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Title: Suggestions and Messages
Scholars note: I am gathering together an account of these important times in our past from the numerous partial records from the archives in the hope of making one volume in the form of a narrative for those who are interested in our history. I mention this here because I am starting to quote from the records themselves.
As was foretold many years in the past, back during the final years of the Third Age of the Sun, one called Durin would be born among the Dwarves. It was to be his destiny to lead the successful recolonization of their ancient home, Khazad Dum.
With the birth of the one who was given the name Durin the Seventh, descended from such figures as Durin the Deathless, the first of their line and Dain Ironfoot who fought in both the Battle of the Five Armies, reclaiming their home in Erebor and later in the War of the Ring, the time for this prophecy seemed to be coming due, though it was not yet widely known.
Soon after his coming of age, the murmurs started. No-one knew who started them, but it was presumed to be one of the scholars, as the prophecy was no longer widely known. “He is the one... Durin, the one foretold.” Or, “he will lead us to our old home...we will be returning to the oldest of our ancient homes.” It only took a short time for the prophecy to be widely known once again to all the dwarves of Erebor. With that knowledge, the interest in a return grew sharply.
Returning to Khazad Dum, the home of the first Durin, Durin the Deathless, which for centuries had been a place of dread, more often referred to as 'Moria', the Black Chasm began to be something which was no longer merely talked about in a desultory fashion, as it had been for so long, but something to be seriously planned.
Of course, the leading figure in these plans, Durin himself, could not long have remained unaware of his people's hopes and dreams. The idea wasn't something he was un-interested in himself. Every young dwarf had dreamed of it from the days when they had been driven out of their home and had to find other places. Seeing the written prophecy as studied by the scholars was simply the final piece in his decision to make a go of a serious attempt to re-colonize the ancient mines.
With that decision made, the messengers went out. The Iron Hills. The Blue Mountains. Aglarond, the Glittering Caves. After The Lonely Mountain, Durin's home, though not the oldest, Aglarond was considered the greatest of the current Dwarven Mansions. In fact, given that it was really the most recently founded of the major Dwarven homes, to be seen as one of the greatest was quite the honor. Mostly it came from the incredible natural stone formations that had been discovered by Gimli, the founding Lord during the War of the Ring. His prediction came true.
While waiting for those messengers to return, Durin, who had rapidly taken the lead in the planning, sent out messengers and scholars to Minas Anor, which now had the greatest repository of history for the Second and Third Ages of the Sun. They were to search for information pertaining to the layout and structure of the ancient home for Durin's folk. It was disappointing, but there was little surviving in the archives at Erebor. The coming of the dragon Smaug, now almost legendary, had destroyed the archives stored there, and they had been the main archives since the claiming of the Mountain as their home by Thrain. All that survived in the archives under the Mountain concerning Moria were copies of the messages sent in that short-lived attempt by Balin before the War of the Ring, along with copies the book brought out by Gimli and a few documents which had survived the ravages of the dragon. The returning messages were overwhelmingly positive. All were agreed. “The time had come!” In the early Spring of the next year, the expedition set out from the Lonely Mountain. About two hundred Dwarves representing most of the settlements scattered throughout western Middle-Earth were present, though the majority were descended of the house of Durin. Despite the fact that the group was mostly made up of warriors, there were a number of scholars and historians going along to see history made.
Title: Historical Records
Scholars note: I am gathering together an account of these important times in our past from the numerous partial records from the archives in the hope of making one volume in the form of a narrative for those who are interested in our history. I mention this here because I am starting to quote from the records themselves. There was a group of fifteen historians and scholars, mostly from the Iron Hills, the Lonely Mountain and the Glittering Caves, though there were one or two from the smaller settlements, who, it was decided were to join the expedition for recording purposes. The decision was made to include these few because they were still young enough to travel easily and were all moderately good fighters. That was Durin, the leader of the expedition's one stipulation.
Those who were to come from the Iron Hills and Aglarond were to bring copies of what records they had of their ancient home. As none were to come from the Ered Luin, a request was sent with the returning messengers to have copies of those records sent to Erebor.
