Dol Guldur (]) (Sindarin: Hill of Sorcery) was Sauron's stronghold in Mirkwood in the fictional world of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, before he moves to Barad-dûr in Mordor. It is first mentioned (as the dungeons of the Necromancer) in The Hobbit. The hill itself, rocky and barren, was the highest point in the southwestern part of the forest. Before Sauron's occupation, it was called Amon Lanc (Naked Hill). It lay near the western edge of the forest, across the Anduin from Lothlórien. In a passage that appears to apply the name Dol Guldur principally to the fortress rather than the barren hill it rose from, the company of the Ring first catch sight of it from Cerin Amroth in Lórien.