Title: Historical Records
Series: The Reclaiming of Khazad Dum
Fandom: The Lord of the Rings
Author: Endaewen
Rating: G
Disclaimer: None of the settings or the basic premise of the story belongs to me. All of it belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and his family.
Summary: The second in a series of short scenes concerning the re-colonization of Khazad Dum.
Note: The idea for this story/series comes from the Peoples of Middle-Earth: And the line of Dain prospered, ... until there arose again for the last time an heir of that House that bore the name of Durin, and he returned to Moria...(HOME XII.278)

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

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.