Caradhras

A cruel, snow-capped peak in the Misty Mountains known as the Redhorn with red-stained sides. The Fellowship attempts to cross it but is defeated by a magical blizzard and forced to take the path through Moria instead.

Caradhras, the cruel Redhorn peak of the Misty Mountains, emerges as a formidable natural adversary in The Fellowship of the Ring, its red-stained sides and sudden magical blizzard thwarting the Fellowship's desperate bid to cross and avoid the perils of Moria. Personified by the Rohirrim as harboring an ancient malice, the mountain's supernatural fury underscores the sentient hostility of Middle-earth's wild places against the free peoples. Though absent from later volumes, Caradhras's defeat forces a fateful pivot toward the shadows of Khazad-dûm, rippling through the quest's tragic trajectory.