Minas Morgul

The city is known as the main base for the Ring Wraiths.

The armies that led the attacks on Osgiliath and Minas Tirith came from here, suggesting a large and growing garrison that would have to be overcome should an invasion attack here. This was partially due to the fact that the first uruk-hai were actually bred here, which granted it greater relative troop strength.   It has at least one impressive set of walls, with bastions. There is even a moat and large bridge one has to cross to get to the city! But this is about all that I can confirm about the city's defenses. Which honestly is still good. Many medieval cities did only have one ring of walls. Cities are primarily civilian areas with trade as their main value to their owners. Too many walls and gatehouses would get in the way.   When the mountains limit attacks to simply one direction, this is compounded. The mountains themselves protect two sides of the city and form the existing political boundary. Which means given Mordor's geography, one would have to take Minas Morgul in order to surround the city. One side is essentially assured to be held by the same side defending it. So supplies and reinforcements would be easy to get relative to normal sieges.   The result is forcing attackers to assault a narrow front that can be easily reinforced. Starving the enemy out is not an option. Flanking attacks are not an option. Attacking on a broad front to fatally disperse defenders is not an option. Deception would be much harder. After all, supplies coming in from the side where the attackers are would be unlikely. This is where covert missions through Cirith Ungol might come in handy. But still, one side would be manly orcs and the other mainly human. So sneaking men through for this purpose is possible, but would still be a difficult move.

There was a single road that connected Minas Morgul to Osgiliath.

This well fortified city was taken twice by Mordor. The first was in the opening attack that led to the formation of the Last Alliance. After the victory of the Free People, it again became the one of Gondor's main cities and a regional capital.   Fast forward to after the Witch King was defeated. The Ring Wraiths were able to return to Mordor at a time when Sauron himself was still in hiding. Then came the Great Plague, which apparently hit the city hard. The second permanent occupation came after a two year siege conducted solely by Ring Wraiths. The palantír located here became the tool through which Sauron deceived Denethor into losing hope.   The ill fated attempt to retake the city would have major implications. Eärnur would lead a small group of hand picked knights to challenge the Witch King. He was never seen again. Slight problem with this though - he was the king and apparently had no known heirs. Nor could he be confirmed dead, thus allowing a new dynasty to legally arise to power. The uncertainty surrounding his death led to the rule of thew Stewards.   Constant orc raids were conducted from this base. It was also from here that the invasion forces sent against Osgiliath were all sent from here. As too was the force attacking Minas Tirith in the War of the Ring. But this attack would have strategic problems for Mordor. The entire garrison of the city was lost in the battle outside Minas Tirith. Which meant essentially that Mordor's defenses were totally exposed. No wall is useful with no garrison.   Should Aragorn have chosen this course of action, an attack here would have devastated Mordor. There would have been virtually no risk to the attackers. By the time Sauron's forces could have found out about and responded to this attack, the invaders could have occupied the walls and forcing Mordor to retake what it was nominally there to defend. From there many of Sauron's troops would have been wasted in the attacks.   Wisely, the attack force marching on the Black Gate just destroyed the bridge needed to move troops out of Minas Morgul and set the fields in the area on fire. This eliminated the threat from the city for the moment. Fear of the city's evil breaking the morale of the soldiers were a justifiable concern. So too was the concerns over Frodo. It was known that Frodo had recently passed through this area. it was feared an attack on Minas Morgul would increase the risk of Frodo being captured.   After Sauron's defeat, the area was technically purged of the corrupting influences that made it an evil area and abandoned by Gondor's enemies. Aragorn ordered the city destroyed and for no one to live there for seven years because it was still seen as haunted and evil. Once it was clear the evil was gone, it could be resettled. But it is unclear to me if this actually happened.

Marble was the main stone used in the construction of the city. This meant that most of the buildings were white. The impact of the moonlight gave the city a shine that gave it the appearance of glowing at night. When it was occupied by Mordor, this gave the city a sort of corpse like, sickly appearance.   Its original name was Minas Ithil, which translates to Tower of the Moon. This was a reference to the tall tower that created a rather surreal sight due to the affects of the moonlight. It was also weird in the sense that it was built with medieval technology, yet the top rotated. As the Realms in Exile did not have magic, it is unclear how this was achieved.

It was located in the Morgul Vale - a valley through which one could march an army. Hence its strategic value. It is also directly below the Paths of Cirith Ungol, the secret pass that Frodo and Sam pass through.   There was the Morgulduin, 25 mile long river that ran from the Morgul Vale past the city. It runs directly to the south of the main road to the city before connecting to the Anduin. It was ice cold and so heavily polluted that on one could drink from it. Along it were wildflowers giving off foul smelling fumes. It led to the need to cross a bridge just in front of the city to get to it.