If you have gone to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, then you heard the name 'Dol Guldur' mentioned several times. You have probably also heard is elsewhere, either in a Tolkien book you read or on a Tolkien website, such as
The Blog of the Hobbit. Chances are, you do not know that much about it. The movie gives a brief explanation of its ownership and history, but it is very brief. And, unless you have delved in the more obscure and difficult of Tolkien's books, you have heard just as vague and brief description. So, that is why I am about to tell you all there is to know about this dark fortress and why there is such a big fuss about it in Middle Earth.
Sauron, it happened to be, was not the first inhabitant of this foul castle. Many ages ago, over 4000 years before Bilbo found the ring, Amon Lanc, the Bald Hill, the hill upon which Dol Guldur was built, was populated by elves. Then, Mirkwood was known as the Greenwood the Great, and Amon Lanc was the capital of the Silvan elves of Oropher, who was the father of Thranduil. During the Second Age, however, the elves gradually migrated north to the Emyn Duir, the Black Mountains, later known as the Mountains of Mirkwood. It is sometimes said that they felt the power of Sauron was growing again, and decided to flee. It is also said that they distrusted the strength of the Dwarves of Moria and the meddling of Galadriel and Celeborn in Lórien. Whatever the reason, Amon Lanc was deserted when Sauron came.
