The Building of Barad-dûr

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

The second problem is that the reign of Tar-Minastir was, according to 'The Line of Elros', from 1731 to 1869. So, even if we assume that the Akallabeth is meant to place only the completion of Barad-dur, and not its whole construction, in the reign of Tar-Minastir, that still puts it more than a century later than is said in ToY.

I've always understood the Akallabeth quote to mean that by the time Tar-Minastir became king (by the time we reached his days) Sauron had already accomplished his goal of fortifying his land of Mordor (which included building Barad-dur).

That is, the quote is

• Not "In the days of Tar-Minastir... he fortified the land of Mordor and..."
• But rather "Already in the days of Tar-Minastir... he had {which can signify past-tense} fortified the land of Mordor and..."

Taken this way, the problem dissolves.