Moria (Middle-earth)

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Place from Tolkien's Legendarium Location of Moria shown in red
Name	Moria (The Black Pit)
Other names	Hadhodrond Dwarrowdelf Khazad-dûm (Mansions of the Dwarves)
Description	Greatest of all the dwellings of the Dwarves
Constructed by	Durin the Deathless
Realm(s)	Moria (Middle-earth)
Lord	Kings of Khazad-dûm
Type	underground city and mines

In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Moria (also known as Khazad-dûm, The Black Chasm, The Black Pit, Dwarrowdelf, Hadhodrond, Casarondo, and Phurunargian) was a name given to an enormous underground city in the Misty Mountains of Middle-earth. Its vast network of tunnels included deep mines, huge halls and connected tunnels that ran across and ultimately through the Mountains. There, for many thousands of years, lived the Dwarves of Durin's Line, in a great subterranean construction.

This city-state was founded by Durin 'the Deathless' during the Age of Stars, several thousand years before the Dawn of Man: Durin awoke at Mount Gundabad, in the far northern Misty Mountains, not long after the Elves first awoke far to the east in Cuiviénen. Travelling south, he eventually reached a high lake, where he witnessed a reflection of the stars in the water, apparently a crown glittering above his head: taking this as an auspicious sign, Durin made his new home under the reflected mountains. He named the lake Mirrormere or Kheled-zarâm, and it remained a revered place among all Dwarves ever after; but the city he named Khazad-dûm, which later became known as The Dwarrowdelf in the Common Speech; Hadhodrond by the Sindar; and Casarrondo by the Noldor.

Durin founded the Longbeards, the most senior of the seven dwarf clans, and became King Durin I of Khazad-dûm. In later years, several of his linear descendants and heirs were given his name. These were said to be so like him in body that they were considered to be reincarnations of the original.

Early in the Second Age, many Dwarves from the ruined western cities of Nogrod and Belegost in the Ered Luin came to Khazad-dûm, increasing its power. The Dwarves of Khazad-dûm then forged a friendship with the Noldorin Elves, and the Elf Lady Galadriel passed through Moria on her way to Lórien. Eregion's leader Celebrimbor used Sindarin Elvish on Narvi's behalf when the latter built the gate for the western entrance of Moria. The inscription reads Im Narvi hain echant. Celebrimbor o Eregion teithant i thiw hin: "I, Narvi, made them. Celebrimbor of Eregion drew these signs."

Celebrimbor went on to forge the Rings of Power. Then Sauron himself secretly forged the One Ring to gain dominion over the other rings and the subsequent war caused the destruction of Eregion and the death of Celebrimbor. Elrond gathered with Celeborn and the survivors of Eregion and they were almost overwhelmed by Sauron's pursuit, but the Dark Lord's host was unexpectedly assailed in the rear a force sent out by Durin, mainly Dwarves of Moria who were accompanied by some Elves of Lórien. Sauron then halted his advance and drove the Durin back but he could accomplish little as Khazad-dûm's gates were closed. Afterwards, Sauron harboured deep hatred for Moria and ordered his Orcs to trouble Durin's folk at every turn. Moria remained unconquered for the rest of the Second Age and with Sauron overthrown, it and thrived throughout the early years of the Third, though its people began to dwindle and many of its vast mansions became empty.

The wealth of Khazad-dûm was not in iron, silver, or gold, but in the precious metal, mithril, which was found nowhere else. In the year 1980 of the Third Age, however, the Dwarves, having at last exhausted the more accessible mithril seams, delved too deep and awakened a very powerful and evil entity which they later named Durin's Bane, as it killed King Durin VI in that year, and in the following year Náin, his son. The Dwarves were unable to defeat Durin's Bane, or even drive it away, and so were forced to flee their ancient home, relocating in Erebor. After that, Khazad-dûm became a place of dread and evil, and the elves named it Moria, the Black Pit. (Many evil things were happening to the realms of Men and Dwarves as Sauron made his return, as Arnor had been destroyed and the Nazgûl reoccupied Mordor in T.A. 1980, taking Minas Ithil shortly after. It is speculated by some that Sauron had stirred up the entity in Moria, which was later revealed to be a Balrog of Morgoth.)

Thereafter, Orcs of the Misty Mountains made Moria their home, but in 2790, being driven from Erebor by the dragon Smaug, Thrór, heir of Durin, foolishly attempted to re-enter his ancestral home despite warnings not to. He was slain by the orc chieftain Azog, an infamous murder that precipitated The War of the Dwarves and Orcs which culminated in a very bloody battle outside Moria's eastern gates nine years later. The Dwarves were victorious and Azog himself was beheaded by Dáin II Ironfoot before the great orc could reach the safety of the gate, but the Dwarves had suffered great losses and remained unwilling to face Durin's Bane. Thrór's son Thráin II attempted to re-enter but Dáin stopped him and prophesied that some other power other than the Dwarves must come before Durin's folk could return to Moria.

