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This is a screenshot near the end of the movie Fellowship of the Ring:

Screenshot from the end of the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, with the Emyn Muil in front, the Dead Marshes after them and Mordor in the distance. In the front, Sam and Frodo are viewed from behind, looking at this all.

Frodo said: "Mordor...". I think he was talking about the area in front of him. Was the mountains area in front Mordor? Was Mordor at the back of the screenshot, separated by a sea?

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    I think it's pretty obvious he was talking about the evil glow in the distance. I don't see Sauron's tower anywhere in that mountain range in front of them.
    – Daft
    May 11, 2015 at 16:09
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    That's not a sea, it's a bog where the last alliance initially defeated Sauron in the last age.
    – TylerH
    May 12, 2015 at 13:57

3 Answers 3

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Check out this map:

enter image description here

At the moment of the screenshot you posted, Frodo and Sam are near the top-left corner of that map, looking roughly south-east (down and to the right on the map). The Falls of Rauros, noted at the top-left of the map, was where Boromir's body tumbled over the waterfall, very near to where Frodo and Sam are standing in that screenshot.

The rocky area immediately in front of them is Emyn Muil (the top-left mountains on the map). Beyond that is the Dead Marshes (the flat plain in the screenshot, reflecting light because of its watery surface). The black mountain range in the distance is the border of Mordor.

Mordor itself stands behind those distant mountains, where we can see the faint red glow in the clouds.

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  • you think the area which looked like sea was Dead Marshes?
    – lamwaiman1988
    May 11, 2015 at 16:45
  • @Iamwaiman1988 - We saw Frodo, Sam and Gollum cross the Dead Marshes in The Two Towers--that was the place in the film where they saw the dead bodies under the water, and one of the bodies reached out to grab Frodo before Gollum saved him (see the clip here starting around 2:10, and 2:48 where Gollum says "The Dead Marshes--yes, yes, that is their name")--so the screenshot in your question from the end of Fellowship must have been before they reached the Dead Marshes.
    – Hypnosifl
    May 11, 2015 at 16:55
  • (cont) As for the body of water seen in your screenshot, that didn't look like the marshes which were a mix of land and water, so I'd guess that in that screenshot they had yet to cross the river Anduin (the main river on the left side of the map) and that's what they were seeing in the near distance.
    – Hypnosifl
    May 11, 2015 at 17:05
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    @Hypnosifl It's definitely the marshes. They crossed the river before that shot was taken, when Sam chased Frodo into the water and almost drowned. Compare it to other Dead Marshes pics, and it's clear that much of the surface is water. We can also see the surface broken up by land in OP's screenshot, as it is in the Dead Marshes scenes.
    – Nerrolken
    May 11, 2015 at 17:11
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    Ah, you're right, I had forgotten about the scene of them crossing the river earlier, and looking at that shot in hi def on the blu ray, what I had taken to be glints of light on a smooth body of water in the screenshot were actually patches of water in between darker regions of land.
    – Hypnosifl
    May 11, 2015 at 17:30
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This scene takes place shortly after Frodo and Samwise depart from the fellowship. That occurred near the Falls of Rauros.

At the breaking of the Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and Sam paddled a boat from the west bank of the river to the east just above the falls and had to use all their strength to avoid being swept over the falls by the current.

East of the falls, where they're standing in the screenshot, is Emyn Muil (if you Google images for that, several copies of the screenshot you posted show up).

Given that information, it's clear in the image that the foreground rocks are those of Emyn Muil, the flat area further out is the Dead Marshes, and the mountains in the distance are those that border Mordor.

They are approximately standing the circle drawn on this map, with the field of view indicated toward Mordor.

enter image description here
(I got the map from here)

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    @JasonBaker It was done in MS Paint though...
    – Samuel
    May 11, 2015 at 22:11
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    No excuses! (Should I point out that I'm joking? I'm joking)
    – Jason Baker
    May 11, 2015 at 22:13
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    @JasonBaker No, you shouldn't have pointed that out. And yet, here we are.
    – Samuel
    May 11, 2015 at 22:19
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    Why is Sputnik shown on the map?
    – David Richerby
    May 13, 2015 at 21:22
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    @DavidRicherby Ah, that's just an optical illusion. It's actually high above the map, in orbit.
    – Samuel
    May 13, 2015 at 21:27
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Using your own screenshot, I've highlighted where Mordor is - the mountain range in the far distance. The orange glow in the clouds near the top center of the image is their destination, Mount Doom (the volcano where the One Ring was forged), and that mountain range represents the outer rim of the Black Land.

The flat, watery area in the middle is The Dead Marshes, which Frodo & Sam can be seen walking across later in The Two Towers (along with Gollum). I've highlighted that area as well. Below your screenshot is a more recognizable view of the marshes. In that view, you can see the mountainous edge of Mordor in the distance as Frodo & party make their way through the marshes.

enter image description here

enter image description here

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    I know, I know... I used lazy, souless circles. But I was in a hurry.
    – Omegacron
    May 12, 2015 at 13:55
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    You will return to correct this faux pas when you do have time, yes?
    – KSmarts
    May 12, 2015 at 15:10
  • +1 for your annotation of their images. But where in New Zealand was this?
    – La-comadreja
    May 13, 2015 at 18:03

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