There are many well known places in the World of Middle Earth where many of the free-peoples of Middle Earth would gladly talk about and be enlightened to hear such tales about them. Most places in Middle Earth are famous like Rivendell or Minas Tirith, but others are very much infamous for the dark tales and history that they’re known for. One of these places happens to be Khazad-dûm, or as it is more commonly known as, the Mines of Moria. There are also other names like Dwarrowdelf, Hadhodrond, and the Halls of Durin, but the Mines of Moria is what it is fairly remembered as out of all the names next to its true name Khazad-dûm.

The Mines was once a kingdom that was founded by Durin the Deathless (hence the name “Halls of Durin”) who was the King of the Dwarves during the First Age. During the First Age, Dwarves weren’t doing anything heavily memorable (to me at least) during the time except for when the Dwarven race was almost destroyed by Aulë, The Smith and one of the Valars of Arda but more importantly, the one who began the race of dwarves who almost had to destroy them and the Murder of King Thingol of Doriath. However, the Mines of Moria was an infamous place mainly because of the history it held inside it.

One of the more memorable parts of the Mines of Moria was how the Dwarves delved too deep into the Mines and because of their greed for finding more treasures from the Mines, they’ve accidentally freed a creature of “shadow and flame”. This creature was a Balrog of Morgoth who was living in the Mines after the defeat of Morgoth and when Azog the Defiler and an Orc Chieftain who ruled Moria was killed after overrunning the place with orcs. This same Balrog was the same demon that slayed King Durin VI (not the same Durin as Durin the Deathless) which after King Durin VI’s death, the Balrog was forever known as “Durin’s Bane”.

The Mines of Moria has existed ever since the First Age and throughout the years, this infamous place has grown to become ever unluckier for any dwarves or persons who would enter inside. Even in the Lord of the rings, it talks about Balin and the other dwarves who tried to reclaim Moria after many years of it’s abandonment where it was intially sucessful but again, they eventually became overrun by orcs and goblins to where they were killed in the end. However, as shown from the events of Lord of the Rings, the fellowship had to cross the “Bridge of Khazad-dûm” where Gandalf collapsed the bridge in order to prevent the Balrog and at that same moment, Durin’s Bane grabs hold of Gandalf where both fell after the fellowship finally escapes. At that moment, this was when Gandalf “died” after finally fighting the Balrog on top of the highest peak of the mountain where Moria was located which leads to the death of Durin’s Bane but also Gandalf. He dies shortly until he comes back to life where Gwaihir, the Eagle Lord saves Gandalf where he rested in Rivendell until he finally departed and becomes the White Wizard.

The past of Moria has been shown to be the deadliest but in the end, Moria was eventually recaptured in the end of the War of the Ring, but even after the Dwarves became lucky again for reclaiming a lost kingdom, they’ve always had to face many problems and the last problem they had to face was what truly lead to the end of the race of Dwarves. It was due to the gender imbalance of the Dwarves that due to there being more male Dwarves than females, their race eventually ceased to exist and the Dwarves eventually passed on and their halls and treasures and kingdoms will forever remain empty even after the many troubles they’ve faced.

Images:

All pictures from: https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Khazad-d%C3%BBm