At the same time, a small group of the scholars from Erebor was sent to Minas Anor to see what was in the records there. It was a shameful thing to them that much of the early history of their home was lost when the dragon came.
They returned as Fall was turning into Winter, carrying with them copies of all the records they had been able to find. Surprisingly, it was more than they thought there would be, and they had been supplemented with some late finds from the archives at the Glittering Caves, which had been sent to them at the City.
What they brought back was rather a mixed bag. There were copies of a couple of rough maps of the mines dating from the days of the Last Alliance, but most of what the historians had found were accounts of travellers who had had the misfortune of entering Khazad Dum. Few who had entered the mines since they had been abandoned had had the fortune of escaping again. Starring in those accounts were the account of the passage of the mines by the Company of the Ring, as copied from the Red Book. The scholars had made an incredible find with that. With one of the copies of the book (the library at the citadel had three copies) was found some yellowed and crumbling pages that were alleged to be the actual notes written by the Ringbearer while he was recovering there. There were many little details not included in the final version, though the ink was so faded as to be almost illegible in places. If, that was, the tale of those loose pages was true, of course.
There was also a little volume that was supposed to have been written by the first king of the Reunited Kingdom, Elessar himself, of his journeys through Moria. For he had traversed the mines twice. Again, the scholars were divided. Some thought the provenance of the booklet to be true, while others were doubtful. Still, they decided to copy it just in case. If it was truly the tale of his travels, the volume would be useful for identifying routes to the western gate, which had been lost to those searching for it for untold years.
The one item they figured was the most reliable, was the account supposedly written by the first lord of the Glittering Caves of his crossing of the mountains through the mines. That was either the basis for the work alleged to be by Elessar, or it was the evidence that the book was truthful, for in many cases the second account there matched up with the one by Gimli.
The most valuable item to the minds of the historians (often agreed by most other dwarves to be an odd people) was kept in the archives of the Lonely Mountain. That was the original book found by Gimli on his journey through the mines, and returned after the end of the War of the Ring. Now so old as to be illegible and kept in a glass and crystal box, it was still seen as a valuable treasure to the scholars. Almost as soon as it had been brought back, the historians of the time had set to work deciphering and copying it.
Sent from the Blue Mountains, and the Iron Hills were copies of several accounts of the battle of Azanulbizar, which had taken place just outside the Mines, one of which included the description of something fearful just inside the doors. The scholars were agreed that if the other records were true, that unknown thing should no longer be a problem. They identified it as the Balrog told of in the copy of the Red Book and in the other two accounts.
Either way, there was plenty of material for them to study and debate on the journey, as they analyzed what had been found, and made guesses at the layout of their ancient home. For the historians, both the journey and the possibility of discovering more of their lost history in Khazad Dum was as exciting as the thrill of discovery and new works to be done was for most of the rest of the Dwarves who were to go on the expedition.
Title: Arrival
Scholars note: I am gathering together an account of these important times in our past from the numerous partial records from the archives in the hope of making one volume in the form of a narrative for those who are interested in our history. I mention this here because I am starting to quote from the records themselves. Burrin, Junior Archivist of Khazad Dum
It took the group, which was closer to a small army than anything else, almost three months to make the journey from Erebor, where they had gathered, to the entrance to their peoples ancient home. For the most part, the lands they passed through were still fairly empty of settlers.
Though their relationship with the elves of Greenwood the Great was better than it had been at some times in the past, Durin had chosen to lead the group south around the forest, rather than strain the sometimes tenuous friendship between the two races by taking such a large group through the Wood-Elves realm. This made crossing the Anduin more of a problem as the best crossing was up north, by the Carrock. Still, they managed, and thinking positively, which they were inclined to do, they were closer to their goal, though not near any roads. Despite the fact that the lands were mostly empty, the dwarves did see signs of some groups of brigands and other lawless men. However, they weren't attacked, presumably because the group of close to two hundred was too large for such folk to take on. Still, it was something they were going to have to take into account for their messengers and other travelers going back and forth to and from Erebor and the other dwarven mansions.
