wargs, Caragors, Caragaths, Ghûls, Hell-hawks, Nazgûl-birds, and other nameless horrors.

Núrn was featured again in Middle-earth: Shadow of War, depicted much the same as it was in the previous game. A different region (also simply referred as Nurn) in the game, being a rocky island within the Sea of Nurn. The island is also home to the Forest of Carnan, inhabited by a fearsome forest spirit of the same name, capable of shapeshifting into many of Mordor's fearsome beasts. Carnan preyed upon the Orcs that would venture into her borders, leading Orcs to avoid it and consider it haunted. The Spirit of Carnan would ally with the Bright Lord to prevent the resurrection of an Armored Balrog.

Ratbag, a lowly and cowardly Orc would become the unlikely ruler of this location. Having survived an encounter with the Tower in the prior game, Ratbag had been caught by slavers and tossed in the same cage as an Olog-Hai he deemed Ranger. While Ranger detested Ratbag, he noticed his strong survival instincts, and the two formed an alliance, managing to overpower and kill the Slavers freeing themselves. Ratbag then came up with the idea to pose the two of them as the two headed 'Etten' and managed to seize control of the nearby Stronghold, placing under the control of the Feral Orc tribe.

Ratbag however soon tired of his responsibilities as Overlord, and so when the Bright Lord came to Nurn to serve as the first step in their conquest of Mordor and moved his armies upon the Fort, Ratbag recognized the Ranger he had previously allied, greeting him warmly as a friend, and happily handing the stronghold to one of the Bright Lord's underlings, under the condition that it was 'anyone but Bruz', one of the Bright Lords Olog-Hai commanders, as the two had personal animosity.

This split proved to be deeper than it initially appeared- Bruz feeling snubbed, betrayed the Bright Lord, literally stabbing him in the back after the Bright Lord successfully broke a siege. While Ratbag had managed to escape, Ranger had been captured, and Ratbag aided the Bright Lord in overthrowing Bruz. The Bright Lord loyalists were able to avoid another assault by using a secret escape tunnel Ratbag had installed, however Bruz escaped in the chaos while Ranger remained captured. With Nurn back in the Bright Lord's control, Bruz fled to other regions to harass his forces, and Ratbag followed after in pursuit.

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Arabic	نورن
Armenian	Նորն
Belarusian Cyrillic	Нурн
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Нурн
Chinese	諾恩
Danish	Núrn ("Tristhedens Egne")
Georgian	ნურნი
Greek	Νορν
Gujarati	નુર્ન
Hebrew	נורן
Hindi	नूर्न
Japanese	ヌーアン
Kannada	ನೂರ್ನ್
Korean	누른
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Нурн
Macedonian Cyrillic	Нурн
Marathi	नुर्न
Mongolian Cyrillic	Нурн
Nepalese	नुर्न
Russian	Нурн
Serbian	Нурн (Cyrillic) Nurn (Latin)
Tatar	Нурн
Telugu	నూర్న్
Thai	นูร์น
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Нурн
Yiddish	נורנ