dark and deep, ever deeper, ever darker. the dwarves, in their greed, awoke shadow and flame.

Ī great hall of Khazad-dûm, imagined by Ralph DamianiĪll of these places became revered amongst Durin's people in later days.

Durin chose the eastward-facing caves above Kheled-zâram as the earliest beginnings of his new stronghold.

The icy cold springs below the lake he called Kibil-nâla (the source of the Silverlode), and the valley itself he gave the name Azanulbizar, the Dimrill Dale. The three peaks overshadowing the lake he named Barazinbar 'the Redhorn', Zirakzigil 'the Silvertine' and Bundushathûr, ' Cloudyhead'. Perceiving these stars as a crown glittering above his head, Durin took this as an auspicious sign, and named the lake Kheled-zâram, the Mirrormere. Within this heavily wooded valley, a long series of short waterfalls led down to a long, oval lake, which appeared to have a magical quality: 'There, like jewels sunk in the deep shone glinting stars, though sunlight was in the sky above'. Durin had awakened at Mount Gundabad not long after the Elves first awoke, and as eldest among the Fathers of the Dwarves was acknowledged as preeminent among them, a status subsequently inherited by his descendants, the Kings of the Longbeards.įrom Mount Gundabad, Durin made his way south until according to legend, Durin ultimately found 'a glen of shadows between two great arms of the mountains, above which three white peaks were shining'. The Dwarrowdelf was founded by Durin 'the Deathless' in the far distant past, long before the creation of the Sun and Moon in the Years of the Trees.

3.2 The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Dark and deep, ever deeper, ever darker. the dwarves, in their greed, awoke shadow and flame.