Since they had left the Lonely Mountain in early spring, the season was edging into early summer when they reached the valley below the entrance to the mines.
Now that they had reached their goal, Durin called together the leaders of the groups that the expedition had been broken into, to decide what would be the best thing to do next. The problem was that many of those on the journey wanted to simply rush into their ancient home. The debate ended up encompassing everyone who had gone along, not just their leaders. Eventually, Durin's proposal of caution won out, and was in fact borne out by the reports of the scouts he'd had sent to the entrance they could see in the distance.
Although orcs and similar evil beings had become rare in the years since the fall of Sauron, there were still rumors of their dwellings and reports of orcish attacks would be heard now and again in the mountains. Durin suspected that orcs were living in the mines, as they had been for centuries. The records the historians had collected and brought from the other ancient Dwarven homes and from Minas Anor were clear that there had been orcs there until the end of the Third Age, if not later.
He ordered the camp to be set up a substantial distance away from the doors to the mines, in hopes that it would give them more time to spot trouble if something happened. By the time the camp was set up the scouts had returned from their duties.
Now that their goal had been reached, Durin took the scouts reports in the middle of the camp in a public gathering, so all could hear of their discoveries and decide the best course to take. The only ones not present were those assigned to the guard rotation that evening.
While for the most part the historians merely summarized events in their records, because of the fact that the decisions made at this meeting were likely to shape the course of events from then on, they attempted to record the discussions and decision-making processes as well as the first descriptions of their ancient home as seen by the scouts.
“We saw no sign that we were being watched by anything as we approached the gates, which were hanging open,” the spokesperson for the scouts started out, describing the immediate environs of the gate and their careful approach.
“There was one strange thing though,” he continued, “we saw stumps of trees that had been cut down some time ago. No signs of why, at least not right away. Seeing nothing otherwise strange, we continued to the open doors of the mines. Inside the doors there was nothing unusual that we could see right away. There were some signs of small fires just inside the entrance of the hall, all of which were fairly old. The conclusion we came to after a moment was that probably over the years the occasional traveler from the Dimrill pass, as it is known to most races, must have taken shelter there.”
“Seeing no danger we continued into the hall. It was just as the scholars have described from the accounts they brought along. We could see the chasm spanning the hall, and remains of the bridge which had once arched over it, still springing out into empty space.” There was a quiet murmur from those listening to the account. They had all heard and discussed the tales brought by the historians throughout their journey. “Almost right away we could see the purpose for which the trees cut from the stumps noted earlier must have been used. There was a crude bridge of sorts crossing the empty space made of the roughly shaped trunks of the trees. After examining it, we chose not to attempt to cross.” The speaker paused.
Before Durin could question that decision, another of the scouts spoke up. “The bridge looked to be several years old, and made of the raw wood. We decided not to risk an attempt at crossing it in case some or all of us ended up trapped on the other side. Evidently someone, or more likely several someones attempted to travel into the mines. What they found we do not know yet.”
The first speaker began again. “As we were unable to penetrate farther into the mines we examined the area we could see on both sides of the chasm. We saw no recent signs of orcs or any other evil beings.” He paused then spoke once more, finishing off his report with the all important words that all were waiting to hear: “It is the scouts belief that it will be possible for us to re-take our ancient home.”
Title: First Sights
Scholars note: I am gathering together an account of these important times in our past from the numerous partial records from the archives in the hope of making one volume in the form of a narrative for those who are interested in our history. I mention this here because I am starting to quote from the records themselves. Burrin, Junior Archivist of Khazad Dum
Early the next day everyone was ready to go and see their ancient home for themselves. By mid-morning they were ready to go. Everyone was going along, save only a strong guard force of about fifty to protect the camp, just in case.
First, they made a short detour, however. The majority of the Dwarves wanted to see the Mirrormere, that spot immortalized in their legends where Durin had seen the crown of stars. It was only a short stop though, and they went down in small groups to stand quietly for a short time near the crumbling pillar that still marked the location of that long ago event. Soon enough they were on their way again.
