The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 20 October 2024
  • Updates planned: 1

North-end

The northern halls of Khazad-dûm

A term used to describe the internal arrangement of the Dwarf-city of Khazad-dûm. At least in its eastern reaches, behind its Great Gates, the city was built around a series of vast halls carved into the Mountains of Moria, and of those halls, the ones that lay northward of the gates were described as being 'of the North-end'.

Of particular note to later history was the Twenty-first Hall of the North-end. When Balin led a company of Dwarves to reclaim Khazad-dûm in III 2989, he chose that hall as his main base of operations. Balin's attempt to reestablish the Dwarf-city ended in disaster: he was slain, and his body entombed in the Chamber of Mazarbul directly northward of the Twenty-first Hall. There it was found more than twenty years later by the Company of the Ring as they passed through the Twenty-first Hall of the North-end on their journey through Moria.1


The term 'North-end' was also used in a quite different context by Gollum, discussing the secret ways for travelling from the North-end to the South-end of the Dead Marshes. Since Gollum was the only one to know this path, it seems that the 'North-end' of the marshes was simply a name that he had devised for his own use, rather than a general geographic term.


Notes

1

It is perhaps notable that, on learning that he was in the Twenty-first Hall, Gandalf was able to immediately conclude that the party was on the Seventh Level above the Great Gates. This might be taken to imply that each level of Moria had three halls, with one designated as being 'of the North-end' (and presumably also one 'of the South-end' and one centrally, in direct line with the gates below). It should be said that the internal organisation of Moria is not described in any detail, and this arrangement of three halls per level is by no means the only possibility.

See also...

Seventh Level

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 20 October 2024
  • Updates planned: 1

For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.

Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 2024. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.

Website services kindly sponsored by Discus from Axiom Software Ltd.
Discus is a truly international DISC profile solution available in dozens of languages.
The Encyclopedia of Arda
The Encyclopedia of Arda
Menu
Homepage Search Latest Entries and Updates Random Entry