The Wrath of Mordor

New Zealand's beautiful terrain played a prominent role in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy. One of the locations that was extensively filmed during the production was Togariro National Park, which includes a volcanic mountain that has been dormant for the last century. Monday night, though, Mount Tongariro erupted, covering much of the park with a thick layer of volcanic debris.

Rocks and pumice erupted from Mount Tongariro on Monday night, closing roads and forcing people to flee while domestic flights across the country were also cancelled. The volcano had been inactive for more than a century before it exploded following weeks of increased seismic activity.

It was more like Lord of the Singe as winds scattered ash up to 100km (60 miles) away on the North Island and volcanologists do not know if it will erupt again. Layers of thick ash blanketed areas surrounding the popular tourist destination but fortunately the eruption did not cause any injuries or serious damage.

Witness Bryn Rodda, told New Zealand National Radio: 'I saw this beautiful, big cloud and I thought: "Gee that looks like a volcanic plume".'Just as I thought that there was a great big orange flash. It was quite impressive.'

Peter Jackson is currently working on his version of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit as a followup to Lord of the Rings, and it should be pointed out that the One Ring appears in that story as well. Maybe somebody managed to sneak it off the set, climb to the top of Mount Tongariro, and drop it in, triggering the eruption. So far there have been no reports of missing magical props, but let's face it - if it happened, it's not like that's something the film crew is going to share.