There was a feeling of excitement in the air. Not even suppressed excitement as there had been since the mountains came clearly into view, a scene most of the dwarves recognized as it had been painted and carved on so many surfaces within their homes, but outright excitement at seeing the place where the founder of the first line of the Dwarves had chosen to live.
Once the ruined stone gates, framing the opening into the mountains came into view, despite the general quiet of the company, there was a low murmuring sound from many of the dwarves there. The gates had long since been destroyed, by what agency however was now unknown. Not even their legends said for sure, but there had been some suspicion of battering rams, and perhaps magic involved.
However, the group fell utterly silent on entering the carven hall. Despite the destruction, the remains of which was clearly present and visible, there was a majesty still to be seen. All of the carvings had been defaced somehow, through breakage, the carving of graffiti and the untold years of weather, and there was a thick layer of debris everywhere. Most of the litter, it was decided had been blown in through the open doors over the centuries. There was little or no sign of any tracks other than those of animals, save for those of the Dwarven scouts who had traveled through the hall the previous day.
Soon enough they came to the great chasm which had been reported by the scouts, as well as the remains of both the original stone bridge as well as the crude wooden one. After a short discussion, the consensus was that the scouts had made the right decision not to risk crossing it and a small number of the dwarves turned back. Within a short time, they had returned, carrying several fresh tree trunks. Quickly, they duplicated the first wooden bridge and were able to cross into the deeper reaches of the mines. Once they were on the other side of the chasm and crossing to the openings marking the various entrances onto the hall, the marks of some ancient fire became visible. After the chasm, the scholars were slow to catch up, and lagged at the back of the group for a period of time. It turned out that they were debating whether the defense which they had just crossed was based on a natural fault or was entirely created by the ancient Dwarves. The ancient scorch marks simply added another item for their endless study.
All this had taken time though, it was now shortly past noon and they had yet to pass the first hall. Once in the corridors beyond the hall, the amount of litter dropped dramatically, as did the amount of light. They now had to light the torches the group had been carrying.
Although Khazad Dum was originally designed and constructed to have plenty of light, now, thousands of years later many of the original shafts built for light and ventilation had fallen in, had been purposely destroyed or were otherwise no longer functional. The dwarves had been prepared for this and each was carrying a bundle containing several torches.
Even in the dim and flickering red light of the torches, the ruined majesty of the ancient mines was visible to the newly returned colonists. The grace of the arching ceilings, the proportions of the pillars, it was hidden in them. Perhaps the other races such as Men, or even the few remaining Eldar would miss it, but the Dwarves could see it.
They were slowed down even more shortly after, when they discovered cracks and gaps in the corridor floor in front of them. Despite the obstacles this caused, the scholars were, surprisingly to the rest of the group, who had already thought of them as odd, actually happy to see it. When questioned on that, they responded that it was because it agreed with several statements in the accounts they had found, making it more likely that the rest of the documents in question were accurate.
All that it meant to the rest of the company was that it was going to be even more work and more danger for them as they tried to make a new home of the ancient place. This was proved by the one corridor going up several flights of stairs off the side of the entry hall that was found to have been blocked by a rockfall. A couple of hours later, having mapped out two or three halls in from each of the accessible entries, the Dwarves returned to the campsite in the rapidly deepening twilight.
In this first exploration, no sign of any orcs or other evil beings had been found by any of the group. In fact, the only signs of any life which had been found were a few old torch-stubs. The consensus was that they had been left by the same people who had created the original wooden bridge.
A full day after their first sight of the ancient mansion, the Dwarves who had been a part of the expedition still felt the awe of that first sight. Even the non-scholars forming the majority of the group were talking of the ancient knowledge they were hoping to find. Although, in their case, it wasn't knowledge of history they had hopes of finding, but lost crafting, mining or building techniques.
Given the lack of any signs of danger, Durin relaxed some of the rules of the camp, allowing for larger fires and less of a stress on silence. That night the camp was filled with the songs of Durin's folk celebrating their ancient home.
Title: Respect
Scholars note: I am gathering together an account of these important times in our past from the numerous partial records from the archives in the hope of making one volume in the form of a narrative for those who are interested in our history. I mention this here because I am starting to quote from the records themselves.
