Moria

**Moria** also known as **Khazad-Dum** or **Dwarrowdelf** was the first and greatest realm established by the Dwarves of Durin's Folk during The First Age, under the reign of Durin I, the Deathless. It was a cavernous realm set under the mountains of Caradhras, Celebdil and Fanuidhol in the Misty Mountains, and where the Dwarves mined for Mithril. Lost to the Orcs since the mid-Third Age, it supplied much of Sauron's forces in the North and later an obstacle to the passage of the Fellowship of the Ring.

## Geography

Established under the three mountains - Caradhras, Celebdil and Fanuidol - in the Misty Mountains ridge, Moria was a vast underground realm. It had gates to the East and West, both of which were fortified: in the West, Celebrimbor helped create the impregnable Doors of Durin out of Ithildin, while in the East, the Dimril Gate was followed by the narrow, readily defensible Bridge of Khazad Dum. Evidentally, tunnels were mined to bypass this bridge, as even following its collpase in TA 3002, Orcs were still capable to pursuing The Fellowship to Lorien, as could Gollum.

Both gates opened to lands inhabited by Elves: Lorien to the East being settled by Silvan Elves (and a later influx of Noldor) since near Moria's foundation; and, since SA 750, the Noldorin realm of Eregion to the west, the latter having a particularly friendly co-existance with their Dwarvish neighboors. A high-road passed from the Doors of Durin, over the Sirannon and towards the Elvish capital of Ost-in-Edhil.

Nevertheless, since Durin approached Moria from the east, the older parts of the city were on that side and contained the many, great halls of the city. These were stacked into seven Levels and seven Deeps. The Levels stretched above the gate whilst the Deeps were set deeper within the mountain below the level of the East-gate.The First Level (on which the Great Gates were set) and the First Deep were highly intertwined. The halls that made up the various levels and deeps were numbered according to the time of their foundation. Above the seventh level, Moria extended into the Endless Stair which led to the peak of Celebdil (the tallest peak in Middle Earth) where Durin's Tower was built.

The forges and severa lodes lay to the North of those, with the Mines beneath. Moria stretched over a few deep fissures and rifts, including the one over which the Bridge of Khazad Dum was stretched. Beneath them was a subterranean lake which hosted Nameless creatures, including the Watcher in the Water who later migrated to the Siranon. The Balrog was awoken by miners near the edge of the great hall complex, and when Orcs then settled in the vacant Moria, they dug their own tunnels to the southwest.

## History

### Foundation

It was founded in very ancient days by Durin, who awoke at Mount Gundabad in the Misty Mountains. He came upon the valley Azanulbizar beneath the mountains. He looked into a shimmering lake and saw a crown of stars reflected in its waters. He named that lake Kheled-zâram, the Mirrormere and it remained a revered place among Dwarves of all houses ever afterwards.

There, in the caves above, Durin and his people started the delving and building of the Great Gates of Khazad-dûm, and the First Hall leading to a bridge over a chasm. From there began the expansion, both to *Levels* above and to *Deeps* below, and mines expanding out from the inhabited areas of the city proper.

### First Age

As the centuries passed, the realm of Durin became the greatest of all their mansions. The Dwarves built the Great East Road and Men-i-Naugrim as a single stretch of road that would lead to Moria from the mines in the Iron Hills to the East, and to the Dwarven realms of the Blue Mountains. Books recovered from Isengard reveal it had a particularly lucrative trade with the western Dwarven realm of Belegost. From there, the road stretched into Beleriand, to Doriath.

Durin the Deathless died before the end of the First Age, and was buried in a tomb in Khazad-dûm and his descendants continued to rule.

### Second Age

Moria continued to prosper into the Second Age, when in influx of refugees from the partially-ruined Nogrod and Belegost reached it. Later, the realm of Eregion was founded near Moria's western gate, and with the Noldor and Celebrimbor in particular being craftsmen, they developed a friendship with the Dwarves. Celebrimbor helped Narvi, a Dwarf-lord of Moria, in building the Doors of Durin. A high-road led from those to Eregion's capital, Ost-in-Edhil.

The friendship of Khazad-dûm and Eregion came to a sudden end, however, in S.A. 1697. Sauron overran the country of the Elves. Moria recieved many refugees who would traverse the mines to Lorien, and sent its army, aided by Noldorin and Lorien Elves, against Sauron's rear, which proved instrumental in alleviating a siege laid unto the newly-founded Rivendell. Sauron did manage to push them back, but at this point the Dwarves closed the Doors behind their retreat, which made Moria impregnable to Sauron, but also secluded the kingdom off from the outside world. Sauron became contemptous of Durin's Folk and his Orcs invaded the mountain range, taking Mount Gundabad to the north from the Kingdom of Durin.

