The Mines of Moria

From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.

Moria (also known as Khazad-dûm, The Black Chasm, The Black Pit, Dwarrowdelf, Hadhodrond, and Phurunargian) is the name given to the underground city, mines, and tunnels underneath the central Misty Mountains. There, for many thousands of years, a thriving Dwarvish community created the greatest city ever known.

Most ancient and famous of all the Dwarven kingdoms was Khazad-dûm, the ancestral home of Durin the Deathless, the first of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves. Through five Ages of the Stars and three Ages of the Sun, these were the dwarves who had a long friendship with the Elven-smiths of Eregion, who forged the Rings of Power. But in the accursed years of Sauron's dominion of the Second Age of the Sun, the Dwarves closed their great doors to the World. At that time, the great mansions of Khazad-dûm were renamed Moria, the 'black pit' or 'dark chasm'.

Yet still the dwarves worked and quarried the forges beneath the Misty Mountains until TA 1980 of the Third Age. In that year, they delved too deeply beneath Mound Barazinbar and an entombed Balrog was unleashed on the halls of Moria and slew their king, Durin VI, hence the Balrog's title: Durin's Bane. So terrible was the Balrog's strength that the dwarves were either slain or driven from their kingdom. When the Fellowship of the Ring entered Moria, it had been abandoned by the dwarves, stripped by the Goblins, and through the barren corridors and halls still stalked the Balrog known as Durin's Bane, who was feared even by the roving bands of Goblins and Trolls.

The Fellowship was quickly routed and driven out by the Goblins, but Gandalf the Grey challenged the Balrog to give the Fellowship time to escape. They battled on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, which Gandalf destroyed. But as the Balrog toppled into the abyss, it snared Gandalf with its whip. Gandalf and Balrog continued to do battle during the long plummet down. When they landed in the underground lakes and oceans of the underworld, the Balrog used the Endless Stair, a long spiral staircase created by the dwarves, to ascend to the peak of Zirakzigil. There, high above the clouds, Gandalf cast down the Balrog before dying himself, although he was later resurrected.

In the Third Deep of Khazad-dum were the upper armories. Far below were the treasuries of the dwarves. In the mines of Khazad-dum were found gold, silver, iron, beryls, pearls, opals, and other precious metals and gems. The lodes of mithril were deep under the mountains, running north toward the roots of the Redhorn.

With the Balrog's death, evil's hold on Moria was loosened. After the War of the Ring during the Fourth Age, the dwarves probably resettled there under Durin VII the Last.