A few generations later, the dwarf Balin, who had accompanied Bilbo Baggins on the Quest of Erebor described in The Hobbit, led a company to reopen the city, including Flói, Óin, Ori, Frár, Lóni, and Náli, although Balin's mission was against King Dáin's wishes. At first all went well, but after a few years the colony was destroyed by Orcs, although their fate was not discovered until years later. Balin himself was slain by an Orc archer at the Dimrill Dale in 2994. At the Council of Elrond (as told in The Fellowship of the Ring) Glóin, son of Gróin said that after contact with Moria was lost, King Dáin of Erebor had been visited by a messenger from Mordor. Sauron who had re-established himself in the Black Land had offered to return the remaining three of the Seven dwarf rings and the realm of Moria, if Dáin would cooperate in finding the One Ring, namely for a thief named Bilbo Baggins.

By the end of the Third Age, at the time of the events of The Lord of the Rings, Moria remained a place dread and horror. In The Lord of the Rings, when Frodo Baggins set out from Rivendell with the Fellowship, they at first planned to travel over the Misty Mountains but they were stopped by snow on Caradhras. As the Gap of Rohan was potentially dangerous due to Saruman's desire of the One Ring, the Fellowship reluctantly agreed to journey through Moria to continue the Quest of the Ring, as Gandalf had gambled that most of the Orcs of the Misty Mountains had been destroyed in the Battle of Five Armies.

There they found Balin's journal and learned the fate of his expedition. They were then set upon by a group of trolls and many Orcs before being approached by Durin's Bane itself, which was finally revealed as a Balrog of Morgoth. Gandalf confronted the Demon on a narrow bridge, the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, near the remains of Moria's Eastern Gates, where they dueled briefly before plunging together into the abyss that the bridge spanned, allowing the rest of the Fellowship to escape, although both he and the Balrog survived the fall to continue their epic duel from the primordial depths below Moria to one of the mountain peaks above it (named by the Dwarves Zirakzigil), ultimately demolishing the top of Khazad-dûm's legendary Endless Stair.

With the death of the Balrog, the way was at last clear for the Longbeards to reclaim their ancient homeland, and it is told that Durin VII at last led his people back to their longed-for ancient homeland a few centuries after its destruction, retrieving what they could of Khazad-dûm's once-mighty riches. Whether many Longbeard dwarves remained at the Iron Hills, Glittering Caves, Erebor or elsewhere is uncertain, however, considering the Dwarvish love of mithril it is more than likely that all of Durin's folk dwelt once again beneath the Misty Mountains in Khazad-dûm.

Dwarves from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium

Azaghâl | Balin | Bifur | Bofur | Bombur | Borin | Dáin I | Dáin II Ironfoot | Dís | Dori | Durin(s) | Dwalin | Fíli | Flói | Frerin | Frár | Frór | Fundin | Gamil Zirak | Gimli | Glóin | Gróin | Grór | Ibûn | Khîm | Kíli | Lóni | Mîm | Náin I | Náin II | Náin son of Grór | Náli | Nár | Narvi | Nori | Óin | Ori | Telchar | Thorin I | Thorin II Oakenshield | Thorin III | Thráin I | Thráin II | Thrór

Kingdoms of the Dwarves

Belegost | Iron Hills | Khazad-dûm | Lonely Mountain | Nogrod

Realms from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium during the Second Age
Realms of Men:	Arnor | Gondor | Lond Daer | Númenor | Rohan | Umbar
Realms of the Elves:	Dorwinion | Edhellond | Eregion | Lindon | Lórinand | Greenwood the Great | Rivendell
Realms of the Dwarves:	Belegost | Khazad-dûm
Realms of the Ents:	Fangorn forest
Realms of the enemy:	Cirith Ungol | Mordor

Realms from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium during the Third Age
Realms of Men:	Arnor | Arthedain | Breeland | Cardolan | Corsairs of Umbar | Dale | Dol Amroth | Dunland | Éothéod | Esgaroth | Gondor | Harad | Khand | Rhovanion | Rhudaur | Rhûn | Rohan | Umbar
Realms of the Elves:	Lindon | Lothlórien | Northern Mirkwood | Rivendell
Realms of the Dwarves:	Belegost | Erebor | Grey Mountains | Iron Hills | Khazad-dûm
Realms of the Hobbits:	Breeland | Gladden Fields | The Shire
Realms of the Ents:	Fangorn forest
Uncertain population:	Dorwinion
Realms of the enemy:	Angmar | Barad-dûr | Dol Guldur | Isengard | Mordor