### Third Age

As the centuries passed, the Dwarves mined deeper and deeper for the precious metal. In the year T.A. 1980, their deep digging unleashed a nameless terror, a Balrog from the Elder Days, that wreaked dreadful destruction, and in slaying the King, Durin VI, became known as Durin's Bane. In the following year, Durin's son, Náin I, was also lost, and the Dwarves fled their ancient home.

After millennia as one of the richest cities in Middle-earth, Khazad-dûm stood dark and empty, but for the brooding menace the Dwarves had released. The monster - a Balrog of Morgoth, as was later known - lurked alone in Moria for nearly five hundred years. During the Angmar War, in TA 2480, Orcs coming from Gundabad made secret strongholds along the mountain range, populating Khazad-Dum, as well. Orcs from the North began to enter the abandoned city to raid its treasuries, and occupy it.

#### Azog's realm

These orcs came under the leader of Azog from Gundabad. In 2799, refugees from the Sack of Erebor, led by Thror, King of Durin's Folk, encountered the Orcs and the Battle of Moria ensued in the Dimril Dale. In that battle, Azog slew Thror, captured his son Thrain and his Ring, and almost defeated Thror's grandson Thorin before the latter maimed him. Thorin led the Dwarves to victory, but their diminished numbers made it impossible to charge the Dimril Gate, and the Balrog could not be bested. The Dwarves left for Dunland and Khazad-dûm remained a place of darkness, with the Orcs diminished but not defeated. Azog still lived but was unable to track down Thorin who had since then led his people to the safety of the Blue Mountains.

In TA 2940, Sauron re-emerged under the pseudonym of the Necromancer, haunting the nearby ruined fortress of Dol Guldur. Azog became aware of his presence and paid homage to him, albeit with the alterior motive of taking vengenance upon Thorin. The Dwarf exilarch had at the time explored Dunland for rumours of his father's reappearance, when Gandalf passing by learned of a warrant for the Dwarf's head. This led to the Quest of Erebor, during which Azog led a company of Orcs out of Moria to find the company and eventually chase them through Eriador. At Wilderland, Azog was relegated to marshaling Sauron's Army, comprised mostly of his own Moria Orcs. This army was decimated in the Battle of the Five Armies.

#### Balin's Colony

Taking it that Moria was depopulated in the wake of the Battle, Balin eventually set-out with Ori, Oin and Frar to reclaim Moria. Indeed, initially the remaining Orcs were few enough to oppose the Dwarves, in which Balin was styled Lord of Moria, sitting in the Mazabul Chamber besides the twenty-first hall. Eventually, however, reinforcments arrived from Mordor and overran the colony, resulting in the deaths of all its inhabitants (unknown to the outside world), including Balin who was entombed in the Mazarbul Chamber, and Ori who left behind a book recounting the events.

#### The Fellowship's travels

When Frodo Baggins set out from Rivendell with the Fellowship, they at first planned to travel over the Misty Mountains. When they were stopped by heavy snow on Mount Caradhras, they fled into Moria, so as to go under the mountains. They found the Sirannon blocked near the Walls of Moria, leading it to overflow into a lake that spilled off of the broken remains of the high-road to Eregion. In this lake lived the Watcher in the Water which pursued them into the mines, which they found to be the site of a battle against the Orcs.

Nevertheless, they managed to traverse the western part of the mines, including a Mithril shaft and the Graveyard of the city unnoticed, aside from Gollum, who became stuck within the mines (unable to open the Doors of Durin from the inside) when the Fellowship arrived. It was only after the arrived at the Mazarbul chamber and learned of Balin's fate that they were discovered by Goblins and a Cave Troll, and eventually awoke the Balrog.

Gandalf fought the Balrog on a narrow bridge and succeeded in destroying a section of bridge to make the Balrog fall. As it fell, the Balrog snagged Gandalf's leg with its whip of thongs and pulled him after it, sending them both plunging into the abyss spanned by the bridge. The rest of the Fellowship managed to escape Moria and reach Lórien mostly unharmed, albeit followed by Moria Orcs who were intercepted by the Lorien Elves. Moria Orcs continued to harrass Lorien's borders at Sauron's command at the height of the War of the Ring soon thereafter.

Unknown to the Fellowship, both Gandalf and the Balrog survived the fall and fought a ferocious battle from the depths of Moria to the mountains above, demolishing the top of the legendary Endless Stair and a part of the surrounding mountain peak in the process. Gandalf cast down the Balrog upon the mountainside and lived just long enough to see it die, but his story was not yet ended.

While Gandalf had felled the Balrog, Moria remained a place of evil creatures until the Fourth Age when it was at some point reclaimed by Durin VI.