Fellowship of the Fans

Volcano - A Scientific (not magical) Explanation (9/30/33)

Why?

Why does the origin of Mount Doom need to be scientific in nature rather than having a magical origin?

After all, Lord of the Rings is of the fantasy genre, so the show writers didn't need an actual scientific explanation for how Mount Doom ends up coming into being.

And for some reason Inverse decided to go with an article titled "Rings of Power Just changed Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Canon for the Better" without explaining once how having a scientific explanation for Mount Doom in what is a fantasy setting is better than Tolkien not having gone into any detail regarding how Mount Doom originated? The very fact the felt a non-magical method was needed as an explanation just showcases how bad the writing for this series is.

So—yes, even before going into whether the origin for Mount Doom is scientifically possible, I have to go into the fact we didn't need a scientific explanation, that going with a magical means was enough—in fact, not going with a magical means actually manages to cheapen the experience, particularly after seeing the stranger in episode five heal himself with magic that could freeze, and we all know Sauron should have that kind of power, right?

Yet this is supposed to be our first major pay off, us getting the origin of Mount Doom—through a scientific rather than magical method.

Which, if you're looking up the answer to whether this was scientifically possible, you'll likely finde an article called "Rings Of Power Episode 6 Eruption Is Actually Possible, Confirms Scientist" by Matthew Hardman for Screen Rant and you'll think because of the title that, yes, it is possible. Yet having read the article, I am not actually on board with Hardman's conclusion. But like Hardman, I'll give you the "whole quote" from Jeffrey Karson, the scientist that The Hollywood Reporter named James Hibberd got in touch with.

"Violent volcanic eruptions occur in large part because water is involved. The water is dissolved in the magma. The magma rises to the surfaces, the water makes bubbles that can turn to steam and the steam and water expand so rapidly that they basically blow the magma apart. That stuff piles up near a central vent and that's what makes big volcanoes. If that water is in a confined area, like a bottleneck, there's going to be a steam eruption — we call it a phreatomagmatic eruption. We see that happening in Hawaii all the time where lava flows into the ocean, and some of the lava can get blown around if the water gets trapped under it."

So—no.

"But wait, Yemi. That quote clearly says magma plus water equals an actual steam eruption and that's what we got, right?"

Well, no.

There's actually a bit more to this.

First, the water needs to get trapped under the lava, whereas the water in this scenario is simply dumped into the volcano. Let's say though the only factor needed to cause a steam eruption is in fact the production of steam. There's a second factor covered by the above quote in that the steam must not have some method of escaping from the volcanic cavern, that the only way is for the top to be blown off. And in this, there is a definite way for the steam to escape, which is in fact the exact same way the water got into the cavern. Of course, if there was enough water pouring in that the steam couldn't be released, there's also the question of why the lava isn't in some manner quenched as the water comes in.

Mind you, what I've said doesn't make it impossible, but it instead doesn't seem at all like a guaranteed plan, not to mention it requires someone to have the scientific knowledge that volcanoes work this way which given the time period this is taking place in makes this even less likely, but there is another issue at hand

It's another article though--"Scientist Explains Mount Doom's Eruption On The Rings of Power by Daniel Roman who quotes Karson also admits that "the scientist was a bit curious how anyone could actually dig the two kilometers below the Earth's surface to be able to reach the subterranean chambers where the magma is created," and the answer is even the Orcs shouldn't have been able to do something like that.

Which is the problem with trying to explain away something with science is you've got to think it all the way through.

But to put this in perspective, the Orcs would have to take their tunnels 6,500 feet under the ground to the magma chamber. And we've already got the problem that the Orcs digging their trench and their tunnels actually shouldn't have gone unnoticed as they did, but we're supposed to believe that the Orcs could dig that deep, that enough steam would build up that the top would end up needing to blow, thus creating the necessary effect, let alone that Mount Doom would stay active after these events.

And this is the problem with trying to explain what is better left explained by a magical phenomenon tied to natural phenomenon rather than trying to explain it scientifically.

Seriously, there is an in canon built in explanation that meant none of this convoluted mess was needed and that explanation is—well, magic.