It has now been almost two years since we arrived in our ancient home. Since then, two more groups of our kindred have joined us, bringing our numbers to nearly five hundred. With the increased numbers, our stonemasons and crafters have been able to repair the damages to the upper living-quarters and some of the main corridors, though there are still many regions which have yet to be explored, let alone repaired.
It is now believed that it was with the second group that the colonization took the final steps to becoming permanent. A number of Dwarf-women came with the group, so Khazad-Dum was no longer an entirely all-male society. This step meant that it was believed that our home was by then safe enough to house families and children.
Once the residential area was habitable, parties were sent out to find the route to the West-Gate. It was discovered some two weeks later, but the finders quickly found that the gates were blocked from the outside and couldn't be opened. This was the final piece of proof to the scholars who doubted the Red Book manuscripts. A party had to be sent out over the Redhorn Pass to unblock the gates.
Durin has proved himself to be an excellent leader over the intervening time, despite his lack of years and experience. Everyone I speak to agrees, he has a natural skill at resolving disputes and solving problems.
Records show that the author of that statement was correct. Considering the state that the records hint at Khazad-dum being in when they took up residence, our ancestors managed an incredible amount. Not only of repairing and rebuilding the devastation, but also of rediscovering the lost secrets of the mines. Within the first year, the accounts we have state that they had managed to find one of the old armories, unplundered. While that was exciting to the scholars and the weapons-smiths, everyone was apparently celebrating because many of the items within were made of mithril.
The surviving records don't say how the items remained unfound that long, but it is my belief that, having seen the alleged room, which is at the top of a flight of stairs, that the stairs, if not the room itself had been flooded at some point in the past. Certainly, it is a known fact that the early colonists had to do a fair amount of re-routing the streams supplying water to the mines. Much of the lower parts of the mines had been flooded sometime after they were abandoned. That much all of the accounts agree on. However, they don't agree on how much was flooded.
I suspect that Durin was lucky enough to have some of the stonemasons who specialized in channeling water to the desired locations with him in the original party. If not, they had to have come in with either the first or second group of arrivals. There is absolutely no way they could have gotten as much done as they did otherwise.
Anyway, I came across this one account, which is unusual because the author was apparently the the one it concerns. Usually, the records are made by those who have at best heard what they describe at second hand. The events it describes seem to me to be the perfect way to close this book. The author is retelling the tale of the discovery and restoration of the tomb of Balin, the leader of a recolonization attempt near the end of the Third Age. The events discussed seem to have occurred fairly early on in the occupation, perhaps within the first year.
...By this time the region nearest to the East Gate had been almost fully restored, save for one section only. This area had clearly been damaged by a rock-fall. The lower entrance was blocked some-way up a narrow flight of stairs. What we thought was the doorway from the upper halls was also fully blocked off by fallen rock. Possibly the roof between the two areas had collapsed some time in the past. This has not been an unheard of thing. Exploring parties have discovered several other areas where something similar had happened, usually in the uppermost areas of the residential quarters.
So far, none of the areas damaged by these events have been explored or restored due to safety considerations, after one of the explorers was slightly injured in an incident with one of the rockfalls collapsing further.
However, I was able to get permission from Durin to lead a party in attempting to clear this one. As I recall, the interview went something like this:
**** “I'd like permission to clear the rockfall on the corridor off the First Hall, Sir.”
“Why? There are enough areas of the mines that we don't have any real need for those ones that have been extensively damaged like that. The order has been given to avoid these areas. You know why, and you are asking for me to allow you to go against orders I gave for a very good reason. What reason would you have?
“Sir, I have two reasons for this request.” He nodded for me to continue, “first, given that according to the scholars, the Elessar manuscripts have proven to be quite accurate, that corridor should lead to the lower residential quarters, which would provide an extra route to the gate if needed. They say it would also be a shorter path.” I handed a copy of the manuscript passage in question to Durin, along with my projected route, assuming that both rockfalls were from the same source.
He took them and looked at the map for a second.
