Moria, Middle-earth

The name "Moria" means "the Black Chasm" or "the Black Pit", from Sindarin mor, "dark, black" and iâ, "void, abyss". The element mor had the sense "sinister, evil", especially by association with infamous names such as Morgoth and Mordor; indeed Moria itself had an evil reputation by the times in which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set. The name Moria had (within the fiction) originally applied only to the Black Chasm itself. However, after the Dwarves were forced to abandon Khazad-dûm, its many lamps went out, and the whole subterranean complex became dark. Tolkien borrowed the name Moria itself, but not its meaning, from a book he had read. == Tolkien's account ==

Geography : Tolkien's experiences on his 1911 visit gave him the idea for difficulties crossing the Misty Mountains. The caves led to the Black Chasm, a subterranean abyss, some fifty feet wide and of indeterminate depth, which was crossed only by Durin's Bridge, "a slender bridge of stone, without kerb or rail". Moria lay on the western edge of the Middle-earth region of Wilderland. The Mountains of Moria, three of the Misty Mountains' most massive peaks, surrounded Dimrill Dale: Silvertine on the west, Redhorn on the north, and Cloudyhead on the east – in Sindarin respectively Celebdil, Caradhras and Fanuidhol. Their Khuzdûl names, respectively Zirakzigil, Barazinbar and Bundushathûr, are mentioned by Gimli, as the Fellowship nears Moria. The caves of Moria, where the Dwarf city-kingdom of Khazad-dûm was founded, were situated under Silvertine; their mouth overlooked Dimrill Dale, which contained many waterfalls and a long, oval lake that reflected stars even in daylight. Perceiving these stars as a crown glittering above his head, Durin took this as an auspicious sign, named the lake Kheled-zâram, the Mirrormere, and chose the eastward-facing caves above it for his new stronghold. Geology The Dwarves excavated most of Khazad-dûm out of solid rock, leaving polished walls. Orcs constantly attacked the dwarf kingdom; men and dwarves fought together against the orcs. The dwarves became friendly with the Elves of Eregion to the west; the Elves assisted in developing Khazad-dûm's mansions, making it "far more beautiful" as it grew westwards through tunnels to the West Gate, which opened on to Eregion. Celebrimbor, the Lord of Eregion, used ithildin lettering on this gate on behalf of its builder, his friend the dwarf smith Narvi. In the Third Age, the more easily accessible seams of mithril were exhausted, and the Dwarves dug deeper until they disturbed a Balrog, a powerful fire-demon. It killed King Durin VI, acquiring the name Durin's Bane, and then Náin I, his son. The Dwarves abandoned Khazad-dûm and fled into Wilderland. As the War of the Ring loomed, a messenger from Sauron offered Dáin the return of Moria and three Dwarf-Rings if he helped Sauron to find the One Ring. Dáin refused, sending Glóin and his son Gimli to the Council of Elrond, starting the quest of the Fellowship of the Ring. He led his people back to Khazad-dûm, where they remained "until the world grew old and the Dwarves failed and the days of Durin's race were ended". During the kingdom of Khazad-dûm, the subterranean realm was "full of light and splendour", illuminated by many "shining lamps of crystal". Doors of Durin , with Sindarin inscription in Tengwar script The Doors of Durin, also called the West-gate or the West-door, formed the western entrance to Moria. When shut, the gates were invisible and impossible to open by physical means. They were however decorated with designs engraved in ithildin made by the elf-Lord Celebrimbor of Eregion and the dwarf Narvi from mithril mined in Moria. The designs included the emblems of Durin, the two trees of the High Elves, and the Star of the House of Fëanor. Tolkien's drawing of the designs on the Doors of Durin was the only illustration in The Lord of the Rings during his lifetime (other than cover-art and calligraphy). In moonlight, a password made the designs visible. The designs contained a second password to open the doors. When the Fellowship entered, the Watcher in the Water, the aquatic guardian of the gates, slammed the doors shut with its tentacles, plunging the Fellowship into darkness. The inscription was in the Elvish language of Sindarin, using the Tengwar script; Gandalf translates it as "The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter. I, Narvi, made them. Celebrimbor of Hollin drew these signs." Scholars have commented that "Moria", an unfriendly Elvish description meaning "The Black Pit", was hardly how a ruler of Khazad-Dûm would choose to describe his realm; and that since the name was not used until the Balrog was awakened in the Third Age, it was also anachronistic. Possible resolutions have been proposed: that Celebrimbor had foresight of the name; that the magic lettering reshaped itself; or that Gandalf indeed saw the Sindarin name "Hadhodrond" on the door, and read it out as "Moria" for the benefit of those listening (and in the same way, he must have seen "Eregion" and read out "Hollin"). == Origins ==

