BRIDGE OF KHAZAD DUM CRACKED
BRIDGE OF KHAZAD DUM SERIES

The Longbeards maintained contact with all the other six dwarf clans, and after early Men arrived in Rhovanion, Khazad-dûm quickly began trading with them, exchanging the products of their growing metallurgical and masonry skills for food, to the great profit of both peoples. Khazad-dûm played no part in the wars of Beleriand, and in fact gained a respite from orc attacks throughout the First Age, 'when Morgoth needed all his strength' elsewhere. By that time, Khazad-dûm was already 'a name and a rumour from the words of the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains' to all the Eldar of Beleriand.ĭuring the reign of Durin the Deathless some of the wonders of Dwarvish architecture were built in Khazad-dûm: Durin's Bridge, the Second Hall, the Endless Stair and Durin's Tower.Īfter his death, the reputation of Durin's realm continued to grow, not merely due to his spiritual ascendancy over the other Fathers of the Dwarves as their eldest, or to Dwarrowdelf's growing size, but to its great wealth founded upon the uniquely precious metal mithril, which was universally prized yet found nowhere else in Middle-earth. During that period Khazad-dûm grew continuously in size and population, until it became the 'greatest of all the mansions of the Dwarves', even before the return of the Ñoldor to Middle-earth. The long reign of Khazad-dûm's first king was a golden age, remembered as Durin's Day (this name was also applied to the Dwarvish New Year).

BRIDGE OF KHAZAD DUM CRACKED

His descendants erected a rune-carved stone monolith – Durin's Stone-on the site where he had first looked into the Mirrormere, and although it had become indecipherably weatherworn by the end of the Third Age-broken, cracked and faded-the influence of Durin I, the founding king of Khazad-dûm, was never forgotten. Īll 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'.

BRIDGE OF KHAZAD DUM SERIES

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'. According to legend, Durin ultimately found 'a glen of shadows between two great arms of the mountains, above which three white peaks were shining'. 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's growing clan 'spread southward down the vales of Anduin', all the while 'under attack from the Orcs of Morgoth'. The Dwarrowdelf was founded by Durin 'the Deathless' in the far distant past, long before the creation of the Sun and Moon.

Bridge of khazad dum