One road went north from Morannon – presumably to Dol Guldur – and one east for fifty miles along the foothills of Ered Lithui to a point north of Barad-dur. It had never been finished and stopped there. (Cirion and Eorl, Note 15; Unfinished Tales). The third skirted the northern foothills of Ephel Duath to the west and then ran straight south to the Crossroads in the vale of Morgulduin. (The Black Gate is Closed; Bk 2).

During this part of the journey Frodo, Sam and Gollum travelled by night and slept by day. They rested on the low hill shown in the centre of the map and thence crept down into the trench-like valley between it and the foothills of the mountains, not taking to the road itself until they were round the corner and out of sight of Morannon. (The Black Gate is Closed; Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit; Bk 2).

The map shows the Durthang and the roads leading from it, one to the southern gate of the Udun and the other south, past the Orc camps to the Pass of Cirith Ungol. (the Land of Shadow; Bk 3).