The song of Durin

was sung by Gimli so that Samwise might grasp the past splendour of Moria; this is a lore account on it.

"Durin is the name that the Dwarves used for the eldest of the Seven Fathers of their race," whom awoke in the northern Misty Mountains at the dawn of the First Age (The Return of the King; Appendix A; III).

From there Durin explored the world until he reached the lake of Mirrormere; and in the caverns behind Mirrormere he established Khazad-dûm ["the Dwarrowdelf"], also known as Moria.

As other Dwarves gathered to him Durin became King and began a royal line. His emblem was a crown with seven stars, and Kahazad-dûm flourished until he passed away late in the First Age.

Yet the Dwarves belived that on occasion Durin returned to life [possibly through reincarnation], and Moria remained strong until year 1980 of the Third Age. Then a demonic Balrog was stirred and slew Durin VI, and in the next year slew his son, and the people were destroyed or fled far away.

A little more than a millenium later, in 3019, the Fellowship entered Moria. In the deep darkness of Moria the nine wanderers beheld vast, chill halls and endlessly branching stairs and passages.

Samwise Gamgee wondered if and why the Dwarves there once lived in such darksome holes? To this reacted Gimli, himself a descendant of Durin (The Fellowship of the Ring; II; IV onwards);

"`These are not holes,' said Gimli. `This is the great realm and city of the Dwarrowdelf. And of old it was not darksome, but full of light and splendour, as is still remembered in our songs.'
He rose and standing in the dark he began to chant in a deep voice, while the echoes ran away into the roof.

The world was young, the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,
No words were laid on stream or stone
When Durin woke and walked alone.

He named the nameless hills and dells;
He drank from yet untasted wells;
He stooped and looked in Mirrormere,
And saw a crown of stars appear,
As gems upon a silver thread,
Above the shadow of his head.

The world was fair, the mountains tall,
In Elder Days before the fall
Of mighty kings in Nargothrond
And Gondolin, who now beyond
The Western Seas have passed away:
The world was fair in Durin's Day.

A king he was on carven throne
In many-pillared halls of stone
With golden roof and silver floor,
And runes of power upon the door.
The light of sun and star and moon
In shining lamps of crystal hewn
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night
There shone for ever fair and bright.

There hammer on the anvil smote,
There chisel clove, and graver wrote;
There forged was blade, and bound was hilt;
The delver mined, the mason built.
There beryl, pearl, and opal pale,
And metal wrought like fishes' mail,

Buckler and corslet, axe and sword,
And shining spears were laid in hoard.
Unwearied then were Durin's folk
Beneath the mountains music woke:
The harpers harped, the minstrels sang,
And at the gates the trumpets rang.

The world is grey, the mountains old,
The forge's fire is ashen-cold
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls:
The darkness dwells in Durin's halls
The shadow lies upon his tomb
In Moria, in Khazad-dûm.

But still the sunken stars appear
In dark and windless Mirrormere;
There lies his crown in water deep,
Till Durin wakes again from sleep.

`I like that! ' said Sam. `I should like to learn it. In Moria, in Khazad-dûm! But it makes the darkness seem heavier, thinking of all those lamps...."

End note: the dead Dwarves the Fellowship later encountered were not misfortunate inhabitants from when the Balrog struck a millenium ago. Instead the dead belonged to an expedition led by Balin [from The Hobbit], that attempted to recolonize Moria just over thirty years prior.

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Some related accounts:

Durin https://imgur.com/gallery/IO1dcdx

Gimli did not think Moria was inhabited https://imgur.com/gallery/kTUFfA5

Balin's failed expedition https://imgur.com/gallery/GMUj5BQ

ART CREDITS: #2 megatruh #3 Erika Rae Heins #4 jcbarquet #5 Donato Giancola #6 JRR Tolkien #7 MatejCadil #8 Ted Nasmith #9 Helianshi #10 Bjorn Hurri #11 Pechschwinge #13 Andy Walker #14 Joona Kujanen

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For more of my Tolkien lore posts, enjoy these two indexes:

Character bios https://imgur.com/gallery/axV2mPF

Folks, animals, items, etc https://imgur.com/gallery/AQK9pJL