The Great Darkness

[Keith K]

Let's try to shed a little light on the Great Darkness. Was it merely ash and dust spewed from Orodruin and spread over the world? Was it more like the second darkness spoken of in LOTR where the sun was actually blocked out? Or was it used as a metaphor for how the Second Age was construed in Middle Earth by those who lived under Sauron's domination (like the Dark Ages of our own history)?

If it was actually dark and sunless, that would have a profound effect on agriculture. Perhaps it was a bit of both whereby it was only dark in the area around Mordor and sunny further out.