Nodens at a place called "Dwarf's Hill" and translated an inscription with a curse upon a ring. It may have inspired his dwarves, mines, rings, and Celebrimbor "Silver-Hand", an Elven-smith who contributed to Moria's building. An old name for the place was Dwarf's Hill, and in 1932 Tolkien traced Nodens to the Irish hero Nuada Airgetlám, "Nuada of the Silver-Hand". The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey thought this "a pivotal influence" on Tolkien's Middle-earth, combining as it did a god-hero, a ring, dwarves, and a silver hand. The scholar of English literature John M. Bowers notes that the name of the Elven-smith Celebrimbor is the Sindarin for "Silver Hand" and that "because the place was known locally as Dwarf's Hill and honeycombed with abandoned mines, it naturally suggested itself as background for the Lonely Mountain and the Mines of Moria." Norwegian Folktales Moria first appeared in Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit. Tolkien later recalled that the name was "a casual 'echo' of Soria Moria Castle in one of the Scandinavian tales translated by Dasent. ... I liked the sound-sequence; it alliterated with 'mines', and it connected itself with the MOR element in my linguistic construction." The tales translated by Dasent were from the 1852 collection Norwegian Folktales. A historic source is the Poetic Edda, with which Tolkien was familiar; the protagonist in the Skírnismál notes that his quest will involve misty mountains, orcs, and giants. == Analysis ==

The Tolkien scholar Jane Chance observes that the fall of the dwarves, first those of Durin, then those of Balin, is brought about through avarice, their greed for Moria's deeply-buried mithril. She identifies this as "their internal vice", which the Balrog "monstrously projects". Scholars such as Chance and Jerram Barrs have recognised the death of Gandalf the Grey (at the hands of the Balrog), and his reappearance as Gandalf the White, as a transfiguration, the change in colour hinting at "a parallel with Christ's own death and resurrection". The professor of English literature Sue Zlosnik notes that the fantasy world in Tolkien's invented mythology for England Erin Derwin, writing in The Artifice, compares the fellowship's time in Moria with Siegfried Sassoon's First World War poem "The Rear-Guard", in which he describes "groping along the tunnel" in a labyrinth of dark trenches, with "muttering creatures underground", recalling, Derwin suggests, the awakening of the Orcs and the Balrog by the hobbit Pippin. The scholar of English literature Charles A. Huttar compares this "clashing gate" that crashed shut behind the travellers to the Wandering Rocks that in Greek mythology lie near the opening of the underworld, Hades, and, along with the monstrous Watcher in the Water, to Odysseus's passage between the devouring Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis. File:The_Book_of_Mazarbul,_first_page.jpg|The first page from The Book of Mazarbul, artwork created by Tolkien to support the story. The publishers did not include it in the first edition of The Lord of the Rings. File:Transfiguration Raphael.jpg|Scholars such as Jane Chance have compared Gandalf's death in Moria and subsequent reappearance as "the White" to Christ's Transfiguration, He writes that these dark places, home to many of the major events in the stories, from the Paths of the Dead to Gollum's various tunnels and the Glittering Caves of Aglarond serve as symbols of darkness and death, the Tomb, or of fertility and new life, the Womb. Moria, he argues, citing Hugh Keenan's description of the two contrasting lakes at the Fellowship's entrance and exit from Moria, and giving the example of Gandalf's death and rebirth, functions as both Womb and Tomb. In Christianity, he notes, Baptism is at once a symbolic death and the gift of new life. Tolkien was asked whether the name Moria meant the biblical mountains of Moriah, where Abraham was to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Tolkien wrote that his mind did not work that way, explaining that Moria meant "Black Chasm" in Sindarin, the root Mor occurring in Mordor, Morgoth, Morgul. He went on "As for the 'land of Morīah' (note stress): that has no connection (even 'externally') whatsoever." == Adaptations ==

Film of Moria was largely inspired by Alan Lee's illustration. Moria was modelled for the film at 1/12 scale. Games The roguelike computer game Moria was modelled on The Lord of the Rings events. The goal in the game is to reach the bottom of a maze-like simulation of the Mines of Moria and kill a Balrog. Moria is featured in board games such as Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings. The first expansion pack of the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online named Mines of Moria takes place almost entirely in Moria, which has several levels. The uppermost is the path of Durin's Way, which pierces the mountain to reach the cliffs of Zirak-Zigil. The main levels of Moria span from the Doors of Durin to Dolven-View, Zelem-Melek, Nud-Melek and the East doors, known as the First Hall. Further down in the subterranean realm are the Silvertine Lodes and the Redhorn Lodes, and the furthest depths contain the submerged Water-Works, the fiery Flaming Deeps, and the Foundations of Stone, where Gandalf and the Balrog fought before ascending the Endless Stair. Music The Dutch composer Johan de Meij wrote a movement in his Symphony No. 1 "The Lord of the Rings" called "Journey in the Dark", that was directly inspired by Moria. The movement is split into two sections, "The Mines of Moria" and "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm", and it depicts the events that take place there in The Fellowship of the Ring (novel). ==Notes==