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- Updated 3 October 2009
- Updates planned: 1
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Map showing Moria and its surroundings. Certain elements of this map are conjectural.2
Map showing Moria and its surroundings. Certain elements of this map are conjectural.2
The Black Chasm; the name given to Khazad-dûm after its desertion by the Dwarves, after which it became a dark and evil place.
Notes
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The point at which the old city of Khazad-dûm started to be known as Moria the Black Chasm is not definitively established. According to The Silmarillion, it acquired the name Moria '...afterwards in the days of its darkness...' (Quenta Silmarillion 10, Of the Sindar). It would be natural to read this as a reference to the coming of Durin's Bane and the exile of the Dwarves, and that may very well be the intended meaning.
As a possible counterpoint, however, it is worth noting a comment in Appendix B to The Lord of the Rings, which tells us that, even before the coming of the Balrog, the city's '...numbers had dwindled until many of its vast mansions became dark and empty.' On this basis, we might see the 'days of its darkness' to have actually begun earlier, sometime before the awakening of Durin's Bane. On this alternative reading, Khazad-dûm might already have been known as Moria earlier in the Third Age, while there were still dwindling numbers of Dwarves occupying the darkening city.
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The exact configuration of the Mountains of Moria is not shown on any map, so the relative positions shown here are derived from descriptions in The Lord of the Rings (though given the detail of those descriptions, there is little margin for error). In addition, though it seems inevitable that the Sirannon must have been a tributary of the Glanduin, it is not known precisely how the two rivers joined. |
See also...
Alphabet of Daeron, Angerthas Moria, Aragorn Elessar, Azog, Bain, Balin, Balrogs, Barazinbar, Battle of Nanduhirion, Battle of the Mines of Moria, Battle of the Peak, Bill, Bird-tamer, Black Chasm, Black Pit, [See the full list...]Book of Mazarbul, Bridge of Khazad-dûm, Cave-trolls, Chamber of Mazarbul, Chamber of Records, City of the Trees, Company of the Ring, Cordial of Imladris, Dark Lord, Dimrill Gate, Durin I the Deathless, Durin’s Axe, Durin’s Bridge, Durin’s Day, Durin’s Tower, Dwarves, Dwarves of Moria, Eagles of the North, Elven-cloaks, Endless Stair, Farin, First Deep, Flame of Udûn, Folk of the Mountain, Frár, Frerin, Galadriel, Gandalf, Gates of Moria, Gladden River, Glóin, Gollum, Gollum’s Ring, Hadhodrond, Haldir, Heir of Durin, Hollin Gate, Khazâd, Khazad-dûm, King of the Silvan Elves, King under the Mountain, Lay of Nimrodel, Legolas Greenleaf, Longbeards, Lóni, Lord of Lothlórien, Lord of Moria, Mansion of the Khazâd, Mellon, Mines of Moria, Misty Mountains, Moria Gate, Moria-silver, Mountains of Moria, Mustering of the Dwarves, Náin, Náli, Nameless Things, Nár, North-end, Northern Orcs, Northerners, Óin, Óin, Old Moria, Orcs of the Misty Mountains, Pass of Caradhras, Phurunargian, Ponies, River Anduin, Rúmil of Lórien, Second Hall, Seventh Level, Shathûr, Sirannon, The Terror, Third Deep, Thorin and Company, Thrór, Tree of the High Elves, Treebeard’s Hill, Trolls, Twenty-first Hall, Uruk-hai, Walls of Moria, Watcher in the Water, Waterlands of the Swans, Zirakzigil
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About this entry:
- Updated 3 October 2009
- Updates planned: 1
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