“And your second reason?” he asked.
So far, so good. He's still listening. “The second reason also hinges on the Elessar manuscript in combination with the alleged Book of Mazarbul. If the two are correct, the tomb of the leader of the failed recolonization is under that rockfall. I should like to see the tomb restored.
Our leader thought for a moment or two before finally saying, “if it can be done safely, you have my permission. I too would like to see Balins' tomb and see it restored if it was damaged. However, if there is the slightest sign of danger, your permission will be revoked. See to it that I get periodic updates on the project.”
I thanked him and left, planning how best to approach my job.
**** The next day I was able to gather together a small group of ten like-minded stonemasons and we began surveying the problem. It was decided that we would not work from the corridor, but instead from the upper level. There was too much danger of the rubble collapsing down the stairs onto the workers otherwise.
It took us nearly two weeks to clear out the door and the chamber itself. A large part of the time was simply spent in hauling the rubble away, much of it to outside the Gates. Quite a lot of the ceiling and even part of the level above it had fallen in, almost completely filling the chamber.
During the excavations we found a number of corroded and rusted pieces of armour and weapons. The style is unfamiliar to all who have seen them so far, and it is believed that we are looking at evidence of the orcish presence in the mines for much of the Third Age. Most of the scholars believe that the items are from the battle in the Elessar manuscript. The theory makes sense to me, because it was then that the rockfall allegedly occurred. Others say the items are from earlier, from the time of the Mazarbul manuscript and the final defense it describes.
However, it didn't take anywhere near that long to discover that the scholars were right about the pages from the Book of Mazarbul. It was genuine. We proved that at the end of the first week when we found the first side of the tomb. At that point, all we knew was that it was simply the side and corner of a great block of stone, though we were pretty sure of what it was, especially when the upper surface was noted. Though discoloured and damaged, it was clearly a block of white stone. This was the final proof of the identification of the room as the chamber of Mazarbul.
Immediately, I halted the work and sent for our leader. I felt, and the others agreed, that this was something he should be present for. Once the messenger returned with Durin, we began again, focusing on uncovering the block. Shortly thereafter, though the sides were still piled high, the flat surface had been uncovered. Badly cracked and damaged by all the rock which had fallen on it, the inscription was still readable, though it was difficult, particularly as by this time it was late in the day and what light was penetrating the shafts was rapidly going.
The inscription was, as had been recorded in the disputed manuscript, “Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria”. We were all affected by the sight, and silently stood for a moment in respect. Without speaking, it was decided that we would work no more that day.
The next day work began again, though we were all rather subdued while working in the chamber, we were able to get the rest of the room cleared and begin clearing the stairway down to the First Hall. It actually wasn't as bad as it had looked, as the rockfall had been centered on the chamber itself.
Almost the day that they job was finished, Durin had assigned the best stone-crafter in the expedition to work on restoring the tomb and the surrounding chamber. Evidently he had been as moved by the tomb as the rest of us.
It took almost a month for the job to be finished, but it was worth it. The chamber and the entranceway had been restored to an undamaged state. Although the original inscribed stone had been replaced, it was placed to one side of the tomb and the replacement was identical. Also, two stands had been placed in the room. One contained an ornate copy of the Book of Mazarbul, and the other the relevant passages concerning the Nine Heroes sight of Balin's tomb. Evidently the scholars had been busy as well, copying and illuminating these books for the room. It was fitting as the room had originally been the Chamber of Records. Now it remains a record of the attempted recolonization.
Once all this had been completed, every member of the expedition and the later arriving groups passed through the room in the fashion of a memorial. The only sounds that could be heard were the quiet boot-steps of those passing by. Not one person spoke, though there had been no request for silence.
Nobody uses the corridor much for simple travel, save in an emergency. There is something about the chamber it opens onto which demands respect.
The Chamber of Mazarbul is now known as the “Chamber of the Tomb”, and the original manuscripts placed there have since been placed behind glass to prevent further damage from handling as they are several centuries old now. Of course, they have been replaced, and as the replacements fade or are damaged, new copies are made and placed on the stands. |
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