Khazad-dûm:
The home of Durin, the eldest of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves,
Khazad-dûm was the greatest of the Dwarven mansions, especially
after the destruction of Beleriand which partially destroyed Nogrod
and Belegost. Many dwarves fled from Nogrod and Belegost to Khazad-dûm,
swelling its population. Khazad-dûm was the only place where
mithril could be found, but mithril was also the cause of their
destruction, as in mining for mithril, they accidentally freed
the Balrog. The Dwarves abandoned Khazad-dûm in the year
1981 of the Third Age. After the Dwarves left, Sauron sent orcs
to gather all the mithril, gold and jewels that could be found.
The Elves called Khazad-dûm Moria, the Black Chasm afterwards.
It was in Moria that Gandalf fell fighting the Balrog.
There was a prophecy that one day the Dwarves would retake Moria,
referred to in the following:
And
the line of Dain prospered, and the wealth and renown of the kingship
was renewed, until there arose again for the last time an heir
of that House that bore the name of Durin, and he returned to Moria;
and there was light again in deep places, and the ringing of hammers
and the harping of harps, until the world grew old and the Dwarves
failed and the days of Durin's race were ended.(HOME XII.278)
So
ended the attempt to retake Moria! It was valiant but foolish.
The time is not come yet. (LOTR.341)
The Lord of the Rings
The Silmarillion
The Peoples of Middle-Earth
Related Entries:
Eregion | Gandalf
the White | Balin | Gandalf
the Grey | The
Second Age of the Sun | The
Third Age of the Sun |
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